A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

All Critics (167) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (145) | DVD (16)

I did jump a few times, and I liked Haley's dour malevolence, but overall, the new Nightmare on Elm Street is a by-the-numbers bad dream.

September 7, 2011 Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Top Critic

Freddy's back -- and he's slicker and more sinister than ever.

May 6, 2011 Full Review

Christine Champ

Film.com

Top Critic

It's the Bay touch you feel in the way actors register as body count, characters go undeveloped, and sensation trumps feeling. A nightmare, indeed.

May 14, 2010 Full Review

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

This is the worst yet from Michael Bay's horror production company Platinum Dunes, which also brought you rubbish re-makes of Halloween and Friday the 13th.

May 6, 2010 Full Review | Comments (4)

Nigel Floyd

Time Out

Top Critic

Jackie Earle Haley's Krueger is a blast, but the child-molester twist is more depressingly clinical than dream-logic harrowing.

May 5, 2010 Full Review

Stephen Garrett

Time Out New York

Top Critic

The result of the new Nightmare is, at best, a kind of stand-off between predictability and competent execution.

April 30, 2010 Full Review

Liam Lacey

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

This Elm Street reeks of a rushed cash-grab, as even the most reliable of clichéd shocks fail to register on the fright-o-meter.

February 15, 2013 Full Review

Steve Newton

Georgia Straight

This flimsy remake is a nightmare and unworthy of your time.

December 25, 2012 Full Review

John Hanlon

Big Hollywood

Many people have already made the mistake of holding this film up to the original, expecting it to be just as good, but it just isn't. However, taken on its own, it's still an entertaining horror film and an interesting take on the material.

September 24, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

An homage to Craven's vision that is believably earnest in execution and completely faithful in spirit.

April 8, 2012 Full Review

Michael Dequina

TheMovieReport.com

Mara and Gallner make an attractive couple on the lam and Haley, as Freddy Krueger, hams it up to an almost alarming degree.

April 3, 2012 Full Review

Ben Kenigsberg

Time Out Chicago

Haley offers a darker, meaner take on the iconic character.

November 5, 2011 Full Review

Greg Maki

Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

There's really no reason to see this dreadful picture; better to rent the 1984 feature.

August 18, 2011 Full Review | Comment (1)

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

For fans of the Nightmare franchise, and slasher films in general, the new version does exactly what you want and not much more.

April 20, 2011 Full Review

Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

This is even less inspired and imaginative than the Friday The 13th reboot and makes Rob Zombie's Halloween films feel like the work of an auteur.

April 4, 2011 Full Review | Comment (1)

Dave White

Movies.com

For a film about the dangers of falling asleep it tried damn hard to make the audience nod off.

February 1, 2011 Full Review

Mike Edwards

What Culture

Haley earns his stripes but Bayer's reboot is a bland anticlimax.

November 3, 2010 Full Review

Simon Crook

Empire Magazine

Like many horror fans, I approached viewing the recent remake of the post-slasher classic with extremely low expectations. Not low enough, though!

October 13, 2010 Full Review

Brian Juergens

CampBlood.org

Jackie Earle Haley is a good choice to replace Englund but the new film doesn’t reinvigorate the franchise.

October 11, 2010 Full Review

Beth Accomando

KPBS.org

Like Rob Zombie's Halloween, this new take on A Nightmare on Elm Street gives a movie boogeyman a psychological makeover, though Samuel Bayer directs the thing with all the nuance of a "Stranger Danger" video.

October 5, 2010 Full Review | Comments (2)

Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

The best part of the film is the musical score; the worst part is everything else. (Blu-ray Edition)

October 5, 2010 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

...it has nothing new to say and works with an original that didn't need remaking.

October 5, 2010 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

• 1. Freddy Krueger: How's this for a wet dream?
  – Submitted by Directors C (10 months ago)
• 1. Nancy Holbrook: It hurts, doesn't it? That's because you're in my world now, bitch!
  – Submitted by Marcelo R (12 months ago)
• 1. Freddy Krueger: Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet.
  – Submitted by Garrett S (12 months ago)
• 1. Freddy Krueger: Ahhh. So, what games shall we play next, Nancy?
  2. Nancy Holbrook: Fuck you!
  3. Freddy Krueger: Oooh, that sounds fun.
  – Submitted by Clayton L (14 months ago)
• 1. Swim Coach: Are you okay?
  – Submitted by Eleanor K (14 months ago)
• 1. Freddy Krueger: [to Jesse] Did you know that after the heart stops beating, the brain can function for well over 7 minutes? We got 6 more minutes to play!
  – Submitted by Ben C (17 months ago)

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