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A Nightmare on Elm Street

1984

Wes Craven

Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, Johnny Depp, John Saxon ...

6.6

56,064

Horror Teenager Nancy Thompson finds that she and a group of friends are all experiencing identical nightmares wherein they are pursued by a burn-scarred figure in a hat who wields a razor-tipped glove. However, when the figure starts to mutilate them in their nightmares, the group wake up to find cuts and burns on their skin in reality too. Next, Nancy’s friend Tina is killed in the waking world after she is savagely dismembered by the figure ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Paul Attanasio The Washington Post	"The script is consistently witty, the camera work (by cinematographer Jacques Haitkin) crisp and expressive.	POS
United Kingdom	Simon Braund Empire	"What makes Freddy truly terrifying (...) is that he exists not in the real world but in the shadowy realm of dreams (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Nick Schager Slant	"Its bizarre vision of adulthood (...) and its resonant argument in favor of parent-child truthfulness, it also, regrettably, must be held responsible for (...) trash like 'Child’s Play' (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Haleigh Foutch Collider	"Craven crafted a horror film that attacked the visceral and the cerebral in equal measure, with a mythology that would spawn a cult of personality around it’s unkillable villain and an equally unkillable franchise."	POS
United States	David Nusair Reel Film	"A passable piece of work that's not entirely able to live up to its iconic reputation, although one admittedly can't help but admire the off-kilter and sporadically avant-garde bent of Craven's visual choices (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Alan Jones Radio Times	"Bloody special effects and suspenseful murders disguise a somewhat weak script, but the engaging performances (...) make it a top-flight terror classic (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"Still stands on its own as an intriguing and chilling example of how horror works best when the characters and the audience don't have to be lobotomized (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	People Magazine	"[The] kind of movie it’s not the actors’ sweat and tears the audience cares about; it’s only the blood."	POS

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