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Movies / On DVD / A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street

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A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

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Reviews Counted:34

Fresh:32

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.

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

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... 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]

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

Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Johnny Depp, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Charles Fleisher, Lin Shaye, Joseph Whipp, Jack Shea, Joe Unger, Mimi Craven, Ed Call

Director: Wes Craven

Director: Wes Craven
Composer: Charles Bernstein

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 7, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for A Nightmare on Elm Street

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The Sandman of Reagan's dozy suburbia

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
11/09/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Terrifically spooky and original, the film continues to feel completely modern despite being almost a quarter-century old.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
10/09/08
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

...one of the great horror efforts and a worthy successor to the classic monsters of yesteryear.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
09/16/08
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter

My favourite horror movie.

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment Comment
02/04/08
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is

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

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
11/03/07
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

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

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
09/21/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
09/21/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

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 Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/21/07
Simon Braund
Simon Braund
Empire Magazine

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 Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/21/07
Channel 4 Film

Craven vitalizes the nightmare sequences with assorted surrealist novelties.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
09/21/07
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
09/12/07
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

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

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
12/29/06
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

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 Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
10/27/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

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 Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
10/24/06
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

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

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
09/25/06
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

It's all good scary fun.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

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

comment Comment
10/22/05
Pete Vonder Haar
Pete Vonder Haar
Film Threat

No review available.

comment 4 Comments
10/06/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
08/10/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
06/24/05
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for A Nightmare on Elm Street

June 12, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Wes Craven
No director in recent history has made their particular genre as much their own as Wes Craven. The legendary helmer virtually redefined the horror movies with the likes of The... More...

March 25, 2009: Look Inside the New Nightmare's Script Opens in new window
Want to know what you can expect from the storyline of Platinum Dunes' "Nightmare on Elm Street" remake? You'll want to sit down and have a look at Latino Review's script review. More...

February 12, 2009: A Director on Elm Street? Opens in new window
Has "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video director Samuel Bayer been hired to helm the "Nightmare on Elm Street" reboot? That's the word from Steven Zeitchik's sources. More...

February 10, 2009: Nightmare on Elm Street Reboot Targets Early 2010 Opens in new window
Saying we can expect to hear some casting news in the next month, producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form have given Collider some more updates on their "Nightmare on Elm Street"... More...

See All

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