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A Nightmare on Elm Street

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A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

94%
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90%
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94 %
Reviews Counted: 31 Fresh: 29  Rotten:2 Average Rating: 7.7/10
 
Consensus: Wes Craven's intelligent premise, combined with the horrifying visual appearance of Freddy Krueger, still causes nightmares to this day.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Synopsis: A replusive, decaying figure with razor-sharp appendages (and an even sharper sense of humor!) suddenly appears in the dreams of four Los Angeles teenagers. It is the ghost of Freddy Krueger, a suspected child murderer killed long ago by the neighborhood parents. Now he's able to exact his... A replusive, decaying figure with razor-sharp appendages (and an even sharper sense of humor!) suddenly appears in the dreams of four Los Angeles teenagers. It is the ghost of Freddy Krueger, a suspected child murderer killed long ago by the neighborhood parents. Now he's able to exact his bloody vengeance by killing the teens off, one by one, as they sleep. Finally just one girl remains. Desperately, she tries to stay awake by every means possible, but even pills and massive amounts of coffee wear off sometime -- and when they do, she'll have to battle Freddy for her very life. It's her worst nightmare ... and it's coming true. [More]

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Johnny Depp

Director: Wes Craven
Composer: Charles Bernstein

DVD Info

Release:

Sep 26, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1-EX Surround
  • DTS-ES 6.1 Surround Sound

Additional Release Material:

  • Alternate Endings
  • Audio Commentary - Wes Craven; Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Jacques Haitkin.
  • Featurettes - 1. "Never Sleep Again: The making of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET"
  • 2. "The House That Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror"
  • 3. "Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven's Nightmares"

Interactive Features:

  • infiniFilm Interactive Features
  • Pop-up Prompts
  • Video Clips

DVD-ROM:

  • Exclusive infiniFilm content

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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Ratings Image
4/4

My favourite horror movie.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/04/08
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is
Ratings Image
3.5/4

An inventive and terrifying horror film that explores the inner psyche and its ability to turn nightmares into reality.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/03/07
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy
Ratings Image
N/A

A highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3.5/4

One of the most intelligent and terrifying horror films of the 1980s.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image
5/5

What makes Freddy truly terrifying, and an inspired invention on Craven's part, is that he exists not in the real world but in the shadowy realm of dreams.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
Simon Braund
Empire Magazine
Ratings Image
N/A

It succeeds by preying on archetypal fears and imagery - the myth of the bogeyman, the power of the unconscious conjuring up the worst horrors imaginable.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
Channel 4 Film
Ratings Image
N/A

Craven vitalizes the nightmare sequences with assorted surrealist novelties.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/21/07
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
9/10

An actual story, made by somebody who cared enough about his ideas to make them different and original.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/12/07
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
Ratings Image
3/4

The far superior of the two defining horror franchises of the '80s.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/29/06
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
Ratings Image
N/A

By 1984, the slasher film had already been done to death, but Craven added a fresh take with his idea of a killer that attacks in dreams.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/27/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
Ratings Image
N/A

What’s so clever about Craven’s variation on teen-horror is what now seems so obvious about it: A Nightmare on Elm Street takes all of this fear of unmanageable desires and makes it explicitly, even bluntly Freudian.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/24/06
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Ratings Image
3/4

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a movie defined by its dual legacies.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/25/06
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine
Ratings Image
N/A

It's all good scary fun.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Ratings Image
5/5

classic '80s horror...and Johnny Depp dies

comment Comment
10/22/05
Pete Vonder Haar
Film Threat
Ratings Image
2/5

No review available.

comment 1 Comment
10/06/05
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/10/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/24/05
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
05/06/04
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
Ratings Image
3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
08/29/03
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ratings Image
5/5

Despite lame sequels the original is a classic of modrer horror.

comment Comment
08/13/03
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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