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A Nightmare on Elm Street Poster

A Nightmare on Elm Street

If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming she won't wake up at all.
1984 | 91m | English

(280330 votes)

TMDb IMDb

Popularity: 11 (history)

Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Wes Craven
Staring:
Details

Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...
Release Date: Nov 09, 1984
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Wes Craven
Genres: Horror
Keywords child murder, dreams, sleep, ohio, nightmare, supernatural, psychopath, murder, slasher, trapped, alcoholic, boiler room, booby trap, disfigurement, medical test, nightmare becomes reality, caffeine, shocking, vexed, frantic, grim, desperate, anxious, supernatural horror, suspenseful, frightened, teen scream, suburban gothic
Production Companies New Line Cinema, Smart Egg Pictures, Cinema 84, Media Home Entertainment, The Elm Street Venture
Box Office Revenue: $57,004,513
Budget: $1,800,000
Updates Updated: Aug 01, 2025 (Update)
Entered: Apr 13, 2024
Trailers and Extras

Full Credits

Name Character
Heather Langenkamp Nancy Thompson
Robert Englund Freddy Krueger
Johnny Depp Glen Lantz
John Saxon Lieutenant Thompson
Ronee Blakley Marge Thompson
Amanda Wyss Tina Gray
Jsu Garcia Rod Lane
Charles Fleischer Dr. King
Joseph Whipp Sergeant Parker
Ed Call Mr. Lantz
Sandy Lipton Mrs. Lantz
Lin Shaye Teacher
Joe Unger Sergeant Garcia
Mimi Craven Nurse
Jack Shea Minister
David Andrews Foreman
Jeff Levine Coroner
Donna Woodrum Mrs. Gray
Shashawnee Hall Cop #1
Carol Pritikin Cop #2
Brian Reise Cop #3
Ash Adams Surfer #1
Don Hannah Surfer #2
Leslie Hoffman Hallguard
Paul Grenier Mrs. Gray's Boyfriend
Chris Tashima Boy in Nancy's English Class (uncredited)
Name Job
Jacques Haitkin Director of Photography
Patrick McMahon Editor
Annette Benson Casting
Gregg Fonseca Production Design
Anne H. Ahrens Set Decoration
Dana Lyman Costume Design
Rick Shaine Editor
John H. Burrows Production Manager
Amy Rabins Production Supervisor
Stephen Abramson Production Executive
Nicholas Batchelor First Assistant Director
Kathryn Weygand Script Supervisor
Anne S. Coffey First Assistant Camera
Joyce Rudolph Still Photographer
Lisa C. Cook Production Coordinator
Craig Pointes Location Manager
Scott Buttfield Gaffer
Nelson Elwell Grip
Dorree Cooper Set Dresser
John Krenz Reinhart Jr. Construction Coordinator
John Stadelman Property Master
Kara Lindstrom Assistant Property Master
Timaree McCormick Assistant Property Master
Lisa Jensen Costume Supervisor
Terence McCorry Costumer
RaMona Fleetwood Hairstylist
James LaRue Sound Mixer
Chuck Clarke Transportation Coordinator
Brian Delahanty Transportation Captain
Peter C. Graupner Second Assistant Director
Jim Picciolo Animal Wrangler
Jess Soraci Supervising Sound Editor
Abe Nejad Assistant Sound Editor
Jack Cooley Sound Re-Recording Mixer
Anthony Cecere Stunt Coordinator, Stunts
Leslie Hoffman Stunts
Paul Shaver Stunts
Kerrie Cullen Stunts
Bruce Carson Stunts
Cindy Wills Stunts
Lou Carlucci Special Effects Assistant
Larry Lapointe Special Effects Assistant
Charles Belardinelli Special Effects Assistant
Tassilo Baur Special Effects Assistant
Don Pike Stunts
Wes Craven Writer, Director
Charles Bernstein Original Music Composer
Dan Perri Title Designer
Rachel Talalay Assistant Production Manager
Don Diers Art Department Assistant
David B. Householter Set Production Assistant
Jeff Habberstad Stunts
Debby Porter Stunts
Name Title
John Burrows Producer
Stanley Dudelson Executive Producer
Joseph Wolf Executive Producer
Sara Risher Producer
Robert Shaye Producer
Organization Category Person
Popularity Metrics

Popularity History


Year Month Avg Max Min
2024 4 48 71 35
2024 5 50 64 41
2024 6 51 92 34
2024 7 60 87 33
2024 8 49 64 38
2024 9 52 68 46
2024 10 83 144 46
2024 11 63 119 45
2024 12 50 64 43
2025 1 51 78 41
2025 2 47 67 10
2025 3 18 58 3
2025 4 22 76 9
2025 5 15 89 7
2025 6 11 18 8
2025 7 9 10 8
2025 8 10 14 8

Trending Position


Year Month High Avg
2025 8 177 449
Year Month High Avg
2025 7 200 610
Year Month High Avg
2025 6 110 589
Year Month High Avg
2025 5 162 551
Year Month High Avg
2025 4 231 626
Year Month High Avg
2025 3 204 575
Year Month High Avg
2025 2 264 729
Year Month High Avg
2025 1 223 655
Year Month High Avg
2024 12 257 571
Year Month High Avg
2024 11 62 385
Year Month High Avg
2024 10 51 141
Year Month High Avg
2024 9 135 335
Year Month High Avg
2024 8 275 470

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Reviews

John Chard
9.0

Dream Attack. The kids of Elm Street appear to be having the same bad dream, one in which a scarred faced bogeyman in a stripy jumper hunts them with knives attached to his fingers. When the dream becomes a reality for one of the kids, and the worst happens, Nancy Thompson risks all to bring the ... bogeyman into the open. Stupendous horror movie, one that not even the ream of sequels, spin- offs and cartoons could ever diminish. Wes Craven creates a film of utter terror, unleashing one of the genres most famous monsters on the unsuspecting film loving public, with Robert Englund as the hideous Fred Krueger having the time of his life slashing away and delivering oral venom. A number of scenes and sequences are staggeringly memorable, in the process shifting into horror movie folklore. The youthful cast are sensibly written (Craven's screenplay that took inspiration from a true story he read about Cambodian refugees literally dying of nightmares!), they are not dumb these kids, just vulnerable, but led by Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) there may be hope of some survivors? The blurry line between dreams and reality gets a bloody make-over here, creating biblical snoots in the process. In short, essential horror movie for those inclined. 9/10

May 16, 2024
kdumers
10.0

5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My personal favorite slasher horror film that goes well with my Halloween costume, which itself is an accessory to this horror treasure of the 1980s decade!!! ...

Apr 02, 2022
SoSmooth1982
8.0

The nightmare that started it all. Made us all scared to go to to sleep. My favorite horror series next to Friday the 13th. Love this movie. ...

Apr 17, 2023
Geronimo1967
7.0

This is the ultimate in slasher-horror that thrives on the basis that it is, at times, genuinely quite scary, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Robert Englund is super as the legendary "Freddie Krueger" who, complete with his razor sharp right hand, takes over the dreams of the teenage child ... ren of parents who had been responsible for his gruesome death many years earlier. When a terrorised "Nancy" (Heather Langenkamp) begins to put two and two together she sets out with cute boyfriend "Glen" (a first outing for Johnny Depp ) to trap him in her world - and that means drinking enough coffee to sink the Titanic and staying awake! Ronee Blakely does a mean impersonation of Faye Dunaway - as the girl's almost permanently drunk mother (whose battles seem to get larger as the film progresses) too. It doesn't hang about - Wes Craven keeps the pace almost frantic, and there is plenty of humour to keep it's tongue in it's cheek. The effects are limited, but fun, and the whole thing raises more smiles than goosebumps but it's still an entertaining watch 35 year later.

Jun 08, 2023