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.
Comment
09/21/07
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
94
%
Tomatometer
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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... [More]
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley
Director: Wes Craven
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Reviews for A Nightmare on Elm Street
It's all good scary fun.
01/26/06
One of the most intelligent and terrifying horror films of the 1980s.
09/21/07
No review available.
08/29/03
In 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street revived the teen horror genre, later spawning six sequels about Freddy, the burn victim/child killer who kills you when you fall asleep.
01/01/00
There has never been a movie like it, and there never will be.
01/01/00
Terrifically spooky and original, the film continues to feel completely modern despite being almost a quarter-century old.
10/09/08
No review available.
08/10/05
The Sandman of Reagan's dozy suburbia
11/09/09
No review available.
05/06/04
Craven vitalizes the nightmare sequences with assorted surrealist novelties.
09/21/07
Still stands on its own as an intriguing and chilling example of how horror works best when the characters and the audience don't have to be lobotomized.
01/01/00
Top CriticA well-crafted, meaningful addition to its genre.
02/27/01
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.
10/27/06
No review available.
06/24/05
Despite lame sequels the original is a classic of modrer horror.
08/13/03
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.
10/24/06
This progenitor of the series (and the teen slasher genre) still packs the same freshness and dramatic purity it demonstrated 15 years ago.
01/01/00
No review available.
02/05/03
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 
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?
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
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...
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