A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writer:

Wes Craven

Stars:

John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Saxon	...	Lt. Donald Thompson
Ronee Blakley	...	Marge Thompson
Heather Langenkamp	...	Nancy Thompson
Amanda Wyss	...	Christina 'Tina' Gray
Jsu Garcia	...	Rod Lane (as Nick Corri)
Johnny Depp	...	Glen Lantz
Charles Fleischer	...	Dr. King
Joseph Whipp	...	Sgt. Parker
Robert Englund	...	Fred Krueger
Lin Shaye	...	Teacher
Joe Unger	...	Sgt. Garcia
Mimi Craven	...	Nurse (as Mimi Meyer-Craven)
Jack Shea	...	Minister
Ed Call	...	Mr. Lantz
Sandy Lipton	...	Mrs. Lantz

Storyline

On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends including Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Freddy Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Freddy tries to pick off his victims one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?

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Plot Keywords:

dream | nightmare | freddy krueger | victim | psychopath | 

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Taglines:

A scream that wakes you up, might be your own...

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 November 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

Les griffes de la nuit

Filming Locations:

1419 N. Genesee Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,271,000 (USA) (9 November 1984)

Gross:

$26,505,000 (USA) (31 May 1985)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Media Home Entertainment, Smart Egg Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original script, Freddy was a child molester, however the decision was made to change him into being a child murderer to avoid accusations of exploiting a series of child molestations in California around the time of production.

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Goofs

Obvious stunt double for Nancy when she is pulled underwater. The double also has blonde hair. (In the audio commentary actress Heather Langenkamp is watching this scene, and she embarrassingly says, "That is not me!")

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Quotes

Nancy: [Before going to sleep to find Freddy] Okay Krueger, we play in your court.

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Connections

Referenced in The Cleveland Show: Beer Walk! (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Nightmare"
Performed by 213
Written and Produced by Martin Kent, Steve Karshner, Michael Schurig

User Reviews

Whatever you do, don't fall asleep

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