Director: Wes Craven
Year: 1984
Country: USA
Runtime: 91 min

Also released as

Freddy - Chapitre 1 - Les Griffes de la nuit
Pesadilla en la Calle Elm
Freddy 1 - Les Griffes de la nuit
Freddy 1
Nightmare on Elm Street 1 - Mörderische Träume
Pesadilla en lo profundo de la noche
Koszmar z Ulicy Wiązów
Pesadilla en Elm Street
Nightmare on Elm Street - Mörderische Träume
Nightmare - Mörderische Träume
Εφιάλτης στο δρόμο με τις λεύκες
Les Griffes de la nuit
Terror på Elm Street
Nightmare - Dal profondo della notte
Pesadelo em Elm Street
Pesadilla en la calle del infierno
Erumu gai no akumu
Painajainen Elm Streetillä
Pesadilla en Elmo Street
A Hora do Pesadelo
Morderisk mareridt
Rémálom az Elm utcában
Noční můra v Elm Street
半夜鬼上床
Qarağac küçəsində qarabasma
Ác Mộng Phố Elm
Қарағаш көшесіндегі қорқыныш
Košmaras Guobu gatveje
Cosmar pe Strada Ulmilor
Страва у Улици брестова
Nočná mora z Elm Street
Mora v ulici brestov
Elm ko'chasidagi kabus
Strava u Ulici brijestova
Кошмари на Елм Стрийт
Жах на вулиці В'язів

Filed under

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Name: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Director: Wes Craven
Genre: Horror, Slasher
Released: 1984
Duration: 91 min

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven.

Craven's best idea: a killer who gets you where you cannot stay awake to avoid him.

goreledger editorial rating: 8/10 · Read the review

Craven's best idea, and one of the few few new premises the slasher produced: a killer who gets you in the one place you cannot stay awake to avoid.

It came from newspaper reports Craven had read about Hmong refugees who died in their sleep after describing nightmares they were afraid to go back into. He kept the detail that the victims fought to stay awake.

The mechanic gives the film something the others lack, which is escalating exhaustion. Nancy is the only final girl in the cycle who researches, sets traps and solves the problem rather than outlasting it.

New Line was nearly bankrupt and this film is the reason the company existed for the next twenty years.

Freddy has a personality here, which was a mistake the sequels rode into the ground until he was doing one-liners in a Nintendo Power Glove. In this one he barely speaks.

Goreledger editorial rating

8 / 10

A killer who gets you in the one place you cannot stay awake, which gives the film escalating exhaustion the other slashers lack. Nancy researches and sets traps. Freddy barely speaks here, which is why he works.

Our opinion, not an average. How we rate