A Nightmare on Elm Street main backdrop
A Nightmare on Elm Street main poster

A Nightmare on Elm Street

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7.3/10 • 5K

1984-10-311h 31m

Horror

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

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...

Directors
Wes Craven
Writters
Wes Craven
Editors
Rick Shaine

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Heather Langenkamp

    Heather Langenkamp

    Nancy Thompson

  2. John Saxon

    John Saxon

    Lieutenant Thompson

  3. Ronee Blakley

    Ronee Blakley

    Marge Thompson

  4. Amanda Wyss

    Amanda Wyss

    Tina Gray

  5. Jsu Garcia

    Jsu Garcia

    Rod Lane

  6. Johnny Depp

    Johnny Depp

    Glen Lantz

  7. Robert Englund

    Robert Englund

    Freddy Krueger

  8. Charles Fleischer

    Charles Fleischer

    Dr. King

  9. Joseph Whipp

    Joseph Whipp

    Sergeant Parker

Reviews4

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

May 3, 2015

9/10

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

Media

  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
$1,800,000.00
Revenue
$57,004,513.00
Keywords
dreamnightmarepsychopathsleepchild murdersupernaturalohiomurderslashertrappedalcoholicboiler roombooby trapnostalgicdisfigurementmedical testnightmare becomes realityshockingvexedfranticgrimdesperateanxioussupernatural horrorsuspensefulfrightenedfranchise starter