+

poster of A Nightmare on Elm Street
Rating: 7.3/10 by 5130 users

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...

Directing:
  • Wes Craven
  • Nicholas Batchelor
  • Kathryn Weygand
  • Peter C. Graupner
Writing:
  • Wes Craven
Stars:
Release Date: Wed, Oct 31, 1984

Rating: 7.3/10 by 5130 users

Alternative Title:
Freddy - Chapitre 1 - Les Griffes de la nuit - FR
Pesadilla en la Calle Elm - SV
Freddy 1 - Les Griffes de la nuit - FR
Freddy 1 - FR
Nightmare on Elm Street 1 - Mörderische Träume - DE
Pesadilla en la Calle del Infierno 1 - MX
Pesadilla en lo profundo de la noche - AR
Pesadilla sin fin - CO
Koszmar z Ulicy Wiązów - PL
Pesadilla en Elm Street - ES
Nightmare on Elm Street - Mörderische Träume - DE
Les Griffes de la nuit - CA
Pesadilla en la Calle Elm - CL

Country:
United States of America
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 31 minutes
Budget: $1,800,000
Revenue: $57,004,513

Plot Keyword: dreams, nightmare, psychopath, sleep, child murder, supernatural, ohio, murder, slasher, trapped, alcoholic, boiler room, booby trap, nostalgic, disfigurement, medical test, nightmare becomes reality, caffeine, shocking, vexed, frantic, grim, desperate, anxious, supernatural horror, suspenseful, frightened, franchise starter

Heather Langenkamp
Nancy Thompson
Robert Englund
Freddy Krueger
Johnny Depp
Glen Lantz
John Saxon
Lieutenant Thompson
Ronee Blakley
Marge Thompson
Joseph Whipp
Sergeant Parker
Ed Call
Mr. Lantz
Sandy Lipton
Mrs. Lantz
Joe Unger
Sergeant Garcia
Jack Shea
Minister
Ash Adams
Surfer #1
Don Hannah
Surfer #2
Paul Grenier
Mrs. Gray's Boyfriend
Kathi Gibbs
Kid (uncredited)
Chris Tashima
Kid (uncredited)
John Richard Petersen
Kid in Classroom (uncredited)
Robert Shaye
Newsreader / KRGR Radio Announcer (voice, uncredited)

John Chard

Dream Attack. The kids of Elm Street appear to be having the same bad dream, one in which a scarred faced bogeyman in a stripy jumper hunts them with knives attached to his fingers. When the dream becomes a reality for one of the kids, and the worst happens, Nancy Thompson risks all to bring the bogeyman into the open. Stupendous horror movie, one that not even the ream of sequels, spin- offs and cartoons could ever diminish. Wes Craven creates a film of utter terror, unleashing one of the genres most famous monsters on the unsuspecting film loving public, with Robert Englund as the hideous Fred Krueger having the time of his life slashing away and delivering oral venom. A number of scenes and sequences are staggeringly memorable, in the process shifting into horror movie folklore. The youthful cast are sensibly written (Craven's screenplay that took inspiration from a true story he read about Cambodian refugees literally dying of nightmares!), they are not dumb these kids, just vulnerable, but led by Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) there may be hope of some survivors? The blurry line between dreams and reality gets a bloody make-over here, creating biblical snoots in the process. In short, essential horror movie for those inclined. 9/10

John Critic

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My personal favorite slasher horror film that goes well with my Halloween costume, which itself is an accessory to this horror treasure of the 1980s decade!!!

Andre Gonzales

The nightmare that started it all. Made us all scared to go to to sleep. My favorite horror series next to Friday the 13th. Love this movie.

CinemaSerf

This is the ultimate in slasher-horror that thrives on the basis that it is, at times, genuinely quite scary, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Robert Englund is super as the legendary "Freddie Krueger" who, complete with his razor sharp right hand, takes over the dreams of the teenage children of parents who had been responsible for his gruesome death many years earlier. When a terrorised "Nancy" (Heather Langenkamp) begins to put two and two together she sets out with cute boyfriend "Glen" (a first outing for Johnny Depp ) to trap him in her world - and that means drinking enough coffee to sink the Titanic and staying awake! Ronee Blakely does a mean impersonation of Faye Dunaway - as the girl's almost permanently drunk mother (whose battles seem to get larger as the film progresses) too. It doesn't hang about - Wes Craven keeps the pace almost frantic, and there is plenty of humour to keep it's tongue in it's cheek. The effects are limited, but fun, and the whole thing raises more smiles than goosebumps but it's still an entertaining watch 35 year later.


My Favorite

Welcome back!

Support Us

Like Movienade?

Please buy us a coffee

scan qr code