A Nightmare on Elm Street

Published 2025-11-02

Film info

Title A Nightmare on Elm Street
Director Wes Craven
Year 1984
Run time 1hr 31m
Genre Horror
Tagline If Nancy doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all

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...

Live blog

Time	Comment
2:10	Fred Krueger. Not Freddie.
4:18	No fingernails could do that!
6:22	Wow, Johnny Depp is so young it barely looks like him.
11:27	“Morality sucks.”
15:53	Why do people keep wandering around outside in their nightclothes?
18:50	“He’s a musician type.” Judgemental.
27:54	Argh the nails scraping.
34:11	Can see people not wanting to take baths after seeing this.
42:29	It is just asking one thing, but staying awake all night is a big one thing.
49:11	“What the hell are dreams anyway?” “Mysteries. Incredible body hocus-pocus.”
56:50	“Come down to the cellar with me and I’ll tell you.” That’s not happening.
1:06:53	Her hair’s going white right, is that the lack of sleep or just the fear?
1:27:15	She looks a lot like Cassie from Skins.

Thoughts

You can totally see elements that would develop into the Scream franchise in here, it's a brilliantly scary movie with lots of horror tropes but with a unique take on them. I can't believe it's Johnny Depp, that tiny boy trying to save the day, but once you get over that, it's a really solid teen slasher movie. It's made more scary by the fact that falling asleep is one of those things you do every day, and you're not going to want to do it after watching this!

Rating: 4 / 5