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.
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09/21/07
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
94
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:32
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... [More]
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley
Director: Wes Craven
Reviews for A Nightmare on Elm Street
Top CriticIt 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
Top CriticIt's all good scary fun.
01/26/06
Top CriticThe Sandman of Reagan's dozy suburbia
11/09/09
Terrifically spooky and original, the film continues to feel completely modern despite being almost a quarter-century old.
10/09/08
...one of the great horror efforts and a worthy successor to the classic monsters of yesteryear.
09/16/08
My favourite horror movie.
02/04/08
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 CriticOne of the most intelligent and terrifying horror films of the 1980s.
09/21/07
Top CriticCraven vitalizes the nightmare sequences with assorted surrealist novelties.
09/21/07
An actual story, made by somebody who cared enough about his ideas to make them different and original.
09/12/07
The far superior of the two defining horror franchises of the '80s.
12/29/06
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
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a movie defined by its dual legacies.
09/25/06
classic '80s horror...and Johnny Depp dies
10/22/05
No review available.
10/06/05
No review available.
08/10/05
No review available.
06/24/05
Latest News for A Nightmare on Elm Street
June 12, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Wes Craven
No director in recent history has made their particular genre as much their own as Wes Craven. The legendary helmer virtually redefined the horror movies with the likes of The... More...
March 25, 2009:
Look Inside the New Nightmare's Script 
Want to know what you can expect from the storyline of Platinum Dunes' "Nightmare on Elm Street" remake? You'll want to sit down and have a look at Latino Review's script review. More...
February 12, 2009:
A Director on Elm Street?
Has "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video director Samuel Bayer been hired to helm the "Nightmare on Elm Street" reboot? That's the word from Steven Zeitchik's sources. More...
February 10, 2009:
Nightmare on Elm Street Reboot Targets Early 2010
Saying we can expect to hear some casting news in the next month, producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form have given Collider some more updates on their "Nightmare on Elm Street"... More...
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