Terrifically spooky and original, the film continues to feel completely modern despite being almost a quarter-century old.
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10/09/08
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
94 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 33
Fresh: 31
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 suspected child murderer killed long ago by... [More]
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley
Director: Wes Craven
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Reviews for A Nightmare on Elm Street
...one of the great horror efforts and a worthy successor to the classic monsters of yesteryear.
09/16/08
An inventive and terrifying horror film that explores the inner psyche and its ability to turn nightmares into reality.
11/03/07
A highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy.
09/21/07
Top Critic One of the most intelligent and terrifying horror films of the 1980s.
09/21/07
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.
09/21/07
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.
09/21/07
Craven vitalizes the nightmare sequences with assorted surrealist novelties.
09/21/07
Top Critic An actual story, made by somebody who cared enough about his ideas to make them different and original.
09/12/07
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
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
Latest News for A Nightmare on Elm Street
August 15, 2008:
Weekly Ketchup: Kung Fu Panda 2, Wheel of Time and more
This week's Ketchup bottle brings news about Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar 3, development news about the Wheel of Time series, and casting news about Mike Myers and Billy Bob... More...
July 28, 2008:
New Nightmare on Elm Street Is Craven-Free 
According to Wes Craven, that new Nightmare on Elm Street is happening without his involvement -- an announcement that Comic Con attendees greeted with a chorus of loud boos. More...
March 05, 2008:
Platinum Dunes Planning Rosemary's Baby Remake
If you were upset when you heard that Platinum Dunes was planning to reboot the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street series...boy, do we have a story for you. More...
February 20, 2008:
Robert Englund Talks Nightmare on Elm Street Reboot
Much has been made of New Line's decision to partner with Platinum Dunes for a Robert Englund-free reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, but none of the noise on the subject has... More...
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