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While I love horror films, I am not a big fan of the slasher genre, which has come to dominate and indeed practically to define horror since the late 1970s. While I do love the original "Psycho," most slasher films follow a different, and far more predictable, formula. The idea of a faceless killer going around stabbing teenagers just doesn't frighten me a whole lot, though some of these films do fill me with disgust--a rather different sort of emotion.

I am far more frightened by films that deal with distortions of reality, where it's hard for the characters to tell what's real and what's not. Admittedly, that genre isn't always so lofty either. Dreams are one of the most overused devices in the movies, having a whole set of clichés associated with them. We are all familiar with the common scene in which a character awakens from a nightmare by jerking awake in cold sweat. This convention is not only overused, it's blatantly unrealistic, for people waking up from dreams do not jerk awake in such a violent fashion. Moreover, these scenes are usually nothing more than little throwaway sequences designed to amuse or frighten the audience without advancing the plot.

What makes "Nightmare on Elm Street" so clever is how it creates an entirely new convention for representing dreams on screen. The dreaming scenes are filmed with an airy, murky quality, but so are many of the waking scenes, making it very difficult to tell whether a character is awake or asleep. Indeed, the movie never shows any character actually fall asleep, and as a result we are constantly on guard whenever characters so much as close their eyes for a moment. In crucial scenes, it is impossible to tell whether what we are seeing is real or happening only in a character's mind. But the movie ultimately suggests that the difference doesn't matter. The premise of the movie, in which a child-killer haunts teenager's dreams and has the capability of killing them while they're asleep, turns the whole "It was all just a dream" convention on its head: in this movie, the real world is safe, and the dream world is monstrously dangerous.

The movie finds a number of ways to explore this ambiguity, including a bathtub scene that invites comparisons with the shower scene in "Psycho" without being a cheap ripoff. My personal favorite scene, and one of the scariest I've ever seen in a movie, is the one where Nancy dozes off in the classroom while a student is standing up in front of the class reading a passage from Shakespeare. The way the scene transitions from the real classroom to a nightmarish version of it is brilliantly subtle.

The director, Wes Craven, understood that the anticipation of danger is usually more frightening than the final attack. There are some great visual shots to that effect, including one where Freddy's arms becomes unnaturally long in an alleyway, and another where the stairs literally turn into a gooey substance, in imitation of the common nightmare where it is hard to get away from a pursuer. The movie continually finds creative ways to tease the audience, never resorting to red herring, that tired old convention used in almost all other slasher films.

Despite the creativity in these scenes, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is still a formula movie, with relatively one-dimensional characters and no great performances. This was Johnny Depp's first role, as Heather Langenkamp's boyfriend, and although he does get a few neat lines of exposition (his speech about "dream skills"), his personality is not fleshed out, and there is no sense of the great actor Depp would go on to become.

Within the genre, however, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is a fine work. My main criticism isn't its failure to transcend the formula, but its confusing and obtuse ending, apparently put there in anticipation of sequels, but managing to create a mystery that the sequels were unable to clear up. The climactic confrontation between Freddy and Nancy is weakly handled. The crucial words she says to him are surprisingly clunky, and her father's muted behavior during that scene is almost inexplicable. It has led me to consider an alternative interpretation of the scene, but one that feels like a cop-out. The scene that follows, and where the movie ends, is anticlimactic and unnecessary. These clumsily-made final two scenes come close to ruining the movie, and it is a testament to the film's many good qualities that it still stands as an unusually effective horror film that invites repeat viewings.

There have been many periods of film release that have had impact on film history(think "Wizard of Oz","It Happened One Night" and "Gone With the Wind" in 1939 or "Close Encounters" and "Star Wars" in the Summer of 1977,for examples),but one that comes to mind for me was one particular month:November,1984. That's when two somewhat under-budgeted films,James CAmeron's "The Terminator"(which would catapult then-cult figure Arnold Scwarzenegger to super-stardom) and this film,Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Both central characters,the eponymous Terminator and "Nightmare" menace Freddy Krueger would become iconic film images for decades to come.

The plot line of the story's no government secret here: a handful of high schoolers in a seemingly ordinary town in Ohio are being haunted in their dreams by a grotesque figure. When this figure starts murdering each one of the group,it's up to Nancy(Heather Langenkamp),the most stable and level of the group,to ferret out and end the terror. Robert Englund,previously known from supporting character roles and his touching,gentle alien in the "V" mini-series and t.v.series,is able to develop a nearly permanent career as the seemingly indominable child-killer. Wes Craven would redefine his own career,as well as the slasher genre,with this film,where he had previously been known for visceral,uncomfortable shockers like "LAst House on the Left" and "The Hills HAve Eyes".

Definitely worth a look,especially for those who consider themselves horror film buffs.

Nancy is having grisly nightmares. Meanwhile, her high-school friends, who are having the very same dreams, are being slaughtered in their sleep by the hideous fiend of their shared nightmares. When the police ignore her explanation, she herself must confront the killer in her shadowy realm.

This Film Starred: John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp & Johnny Depp.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984 was written and directed by Wes Craven.

In my personal opinion this was a great film, it had it's scary moments which every horror should have unfortunately they did go a bit far on a couple of the sequels which got rather low ratings on here. Not all of the sequels are bad, for example I am a fan of 3 & 4 but sequels like 2 & 5 ARE GIVING THE Freddy movies a bad name and are shadowing the excellence of this movie in particular. People seem to recognise Freddy Krueger as the burnt serial killer with knives for fingers who appeared in all them bad films. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 is not one of them films and should be recognised as a the great movie it is. I highly recommend this film to all fans of the horror genre.

****/***** Very Good.

The "Nightmare" has been recently on in our TV and I must admit that even after those fourteen years it made a deep impression on me. I saw the film for the first time in 1989 and at that time I was scared because I was just a teenager then. But now, I can see that the film has got something unique, which makes the film different from other horror movies. I think it`s down to the basic idea of this film - dreams and everything that can happen in our dreams sometimes become true. The authors of this film did not have to be bound with the need to stay realistic and that opens a free way to their wildest imaginations. Charles Bernstein`s music in this movie has become clasic and we can hear the basic melodic motive in some of the sequels. Original music composed by different authors in the sequels to this first Nightmare stays far far behind Bernstein`s masterpiece.

I am written this review In Memorie of my all time favorite the best horror director Wes Craven that sadly is no longer with us anymore. On August 30th 2015, Craven died of brain cancer at home in Los Angeles. I am doing this for him.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American supernatural Classic slasher horror film written and directed by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

The best horror flick I have ever seen.I love this film to death, I love it!!! It is one of my personal favorite horror movies. It is my number 1 favorite film in the franchise it stays in my heart forever. I am a big fan of this film I even have a poster hang on door in my room, my girlfriend give it to me as gift. I love some other films of Wes Craven that he directed like are New Nightmare, Scream, Shocker,The People Under the Stairs, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) for me will be always in the genre the best slasher classic horror film written and directed by Wes Craven. He gave us Freddy Krueger which was followed six sequels one crossover and one remake after success of the first film that gross $26.505.000 in USA. The sequel after the first film A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge was refused from Wes Craven to work on the film because he never wanted or intended A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) to become an ongoing franchise (and even wanted the first film to have a happy ending), and also because he didn't like the idea of Freddy manipulating the protagonist into committing the murders. The sequel for me wasn't a good movie after the original was released. My top 5 films of We Craven would be A Nightmare On Elm Street, Scream , New Nightmare, Shocker and The People Under the Stairs.

The first film is so original, realistic, and overall terrifying horror classic slasher flick that is actually happening in dreams, a sociopath child killer with sharp clawed glove who has knives in stead for a fingers, can enter into your dreams. If he kills you in your dreams, you're dead for real. The main protagonist is Nancy Thompson a teenager where her friends start dying and are killed one by one from Freddy Krueger, she try's to warn people from Freddy coming in to their dreams, but no one listens to her not her father the Sheriff not her mom or her friends. Her parents hold a dark secret from her long ago. She is alone in this and she has to fight him by her self by going back in to her dreams and get Freddy out of her dream in to the real world. Nancy the character was so clever, smart and intense carefully. She was awesome unique legendary heroine did you see how she put booby-traps for Freddy? Awesome!

Tina Grey played by Amanda Wyss, is really good in her role for the short time she is in this film.

Heather Langenkamp is excellent in her role as the main protagonist in this film. She's legendary unique teen heroine a very attractive,and gives 100% as Tina's friend Nancy Thompson who starts to have the same nightmares.

Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger the actor's contribution to the character is 100% superb. I think that Freddy Kruegar IS Robert Englund and vice versa, even though a lot of his moments in this film are about injecting a scary visual presence, he also creates a mystic before the film's revelation: Who is he? Where does he come from? Why is he doing these things? After the third film of the series, Englund would become a Hollywood star and a horror icon. For me Robert Englund will be the only Freddy Krueger I love him in all Nightmare films.

John Saxon as Lt. Donald Thompson, Nancy's dad was fantastic in his role and his performance.

Johnny Depp in his first role as Glen Lantz was awesome, I seriously loved him in 21 Jump Street TV Series and today I still love him in Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.

I love the main theme Nightmare Freddy Krueger score from Charles Bernstein and I love the song at the of the credits Nightmare by 213.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) is the best classic slasher film,one of the best horror movies ever made. It is one of my personal favorite horror movies. My number one favorite horror film in the franchise and it will always be the best one in the series. I have always enjoyed seeing this film, it is fast paced, entertaining, not boring or over long film, but short and very intense from the beginning till the end. I love this movie death. 10/10 Grade: Bad Ass Seal Of Approval

Every small-town neighborhood has an old legend that never dies. For the residents of Elm Street, Fred Krueger is the demonic soul that plagues their nightmares. Krueger was an evil child molester, burned alive by the parents of the children he had slain in the past. Now, years later, he has reappeared in the nightmares of Elm Street's teenagers. Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) continually experiences these haunting visions in which the permanently scarred man chases her through the shadows of a boiler room -- the same room in which he used to slay his helpless victims. Nancy considers her dreams to be typical nightmares one of her best friends is apparently "sliced" to death during a deep sleep in her home.

Soon Nancy's dreams become worse, and her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) admits that he has also been experiencing unpleasant nightmares. Together they uncover the truth behind Krueger's death years ago, and vow to stay awake as long as they can and strategize a plan to bring Krueger back into the "real world" and kill him once and for all.

Loosely based on true events, Wes Craven's inspiration for the tale originated after he reportedly read that a number of people across the world had died in their slumber. Blending fantasy with reality, Craven wrote and directed one of the most iconic horror films of all time, which -- similar to "Halloween" before it -- spawned an inferior legion of sequels and imitators, all of which continue to pale in comparison to the original.

The brilliance of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is that it relies on psychological fear vs. cheap exploitation tricks. "Halloween," directed by John Carpenter and released in 1978, had re-sparked interest in the Hitchcock-style horror/thrillers, and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" builds upon this, cleverly channeling the mystery surrounding dreams and using it as a gateway for chills and thrills. Midway through the movie, a doctor played by Richard Fleischer tells Nancy's mother that the process of dreams -- where do they come from? -- has yet to be explained, and the fact that all humans tend to have dreams on a regular basis is essentially why this film remains so scary, even by today's standards. Some of the special effects are quite outdated but, unlike the "Nightmare" imitators, gore plays second to the plot and characters -- something rare in a horror film.

The sequels became sillier and gorier. Fred's name changed to the less menacing "Freddy" (which we all now know him by), he was given more screen time, the makeup on his face was not quite as horrific, he began to crack jokes more often and his voice evolved into a less demonic cackle. In the original "Nightmare" it is interesting to note that Freddy is rarely given screen time at all -- we see his infamous hands (wearing gloves with butter knives attached on the fingers to slice his victims), we see his hat, we see his sweater, we see his outline in the darkness of the shadows, but even when we finally see Freddy up-close, Craven manages to keep the camera moving so that we never gain a distinct image of the killer. Now, twenty years later, there's no mystery anymore -- Freddy's face is featured on the front cover for most of the films and his very presence has become the cornerstone of all the movies in the franchise. But in 1984, long before Craven predicted his character would become a huge part of modern pop culture, Freddy was mysterious and not very funny at all.

The acting is one of the film's weaknesses -- Heather Langenkamp is never totally awe-inspiring as Nancy, truth be told (although she does a decent job); Depp -- in his big-screen debut -- shows a sign of talent to come but basically mutters clichéd dialogue most of the time. The co-stars are acceptable at best. However the greatest performance is -- not surprisingly -- by Robert Englund, as Freddy, who is in the film barely at all. Ironically, as mentioned above, this only makes the film succeed at scaring us.

The direction is not as superb as "Halloween," and for that matter either is the film. Over the years, "Nightmare" has arguably been given an overrated reputation, although it is inferior to "Halloween." However, compared to some of the other so-called "horror films" released during the '80s -- including "Friday the 13th" and other dumb slasher flicks -- "A Nightmare on Elm Street" does seem to stand as one of the best horror films of the decade. Despite its flaws it is quite smart with a surprise "final" ending and one of cinema's greatest villains lurking at the core.

"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is really Nancy's story. The film focuses on Nancy's troubles, Nancy's dreams and Nancy's actions. The ending of the film becomes a bit muddled -- the booby traps are unfortunately a bit goofy and Freddy helplessly (almost humorously) chasing Nancy around her home supposedly trying to murder her is something the film could have done without -- but overall it is a satisfying mixture of horror, thriller and fantasy, a movie that taps into two seldom-recognized everyday events in human life, which are sleeping, and dreaming. Craven's ability to realize this unknown fear in a movie is, needless to say, quite fascinating. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is not a great movie but for horror buffs it is a must-see and for non-horror-buffs there is a fair amount of other elements to sustain one's interest.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the original horror movies. It contains some genuinely creepy moments, but looking at it now, it does show its age. It is a landmark film that helped usher in the "slasher age", but that doesn't make it a good movie.

The whole concept of a monster that kills people in their dreams is a wonderfully original idea, it's only too bad that the execution is less than stellar. Wes Craven was still in his directorial infancy here, and it shows. The terrible acting doesn't help matters, but the characters really don't have anything interesting to say, either. The ending drags the film down further by not giving the film a conclusion of any kind.

What's good about the picture is Freddy. Here he is a monster, plain and simple. No one-liners, just a cold-blooded killer out for revenge.

In short, this is a good movie from a historical perspective. Obviously, the concept of the series is sound in order to carry through six sequels, but the direction and poor acting drag down this particular effort.

The teenagers of Springfield, Illinois are having nightmares. Tina and her best friend Nancy learn that they're dreaming about the same creature, a hideously burned man in a dirty red and green sweater who bears an odd weapon; a glove with razor fingers. When Tina is brutally murdered in her bed one night, suspicion falls upon her volatile boyfriend Rod, who was the only other person in the room with Tina when she died. But Rod swears he didn't do it, and tells Nancy that he too has been suffering from terrible nightmares in which a knife- fingered man is trying to kill him. Nancy begins to suspect that something evil is happening within their dreams, and that perhaps the boogeyman is real. When Rod turns up dead in his jail cell, Nancy is convinced that a ghostly killer is stalking them in their sleep. Her mother, worried for Nancy's sanity, takes her to a dream clinic where her sleep patterns can be monitored. When Nancy awakens screaming from a nightmare with a bloody slash mark on her arm, she shows her mother and the doctor what she has pulled out of her dream: the battered fedora that the killer always wears. The hat bears a name tag: Fred Krueger. Nancy's mother recognizes the name and soon tells Nancy the story of a brutal child killer who had terrorized the town many years ago. When he was released on a technicality, Nancy's parents and the parents of the other nightmare-plagued children hunted Fred Krueger down and burned him alive. Fred Krueger is dead, but he's found a way to return and wreak vengeance upon the children of his killers. Nancy knows that she must find a way to stop him before he kills her and everyone else on Elm Street.

I just sat down and watched this movie again the other day and it's still damn impressive. The acting isn't always the greatest and it looks just the slightest bit dated, but it's still a really damn good movie. It's power lies in the fact that sleep cannot be avoided. In so many other horror movies, the victims are nothing more than vapid cattle wandering dumbly up the slaughterhouse chute and calling out: "Is anyone there?" as they go up. They purposefully get themselves into stupid and dangerous situations and therefore we feel no real pity for them when they are eviscerated. However, in A Nightmare On Elm Street, all the characters have to do to endanger themselves is to go to sleep. Even the most hardcore insomniac (like myself) knows that eventually, sleep will come for you; it is unavoidable. We cannot blame our cast for wandering around doing stupid things in their dreams, because how many of us have had dreams in which we show up for work naked? Very rarely are we in control of our dreams, and in A Nightmare On Elm Street, the only person in control is Freddy Krueger.

Robert Englund as Freddy is flawless. Before this movie was released, the boogeymen of horror films had always been hulking, silent, expressionless shapes usually hidden way behind masks. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But Englund gave us a new kind of Boogeyman - a smartass. Freddy is hideously burned, covered in scar tissue and has all the fashion sense of a wino, but he's cool. Not content to simply disembowel his screaming victims, Freddy has to tease them a little first, flirting, humiliating or showing off. He makes Tina watch him cut off his own fingers and smiles at her like a drunken uncle who's just pulled a coin out from behind her ear. He sticks his tongue in Nancy's mouth via her telephone. He doesn't waste his sense of humor on the guys in this film, but there's plenty of sequels in which he makes up for that.

This is such a great, innovative film, filled with pretty cool special effects, disturbing sound effects (including scraping metal fingernails and baby goats bleating in terror) and creepy music. The boiler room is an especially unnerving set, complete with hissing pipes and dripping chains. A young Johnny Depp and his feathery 80s hair make their debut in this film as well, and though his character is about half a million miles away from Captain Jack Sparrow, the raw talent is still very much in evidence here.

This remains the best movie of the Elm Street series, with a few good sequels and some really crappy ones. But Freddy is always worth watching.

The best part about this movie is the whole idea that sleep can kill you in a horrible and gory fashion. Once that is established, Craven does an excellent job of making normally comforting settings such as a soft bed or a warm bubble bath seem menacing. Never before has falling asleep seemed so scary, and it gets better and better as Nancy tries to come up with a solution before she goes crazy from lack of sleep, while surviving on coffee and caffeine pills. It has a very interesting suspense to it. There is also the nicely done part where they try to apply cold hard science to Nancy's problem ("Something's wrong, the numbers are never this high!"). Very cool.

Those are the good parts. The bad parts are the lame acting (excluding Johnny Depp) and the laziness of the script. It really, really hurts this movie that so little attention is paid to the parents. They are barely even IN the movie, even though the entire premise revolves around them! The backstory about these seemingly nice parents, in a quiet suburban town, viciously killing a man (child murderer or not), and keeping it a big town secret, is a neat idea that is just briefly mentioned like an afterthought ("Oh, by the way honey, all of us parents burned a man to death when you were a kid. Now go to bed, OK?"). The implication is that Freddie is getting revenge on the people who killed him by murdering their innocent children, but it's not explained or developed at all. Why is he coming back NOW, for instance? Why not earlier? And why in the world do Nancy's parents completely ignore her? If you murdered a guy years ago, and then your kid, who knows nothing about it, provides an exact description of him in her dreams, wouldn't you think there was something a bit odd going on? It would have been much cooler if they had realized Freddie was killing their kids, and there's nothing they could do about it.

I also hate the ending to this movie. Why do horror movies always have to have such bizarro endings? The climactic battle at the end is awesome, but then it takes such a weird turn--(and I'm not even including the nutty twist here, I'm talking about the father NOT CARING that his wife just got sucked into a bed by a demon!)--that it totally runs out of steam and turns into a horrible, nonsensical train wreck. Roll credits.

If the movie focused more on the parents, and had a decent ending, it would have been a true classic. Instead, it is a mediocre slasher flick with a few interesting elements, which is a real shame.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, one of the scariest movies of all time, and one of the scariest in the 80's. It also introduced one of the scariest villains of all time, Freddy Krueger, one of the ultimate boogeymen that you know who he is just by his name. Wes Craven brought us one of the most terrifying ideas, what would happen if your nightmares were real? That if you died in your dream, you died in real life? He brought us A Nightmare on Elm Street, a low budget horror film that has made it huge in the horror genre's world. The whole concept of the film is just what makes it so brilliant. Not to mention how cool is it that this is Johnny Depp's first film role? Who knew that that kid was going to be so huge one day, right? But the entire cast made this into one of the scariest movies that will always bring you a few nightmares on it's own.

Tina is a girl who has been having tons of nightmares about a scary figure, a man who is severely burned and has knives for fingers. She's so scared of this man that she asks her friends, Nancy, Nancy's boyfriend, Glenn, and her boyfriend, Rod to stay over. But Tina is brutally killed in the middle of the night, the only witness is her boyfriend, leaving him as the suspect of murder. But when he is murdered in jail, Nancy knows there's something wrong and soon she's having the same nightmares as Tina. Soon she knows that she might be next, no one believes her, until her mom reveals a deep dark secret about the mysterious figure, Freddy Krueger. He was a sick child molester/killer who the neighbors burned alive to keep him away, but now he's after their kids and he's not going to take it easy on Nancy.

A classic horror film that's perfect for a sleep over with your friends to watch in the dark. It's such a great film that sparked quite a few sequels and a new icon for slasher films. Freddy Krueger is so cool and extremely scary just for the fact that he's so confident in knowing that he will kill you. He's ruthless, scary, and clever and he's coming to kill the kids in their dreams. A Nightmare on Elm Street is such a great film and I highly recommend it, Wes Craven is an original genius who spawned a new type of terror.

10/10

Well, this was the beginning of "Freddy Kreuger," who certainly became famous in the horror movie genre. Of those horror films that spawned numerous sequels (this one, Halloween, etc.) this was the best of the "opening" shows. It definitely is frightening.

It has the usual crude teenagers, some gratuitous sex and wild Krueger scenes and is probably best-noted for showing Johnny Depp's film debut. Boy, does he look young! He looks about 16 years old, as does Heather Langenkamp, who went on to play in several more of these Nightmare stories. This was the only movie in which she was foul-mouthed. Nice to see Rony Blackley, too.

Wes Craven certainly started this series off with a bang.

Wes Craven created Freddy Krueger and when he did the world of Horror welcomed a great new character to its screens (or should that be its Screams).

Freddy, a child murderer in life, now hunts the children of the men and women that killed him, while they sleep.

Very gory, tense and full of over the top deaths scenes A Nightmare on Elm Street brought something new to the Horror Genre, and will go down in history in recognition of this.

The rarity of the film, is the character of Freddy, because he actually has character without distracting from the terror (in this outing at least)

Thanks Wes

9/10

Throughout my entire life, I have encountered countless references to "A Nightmare on Elm Street" on television (especially in The Simpsons), so seeing it for the first time had a special spice for me.

The title of this review perfectly describes this film: it is a classic, no one doubts it, but it goes no further than that, that is, a classic is not necessarily a great film, and this is the case.

I think what caught my attention the most about this film is the acting, for the worse. The protagonist (Heather Langenkamp) plays a disastrous role. The rest of the cast is a disaster too. I think the only saving grace is Johnny Deep's performance, which, by the way, is not fantastic either.

I wouldn't recommend or watch this movie again, but I don't think it was a waste of time either. I spent an hour and a half of entertainment, enjoying a classic that every horror lover must see.

My score is 5/10, approved.

I was born in 1995, and I just had my first watch now in 2023, and for me it was a waste of time, at the time certainly was interesting judging by the nostalgic reviews but for newer audiences like me, is just goofy and cringe.

It didn't feel scarier at all and the history events were predicable, some stuff just hurts any logic like, going to school the next day after your friend was murdered in a gruesome way, like c'mon... the acting was bland the characters dumb.

The concept is good but poorly done and i'm not even considering the special effects that are dated (obviously) wouldn't recommend.

This movie might very well be one of the best horror movies of all time, together with movies like "Poltergeist", "Dawn of the Dead (1978)" "The Exorcist" and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)".

I didn't expected it to be but this movie was just brilliant. Certainly the best slasher movie ever made. There are several things that make this movie a good horror classic. Of course the classic 'killer' Freddy Kruger is one of them. Another thing is the concept. Yes, the story of course is just simply ridiculous at times but it's the perfect concept to fill a movie with, with some scary scene's and brutal killings with tons of blood.

The movie has the same scary gritty atmosphere like a horror movie from the 70's, when the horror genre was at an all-time high.

The actors are giving their best but some of the dialog is just plain cheesy. Still I think that the actors should deserve more credit then they are getting right now, especially Johnny Depp made a impressive movie debut. The talent was already showing, back then. His role in this movie was way bigger than I expected it to be by the way.

Really entertaining horror classic. Some things might look cheesy, especially the ending (I really laughed my butt off!) and the story in general but the atmosphere, gore and Kruger make up everything! Guess you have to be a fan of the genre to fully appreciate it though.

10/10

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"A Nightmare on Elm Street" is so original, realistic, and overall terrifying that it is easy to overlook the film's numerous shortcomings. The film deals with a deceased child molester who now lives only through the dreams of the children of those who cooked him to death. Robert Englund is truly frightening as Freddy Krueger, a dark figure whose only purpose is to kill all the siblings of his killers. The knife-styled finger glove has become a trademark of this amazing character who was created by writer-director Wes Craven. The film goes for suspense, drama, and gore and delivers for the most part. None of the characters are developed very well, but most do not live to see the end of the film so it really does not matter. A great horror film that still delivers today. Ignore the endless sequels, they each detract from this truly original and interesting film. Look for a young Johnny Depp as one of the unlucky teens. 4 out of 5 stars

Looking back at the world of film in the '80s you will notice that overall it was a fairly disastrous and disappointing time for cinema. It was a time where focus was spent on money, fame and fortune, rather than talent and a decade that introduced the rise of the sequel. It was also a very popular decade for horror films, particularly slasher films and yet there are very few exceptional horror achievements from the '80s. I've never been too fond of horror as a genre. I find it a clichéd and unproductive genre; although it is a genre that has so much going for it and when done accurately you might be lucky enough to have the pleasure a skin-crawling masterpiece. You see, horror needs imagination and originality to work; it has to blend genre elements together to craft something genuinely unique. Horror is a genre that has so much to offer. Alas, it is a sad fact when you acknowledge just how little is accomplished due to focus on spawning money-laundering, gore-filled sequels. Yet, there is something so appealing about Wes Craven's triumphant '80s classic…

A Nightmare on Elm Street is crafted around the now infamous "bogeyman" story, which has become somewhat globalising by marketing sequels and Halloween costumes. The film follows the story of a group of suburban American teens who are being stalked in their dreams by a murdered, superficial serial-killer named Freddy Krueger. So the teens decide to fight against the creature inside their dreams. The film is centred on a heroine (a popular Wes Craven trend, e.g. Scream) and oddly reminisces specific elements of John Carpenter's masterpiece Halloween.

A Nightmare on Elm Street undoubtedly has its flaws, although these are flaws that are disguised by some of the truly brilliant factors that the film holds. Yes, it has become somewhat dated, yes, the young actors/actresses hold nothing special performance wise, yes, the film is at times cheesy and yes the script is extremely bland. But when you have the brilliance of a film where the editing manages to create a parallel universe, thereby the dimension of reality and dream-state are fused together (the viewer notes the film's dimension through subtleties in the direction) creating a horribly surreal and literal nightmare. A Nightmare on Elm Street is extremely intelligent in the way it wants to attack your sub-conscious. This is another method at creating a lasting fear for viewers unnerved by the actual viewing of the film and rather will be thinking about it when they are ready to fall asleep. Fact is, everyone can relate to A Nightmare on Elm Street due to the fact that everybody has had nightmares and this is the reason for it being considered (for some) a terrifying film.

Filmed on a low-budget and using a mixture of dizzying camera techniques A Nightmare on Elm Street does not stop at being unique. The use of a few set-pieces and masterful props are perfect at creating the atmosphere for a horror film. There is a strong use of poignant lighting and shadow techniques scattered throughout the film. These take wonderful focus on the grotesque make-up for the iconic villain Freddy Krueger. Wes Craven uses sly editing processes and music to delve inside the film's story. The narrative has been paced at a steady speed, never feeling rushed and unnecessary meaning that you are inside the tension throughout the entire running-time. There is an amusing touch of dark comedy littered throughout the film, primarily gained from Krueger's insane antics. It really is a shame that Hollywood is obsessed with making unnecessary sequels to solid films which get away with unexpected climaxes and open endings. The American film industry seems to be obsessed by the idea of having everything wrapped up in a tight package for today's audiences.

If you want a highly entertaining, influential, iconic and productive horror film then look no further than A Nightmare on Elm Street. It remains fantasy horror at the top of its game and a respectful ode to '80s cinema.

I love A Nightmare On Elm Street. Every time i watch this i think it has a terrific energy and strength running through it. I like the way the film starts with Freddy Kruegar making his Finger Knife Glove in his basement cellar, then the music kicks in (what a creepy score) as the first teenager is frantically running around his maze-like Boiler Room in her dream state. Freddy is only hinted at in the shadows or ripping through cloth with his glove and i love the way you can hear animals and creepy noises emitting from all around Tina, as she becomes cornered before Freddy comes out of the shadows. A great opening.

Tina Grey is played by Amanda Wyss, who is really good in her role for the short time she is in this film. I always remember her character in this film the way i remember the Chrissie Watkins character at the start of Jaws, i think you know what i'm coming too. Tina's encounter with Freddy in her backyard is my favourite moment in this film, and it is one of the most horrifying deaths I've ever seen. Its frightening to see and if you are faint hearted at splashing blood then look away because it is a screamer.

Heather Langenkamp is excellent in this film. Shes very attractive,and gives 100% as Tina's friend Nancy Thompson who starts to have the same nightmares. My favourite moments with Nancy are mostly her scary encounters with Freddy scored to an energetic music beat by Charles Bernstein. I would say part of the movie's success is down to his creepy score. I also love the bathroom scene when Nancy falls asleep, absolutely gross and hilarious at the same time. The thing is, these 'funny' moments are actual imagines of how Freddy wants to prey on his victims before killing them, this is done in this first film with a measured discipline, then you watch The Dream Master and Freddy is basically killing kids while being 100% comic about it as well.

One of my favourite other scenes in this film is when Nancy is following Tina's corpse down her School halls (having falling asleep)and runs into a prefect women who states 'Wheres your pass?' Nancy doesn't respond in kind, and as she goes running down the hall, the girl reveals herself to be Freddy 'No running in the hallway' an eerie moment that is funny too.

Finally, special mention must go to Robert Englund as Freddy Kruegar. This actor's contribution to the character is 100% superb. I think that Freddy Kruegar IS Robert Englund and vice versa, even though a lot of his moments in this film are about injecting a scary visual presence, he also creates a mystic before the film's revelation: Who is he? Where does he come from? Why is he doing these things? After the third film of the series, Englund would become a Hollywood star and a horror icon. Rightfully so.

A Nightmare On Elm Street is a classic horror thriller and, along with Halloween, is one of the best horror movies ever made.

As for myself I was not scared of this movie, it is movies like The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn Sequels that scare me. But A Nightmare ON Elm Street was fabulous and very creepy, Freddy Krueger did a fantastic job but was much included but had good step in's. The death scenes were great and really creeped me out, the story was good and they built up the suspension to whatever was gonna happen. The ending I have to say was really inventive, in fact this movie is one of the best horror flicks I have watched. But- A Nightmare ON Elm Street should improve on their settings and scenes and for the up coming NOES Remake I suggest they improve the terror, violence, scenes and add some more action into it. Other than that it really was worth watching and have already watched the second one. 7/10

A legendary horror with one of the most popular slasher killers of the 80s-90s. The beginning of this franchise turned out to be more than successful, an original idea with a mysterious maniac and an atmosphere, it is in this part that the intrigue of horror is most sustained.

The young cast is quite good, it was here that Johnny Depp started, Freddie has not yet become that charismatic killer with his jokes, as in subsequent parts. So far, he is more secretive and tries to instill fear in all the victims.

Many people at that time were afraid to sleep after watching, nowadays it's hard to scare you with this movie, but you'll still get pleasure!

Let me say i am a HUGE fan of slashers. I don't know why i do, they are just so entertaining to me. Fredy Krueger is one of my favorite slasher villains ever, but is the movie actually worth to watch? First off, i will be writing 2 reviews. one from my point of view as a fan of slasher films, and one from a open minded view.

1. OK as a fan of Krueger and slasher films, i must say i love the hell out of this movie. Just the atmosphere and the creepyness of Krueger just really hit the spot. It wasn't much of a scary fim..but it still had its moments. The killing scenes were nice and gory and violent. the way Krueger scares people is also interesting. He freaks them out in there dreams until they just think nothing can happen to me...but when he kills them in there sleep they die for real. just such a brilliant idea to me. 8 stars out of 10.(remember this is coming from my fan side.) 2. OK to look at it openmindedlly. It was above average..I thought the plot of the movie was decent..nothing amazing but nothing bad. suitable for a horror movie. The cast of the movie was great. Robert did a excellent job as Krueger and it looked like he really got into the character. Everyone else in the movie did a fine job also. the lighting and effects in the movie are pretty good as far as a 1980's flick. The music was kinda weird don't really have a comment on it. The climax of the movie was eh..pretty good but not that great. I thought it was kinda rushed out. As soon as she figures out she has to bring him to the real world. the climax just hits you across the face. not in a good way. i feel as soon as the climax began, it ended at the same time. because it went by so fast. Not the best horror movie or movie of all time, but definitely worth seeing for any movie-goer.

On Elm Street, the teenager Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) has a creepy nightmare with a burned man wearing a glove with blades called Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). She invites her friends Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), who had also a nightmare with Freddy Krueger, and Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) to spend the next night with her, but her boy-friend Rod Lane (Nick Corri) appears in the house and they spend the night together. In the middle of the night, Rod awakes and sees Tina having a nightmare and being sliced. He is accused of murder and arrested by Nancy's father Lt. Thompson (John Saxon), despite the protests of his daughter. When Rod and Glen are mysteriously murdered, Nancy realizes that the only way to defeat the evil Freddy Krueger is bringing him to the real world.

The classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is one of the best horror movies of the 80's and Freddy Krueger is my favorite villain. The story is original, very well written and directed by Wes Craven and is the debut of Johnny Depp in the cinema. As far as I know, the open conclusion was forced by the producers to give a sequel to the saga of Freddy Krueger. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Hora do Pesadelo" ("The Hour of the Nightmare")

I was aware that this movie, along with the Freddy Krueger character, became a massive horror movie franchise. I grew up in the 80s during the era of ubiquitous Freddy dolls and posters, conscious of the fact that he was in this movie and a lot of people seemed to like it, but I had never seen any of the Nightmare movies until recently.

I simply don't understand why this is supposed to be a good movie; I found it barely watchable, and largely laughable. The special effects, even given that the production team did not have the ability to use CG effects at the time, are terrible. It is completely obvious how every single effect was done when they pop up in the movie. Furthermore, many of the scenes contain nonsense character actions that seem to exist only to show off more crappy effects (e.g., when Freddy says, "Watch this," and chops off his prosthetic fingers).

The movie starts off very suddenly, with absolutely no character development. I found it difficult to care about or sympathize with people I don't know anything about, who can't act, with ketchup squirting out of them. I just didn't get it.

The Freddy Krueger character is far too clownish and rubbery to be scary (I've read that it gets even worse in the sequels). The annoying cheesy synthesizer music is far too present in the film, drowning out most of what could have been genuine scares.

The performances in the movie are some of the worst I've ever seen. Johnny Depp, unsurprisingly, turns in one of the less ridiculous ones, but given that this movie has almost no redeeming qualities, he has almost no lines. Heather Langenkamp is a boring, vapid heroine who clearly just can't act. She displays an extremely narrow range of emotions, from tired, to asleep, to sort of tired and angry, to somewhat scared. Speaking of which, she seems alarmingly unconcerned when Freddy Krueger materializes out of nowhere and tries to stab her. Maybe she's just tired.

I will acknowledge that this movie seems to be more creative with the story line and visuals than those that were coming out around that time, and it's more gritty and original than a lot of the slick, boring crap that Hollywood churns out today. Other than that, this movie really isn't anything all that special. It's not scary, it's extremely fake, and the script and performances are terrible.