A poultry based parody of A Nightmare On Elm Street that hits the sweet spot with force and accuracy. Teenagers on Egg Street are beginning to be afraid of falling asleep as Freggy Kruger is coming to kill them in their dreams. The story unfolds as it should, following the outline of the film while neatly and cleverly undercutting it. No familiarity with the film is required, the jokes work very effectively on their own, in particular the Johnny Depp jokes which are as sharp as Freggy’s razor claws.
Chris Allen has delivered a story which captures the gruesome thrill of the film and successfully makes fun of it at the same time without ever undermining either. The slasher moments work effectively and give an extra lift to the jokes. The humour points up the horror by lowering the tension before it whips back at the reader.
Juan Fleites’ art is friendly and absurd, the chickens are smartly humanoid without while retaining enough chicken aspects to get the jokes and the context to work. The cast are wonderfully expressive and this pulls the reader deep into the story on its own terms. The absurd tension which is critical for the parody to work is achieved with confident skill and consistently telling detail. There is a genuine emotional context that gives the threat weight, the cast are absurd and wisecracking, they also have a vulnerability that makes Freggy the right element of nasty.
The colours bring out the details of the art and control the emotional tone of the story really well, they give suitable prominence to the parody aspect without ever drowning out the shadows.
Parody is fantastically difficult to get right, the balance is a very delicate one that recognises the essential elements of the original while skillfully paying with them. A Nightmare On Egg Street delivers on all counts, a powerful display of creative imagination, confidence and skill. Great bloody fun.
