A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984 · Movie · R · 91 min · ★ 7.3 · 85% critics
In a quiet suburb, a group of teens share the same terrifying nightmares—and the consequences start spilling into real life. As fear and sleeplessness spread, one determined teenager digs into a long-buried past and tries to stop a vengeful presence that attacks when they’re most vulnerable: asleep.
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Details
- Years
- 1984
- Release date
- 1984-11-09
- Language
- English
- Rated
- R
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Critic score
- 85/100
- TMDB rating
- 7.3/10 (5,738 votes)
- Budget
- $1,800,000
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a classic, creative slasher that turns sleep into the main source of dread, with eerie humor and memorable scares; Not for you if you dislike nightmare logic, older effects, or intense teen peril like in Funny Games.
Pros: iconic dream-stalker villain; scary, inventive set pieces; tense dream-reality blur | Cons: some uneven acting; a few confusing moments; effects show their age
Themes
- dreams
- nightmare
- psychopath
- sleep
- child murder
- supernatural
- ohio
- murder
- slasher
- trapped
- alcoholic
- boiler room
- +16 more
Cast & crew
John Saxon
as Lt. Donald Thompson
Ronee Blakley
as Marge Thompson
Heather Langenkamp
as Nancy Thompson
Amanda Wyss
as Tina Gray
Jsu Garcia
as Rod Lane
Johnny Depp
as Glen Lantz
Charles Fleischer
as Dr. King
Joseph Whipp
as Sergeant Parker
Robert Englund
as Fred Krueger
Lin Shaye
as Teacher
Directed by Wes Craven