A Nightmare On Elm Street

Series Ranking

1.A Nightmare On Elm Street
2.A Nightmare On Elm Street 4
3.A Nightmare On Elm Street 3
4.A Nightmare On Elm Street 2
5.A Nightmare On Elm Street 5
6.New Nightmare
7.Freddy's Dead

A Nightmare On Elm Street is one of my favorite films ever made, and frankly it is a perfect film. You're no doubt aware of the premise, Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) and her friends' dreams are haunted by the same shadowy, cackling figure, with knives for fingers and burnt decaying skin. His name, Fred Krueger. Now if Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all.


From its first frame it oozes atmosphere, as the film opens in what can only be described as the boiler room from hell, where a hellish blacksmith is fashioning a murder weapon made from a glove and kitchen knives. The sound design in this film is second to none, the room is filled with the sound of livestock, babies wailing, and the jarring screeching of metal against metal. Wes Craven was a master at doing a whole lot with a little budget.

This film is innovative in many ways, first, Tina's death. Tina is set up as the final girl in the opening and is quickly dispatched within the first fifteen mins of the film, in one of the most gruesome and horrific ways possible. Craven begins the movie by breaking all the rules and doesn't stop there.

Instead of the lead antagonist being a silent, slow moving killer, as is the case with pretty much every single slasher film prior to Elm Street's release, Robert Englund's Fred Krueger is very vocal, taunting the teens while he dispatches them one by one. His aim is clear, he isn't interesting in simply killing them, he wants to torture and traumatize them; something that completely sets Krueger apart from Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers.

This film holds up for me every single time i watch it.
I cannot express how much I love this movie.
It is a staple of horror cinema, is wickedly creative and sadistic,
and has a central core moral message, you can only overcome your fears by tackling them head on.

A Nightmare On Elm Street part 2: Freddy's Revenge fits in a strange place in the franchise for several reasons, the first being that it sits between arguably two of the best entries in the franchise, the second being that it tries something totally different and the third, that it has an awful lot of subtext for a slasher film, that was definitely ahead of its time while having a few out of place, downright bizarre and silly moments


The subtext I'm talking about is that the film plays with the idea of repressed homosexuality, quite explicitly, however it feels like its held back by the time it was made, you can tell that the writers wanted to lean into it more but had to settle for a more generic message of love overcoming evil, which in this context doesn't work as the leads love interest is female, when he is absolutely one hundred percent gay. Due to this its message becomes muddled, but it tried to be progressive and you have to give it credit for that as it was the 1980's afterall.

The premise this time around is that Freddy is trying to possess the body of a teenage boy who's family occupy the former Thompson residence. Its the first and last time possession was ever involved in the nightmare franchise, again, the film tried something new, and its the strongest aspect of the film. Mark Patton's acting sells you on Jesse Walsh's struggle, both with his sexuality and with the dream demon that's trying to possess his body, The film may get silly in areas but the central story works.

It also features my favorite Freddy Krueger design. Englund's make up is darker and more demonic and gaunt than in any of the other films.
other than that, it's not the best entry in the franchise.

It has both ridiculous and iconic moments for every spontaneously combusting parrot (yes, that happens in this film) there is the moment where Freddy massacres an entire party and says the now iconic line "you're all my children now"

Its a mixed bag but its mostly good.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, this is the fan favorite out of the whole series but for me it sits just below the original. Don't get me wrong I love it, I love the cast, I love the concept, that being, a group of teens in a mental asylum, led by Nancy Thompson take on Freddy using their newly discovered dream powers. The original film is perfect, dream warriors while great is just loads of fun but it is still an 80's classic.

Its where the series veered completely into the fantastical and with a series like Elm Street it works. Freddy is more vocal and wise cracking this time around, though he is admittedly as cruel and as evil as he has ever been, with the infamous "vein puppet" kill standing out as one of the darkest kills in horror history.

The film also does a great job of expanding on the lore and introducing the audience to the tale of Freddy's origin as "the bastard son of 100 maniacs". The practical effects are great as always and the film is definitely one of the best horror sequels ever made. Oh and the soundtrack by Dokken is killer.

A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master, I may be one of the few people who loves this film as much as dream warriors. Everything about it works for me, it has the best soundtrack of all the elm street movies, (Tuesday Knight, who fills in for Patricia Arquette, actually sings the title track, "Nightmare"), it has extremely inventive kills and great practical effects; it has some of Freddy's best moments in the entire franchise and it features the single best protagonist of the entire franchise in Lisa Wilcox's Alice.


I don't understand why it isn't rater higher on most people's lists, to me its a perfect continuation of dream warriors, it has the same tone and strikes the perfect balance between dark fantasy and horror. It does the characters from dream warriors justice, although it does kill them off, it doesn't do it unceremoniously and without purpose. While it is a shame that Arquette couldn't reprise her role as Kristen, Tuesday Knight is a good stand in and the more you watch the film the less you notice Kristen's role is played by a different actress.

I really want a new Nightmare on Elm Street film to continue Alice's story, while part 5 does just that, part 5 was laden with so many problems it doesn't feel like a proper goodbye to the only person to truly best Freddy Krueger. I'd love to see Lisa Wilcox return for a legacy sequel.

In closing, I unashamedly love Elm Street part 4.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, they sure don't make horror sequels like they used to....and in dream child's case, maybe that's not a bad thing. This is a weird, oddball of a film. Immediately its completely inferior to every film that came before it, yes even Elm street part 2, because the plot is so utterly ridiculous even for this franchise it just doesn't work.
Freddy the time around is trying to bond with Alice's unborn child so he can possess it and be born again.
Its an utterly stupid idea, that is laughable both in concept and execution.

Englund's make up this time around is absolutely awful, the practical effects while still technically good are unbelievably weird and so out there that they literally make me laugh out loud at how silly they are.

There's nothing I particularly like about this film but,
it still manages to be somewhat entertaining even though it is completely jumping the shark and doing somersaults over its head.

I like one sequence where one of Freddy's soon to be victims uses his dream power to turn into a comic book character, in a way that's very similar to dream warriors but not enough is done with it and he's quickly killed. I think Lisa Wilcox gives as good a performance as she can given the material, I think Robert Englund knows exactly what kind of a film he's in and is there to just have a good time and pick up another paycheck for another Elm street movie.

I think that some effort was made with the practical effects and how surreal some of the concepts are. But that doesn't mean this is a good film, because it isn't, its just entertaining, a bit dull, and very very silly but its a nightmare on elm street, so for some reason I have seen it most likely over ten times by this point in my life, such is the love I have for this series.

Freddy's dead: The Final Nightmare is an abomination, it is an unusual and clashing mix of looney toons esque humor with an exploration into childhood abuse and the traumatic background of Freddy Krueger, it makes no sense whatsoever.

It is a stupid, boring, silly movie. It is absolutely dreadful in every conceivable way, even Robert Englund can't stave this steaming pile of trash. The best thing about it is the opening song from the Goo Goo Dolls, everything after that is utterly painful to sit through, it is unbelievably bad. It ranges from being hilariously stupid, (Freddy puts a victim in a video game and uses his glove as a controller) to being flat out boring. It doesn't even feel like it belongs in the series, it is so out of left field. It feels like it was made by people who have never watched a nightmare on elm street and don't understand the general tone of the series.

The make up for Freddy is the worst it has been by far and the  Freddy's reworked backstory is utterly ridiculous.

The entire film is an embarrassment to the series and whoever wrote this trash should be ashamed. Krueger deserves better and so do we.