A Nightmare on Elm Street
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...
Critics Sentiment
Nancy pulls Freddy's fedora with name tag into real world
Nancy defeats Freddy but ambiguous ending suggests his return
The film drops significantly from the innovative fedora sequence to the widely criticized ambiguous ending.
Critics consistently praised the film's original concept and early supernatural sequences, with particular acclaim for moments that blurred the line between dreams and reality. The film maintains strong scores through most of its runtime but stumbles with an ending that many reviewers found confusing and unsatisfying. Overall, reviewers celebrated this as a landmark horror film that introduced brilliant new concepts to the genre despite some execution flaws.
Full cast
Showing 20 of 26
John Saxon
Lt. Donald Thompson
Ronee Blakley
Marge Thompson
Heather Langenkamp
Nancy Thompson
Amanda Wyss
Tina Gray
Jsu Garcia
Rod Lane
Johnny Depp
Glen Lantz
Charles Fleischer
Dr. King
Joseph Whipp
Sergeant Parker
Robert Englund
Fred Krueger
Lin Shaye
Teacher
Joe Unger
Sergeant Garcia
Mimi Craven
Nurse
Jack Shea
Minister
Ed Call
Mr. Lantz
Sandy Lipton
Mrs. Lantz
David Andrews
Foreman
Jeff Levine
Coroner
Donna Woodrum
Mrs. Gray
Shashawnee Hall
Cop #1
Carol Pritikin
Cop #2
Crew
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