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Avg. Critic Score: 78 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    ReelViews | James Berardinelli

    A Nightmare on Elm Street is tailor made for those who like their gore leavened with thought-provoking ideas - something that is a rarity in this genre. Read full review

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly |

    Some of the effects remain nicely repulsive; Freddy himself comes across as a genuinely nasty piece of work, far removed from his later incarnation. Read full review

  • 80
    Empire |

    Turning slumberland into a twisted murderer's den is a masterstroke by Craven, who has brought new blood to a genre that seemed as if it might choke on it's own excesses. Read full review

  • 80
    Chicago Reader | J.R. Jones

    Here the idea of sleep as the ultimate threat is still fresh and marvelously insidious, and Craven vitalizes the nightmare sequences with assorted surrealist novelties. Read full review

  • 80
    Variety |

    A Nightmare on Elm Street is a highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times | Vincent Canby

    A Nightmare on Elm Street puts more emphasis on bizarre special effects, which aren't at all bad. Read full review

View more reviews for A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ First feature for knife-handed horror idol Freddy.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this slasher flick has a lot of over-the-top gore and violence, with the qualifier that it's often "nightmare," surreal violence. Nightmare visions include a face being torn off to reveal a staring skull, a geyser of blood pouring out of a victim's bed and pooling in defiance of gravity on the ceiling, and so forth. It's dream-like, but fatalities still result. The young people at the center of the film, though very highly evolved for horror-movie teens circa 1984, are still sexually active and at odds with their parents.
  • Families can talk about the secret guilt that the parents share: that they killed Krueger and covered it up, and now the evil child-murderer is attacking their children rather than them. Considering the old sins-of-the-fathers biblical warning (in slasher-movie clothing), does that change what you think of Freddy and what punishment he deserves? Parents may also be able to make English class seem more interesting to horror-minded kids by mentioning that writer-director Wes Craven was once an English teacher.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: While heroine Nancy is smart and resourceful in fighting against the evil Freddy, her friends are a little less so, and the neighborhood grownups and authority figures are secretly vigilante murderers who cause more harm than good.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Much gore -- with the qualifier that it's often "nightmare," surreal violence, like Freddy's face getting torn off to reveal a staring skull, an endless fountain of blood pouring out of a victim's bed, and so on. Freddy's fingers are sliced off, and he's set on fire.
  • sex false3 Sex: Teen lovers in bed together (exerting themselves loudly, though nothing is seen). Brief female nudity (a profile in heavy shadow).
  • language false5 Language: R-worthy profanity including "f--k" a few times and "s--t" uttered by a few police officers.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: None, although a Freddy Krueger industry of toys, models, books, and even software ensued.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: The heroine's mother is a heavy-drinking alcoholic.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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