A Nightmare on Elm Street1984

Name: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Genre: Slasher, Supernatural, Psychological, Gothic
Released: 1984-11-09
Rating: 7.6

“If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all.”

Directed by Wes Craven

7.6

Crypt Score

Blended from 4 sources

IMDb 7.4Rotten Tomatoes 94%Metacritic 76TMDB 7.3

✍ Review

On the charts

#1·Top Horror Movies of 1984 #7·Top Horror Movies of the 1980s #8·Top Slasher Films #14·Top Supernatural Films #23·Top Gothic Films

Share this title

X Facebook Reddit Pinterest

Year

1984

Runtime

91 min

Box Office

Budget

$1,800,000

Revenue (worldwide)

$57,004,513

Domestic

$25,624,448

🏆 7 wins & 8 nominations total

The premise

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...

Horror Vault's take

When the teenagers of a quiet Ohio suburb begin dying under impossible circumstances, one determined young woman refuses to dismiss her friends' terrifying shared nightmares as coincidence. She uncovers a monstrous figure from the town's dark past — a scarred, blade-fingered killer who hunts his victims in the one place no one can escape: their dreams. Wes Craven's landmark horror blurs the line between the waking world and the nightmare realm with genuinely unnerving results. Closing your eyes has never felt so dangerous.

Content: Graphic Violence, Gore, Jump Scares, Child Murder References, Depictions Of Teen Death