Summary
- Freddy Krueger's impact allowed New Line Cinema to thrive, leading to a legacy seen in the Elm Street films.
- The first Nightmare on Elm Street is still beloved for its surreal visuals, realistic relationships, and true terror.
- Each Elm Street film offers something unique, from visual creativity to character development, making the series timeless.
Long-standing horror series with classic characters have become a staple for fans of the freaky. While new outings by fan-favorite killers can be exciting, like cameos in cross-over games or newer Alien releases, nothing compares to revisiting the original films that left a lasting impact on spooky culture as a whole.
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Freddy Krueger's impact is massive, with a legacy that allowed New Line Cinema to explode into the company it is today and a long line of films that developed Krueger's character and then let him have cartoony murderous fun over and over again. A Nightmare On Elm Street is as beloved today as it was in the eighties. Here is every film in the mainline Elm Street series, ranked according to their Rotten Tomatoes scores.
8 A Nightmare On Elm Street (Remake)
2010 - 14% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - April 30th, 2010
- Director - Samuel Bayer
Despite being the highest-grossing film in the franchise, the 2010 remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street lands at the bottom of the list on Rotten Tomatoes. The film reinvented Freddy, making him more of a visually disturbing antagonist, but the superb effects end there for the most part with no real competition to the original films for inventive dream visuals.
While it is an effective horror film, any comparisons to the original Freddy and the loveable leads like Nancy or Alice only lead to making this remake look worse.
7 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
1991 - 22% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - September 13th, 1991
- Director - Rachel Talalay
One of the lower-scoring films on the list, Freddy's Dead sees Freddy trying to leave Springwood after killing every child in the town and leaving the adults insane. Although his antics in this film are less scary and more kooky and comical, the inclusion of the hearing aid sequence and more details about Freddy's upbringing and his own daughter make this feel important to the Krueger canon.
While certainly not the best film in the series, the overacting and cartoonish kills make it well worth a watch.
6 A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
1989 - 30% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - August 11th, 1989
- Director - Stephen Hopkins
While the logistics of how Freddy returns for this installment are foggy at best, Dream Child does include some exciting ideas. When Alice, the dream master, finds herself pregnant Freddy Krueger can use his powers while her child dreams in utero.
As well as giving the spirit of Amanda Krueger, the dream demon's mother, space to assist in trapping Freddy where he can no longer kill, this film fleshes out Freddy's motivations and allows him a moment of mercy when he considers training Alice's child. With interesting themes of parenthood and one of the coolest nightmare sequences featuring a motorcycle melding with a man, Dream Child is a beautiful mess.
5 A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
1985 - 42% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - November 1st, 1985
- Director - Jack Sholder
Despite not really feeling like an Elm Street film, the second installment in the series shows a different side of Freddy as he tries to possess Jesse, the protagonist, and turn him into a killer like him. Much more of a hallucinatory horror film, it doesn't quite fit with the others in the series.
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Fans remain divided on this strange film, but the gory practical effects and the new side of the fan-favorite dream demon make this a curiosity that viewers won't want to miss out on. The film has been reanalyzed since the lead actor came out publicly, and the writer has confirmed that the film is his interesting take on gay horror.
4 A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
1988 - 55% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - August 19th, 1988
- Director - Renny Harlin
After seeing a collection of dream powers in action in Dream Warriors, fans of the Nightmare series might expect the fourth film in the series to be underwhelming in comparison. Instead, the survivors of the previous film appear and take their place next to a new character - Alice. Alice discovers her own power and realizes that she is the dream master.
While Freddy takes the souls of his victims, Alice manages to take all of the best parts of her friends after they are killed and uses aspects of all of them to face off against Freddy using her own willpower. It is certainly one of the more under-appreciated titles in the series, with enough killer one-liners and explosive deaths to please any fan of the campy tone the series begins to embody.
3 A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
1987 - 68% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - February 27th, 1987
- Director - Chuck Russell
Bringing back the first film's final girl, Nightmare 3 finds Nancy working with teens in a mental health ward who are struggling with dream disorders. When she realizes that the patients are all dreaming about Freddy, she teaches them how to use their special abilities in their dreams to fight the villain.
In addition to fully forming Freddy as a horror staple with his signature catchphrases and his ability to use children's worst fears against them while they sleep, this film also establishes lore about his mother. Fans of the series will love seeing Freddy's blades turn into needles and wizard powers be used to confront Krueger.
2 Wes Craven's New Nightmare
1994 - 77% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - October 14th, 1994
- Director - Wes Craven
Wes Craven's New Nightmare takes viewers out of the established universe of Nightmare On Elm Street to see the cast and crew of the films going about their lives. The meta aspects of this film make it truly unique and something of a preview of the way that Craven would later play with self-aware plots in the Scream franchise.
The essence of evil has been trapped in movies in the form of Krueger and now tries to make its way into reality through the torture of Heather Langenkamp, the actress who portrayed Nancy in the first and third films. With plenty of nods to fans of the films, appearances by plenty of unexpected actors playing themselves, and an explosive finale, New Nightmare is a magnificent end to the series.
1 A Nightmare On Elm Street
1984 - 93% Rotten Tomatoes
- Released - November 9th, 1984
- Director - Wes Craven
The first of Wes Craven's killer series, A Nightmare On Elm Street tops out the list with its unparalleled surrealist visuals. While some aspects of other horror from this time can feel dated, Nightmare still feels as fresh as ever with realistic relationships, true terror, and Nancy's struggle to make her family and friends understand the danger of falling asleep.
Establishing Freddy's origins as a murderer who went free and so was burned alive by the victims' parents, the film makes an effort to ensure Freddy is recognizable right away with his hat, glove, and sweater striking a frightening silhouette. Starring a very young Johnny Depp, and featuring some classic slasher kills, like Depp's explosive exit, A Nightmare On Elm Street should be top of the list to revisit whenever fans are in the spooky mood.