This past weekend, a very special anniversary came and went with very little fanfare. We’d hoped that someone somewhere would have had the wonderful idea of re-releasing A Nightmare on Elm Street 30 years after it debuted in theaters. After all, it’s not every day that you get to brag about launching Johnny Depp’s career by brutally killing him. Unlike Saw‘s 10th anniversary last month, though, there was no big anniversary re-release push for Elm Street, unless you count the boutique release last year that never cracked the top 100.
That’s disappointing, because today’s so-called horror franchises owe so much to A Nightmare on Elm Street and the sheer terror (and sometimes hilarity) of the over-the-top violence. To fix this injustice, I’m celebrating 30 years of deadly nightmares and terrible acting by testing our knowledge of some of the franchise’s deadliest and dumbest moments with a special anniversary quiz. Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those “Which character are you?” quizzes that spam up your Facebook feeds, but if it was, you’d all be Marge Thompson. I’d be Glen, because even though I’m the hunky dude who gets brutally killed, my legacy lives on in the rad convertible that my friends apparently stole after my death.
Step right up and test your knowledge, friends. The prize is self-satisfaction and glorious internet nostalgia. (If you need a cheat sheet, please refer to Cinefantasique’s 2008 interview with Wes Craven about his inspirations and accomplishments, as well as Vulture’s incredible oral history of A Nightmare on Elm Street from last month.)
(Images via Getty, Shutterstock, New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.)