All of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" Films Ranked

Photo courtesy of House by the Video Store

With the advent of the slasher genre, the eighties proved to be the best decade for horror film franchises. One of the more grisly, imaginative, and consistent franchises was the Nightmare on Elm Street films, which were released between 1984 and 1994. Originally helmed by Wes Craven the series saw child molester and murderer Freddy Krueger entering the dreams of teenagers and killing them to perpetuate vengeance against their parents for burning him alive. Some of the basic premises outlined in the first film were quickly cast aside in the second, only to be reintroduced in the third. The story was more or less consistent throughout the films, though it truly depended on whose hands the productions were entrusted. I have personally watched all eight of the original films (including the reboot Freddy vs. Jason), and I am here to let you know which ones are worth the watch, and which are abhorrent wastes of time:

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) dir. Wes Craven

It’s simply the best of the bunch. Wes Craven was on a roll with hits like The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, and Swamp Thing, but he didn’t dip his toe into slasher or supernatural fare until this film. Freddy Krueger became iconic in short order, and the cast (such as lead Heather Lagenkamp (Nancy) and Johnny Depp (Glen)) quickly blew up. The effects were amazing, the deaths were original, and the visual imagery of the film was beyond iconoclastic. Though it was strange to have all Krueger’s backstory splayed out in a fit of extreme exposition, it started a creative canon that made future films more daring and grotesque.

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) dir. Chuck Russell

The second film strayed away from the original concept (different main character, some breaking of world’s rules, etc.), but on this 1987 release Wes Craven came back to write the screenplay alongside director Chuck Russell and future Walking Dead phenome, Frank Darabont. The best part of the film has to be its effects. The deaths range from getting electrocuted by a Claymation Freddy television to getting marionetted by the tendons and thrown off a clock tower. Patricia Arquette, in one of her earliest roles, plays a teenager who has to be committed to a mental hospital. She meets similarly tormented teenagers who face off against Freddy with the help of their psychiatrist and original scream queen Heather Langenkamp. The film includes more of Krueger’s backstory, and gives an actual solution to defeating him; though of course he finds a way to come back to celluloid one short year later.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) dir. Jack Sholder

The second addition to the series veered completely away from the original film’s characters. The film takes place five years after Krueger’s initial defeat by Nancy. Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) and his family move into Nancy’s former home and he immediately starts dreaming about Freddy. The film contains a lot of subtext about being young and homosexually repressed in the early eighties, though it’s very subtle. This subtext has lent to this being a popular cult film for gay audiences. The interesting switch in narrative for this film, has Freddy trying to get Jesse to become a killer by going ‘inside’ of him. While some of the logic of the first film is corrupted (Freddy showing up when kids are awake), this is a really great and entertaining entry and should definitely be seen along with the original.

4. Freddy vs. Jason (2003) dir. Ronny Yu

I’m going to get a lot of flak for putting this entry so high, but yes, I did somewhat enjoy this goofy crossover between the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series. 2003 was a different age for horror altogether. Michael Meyers was killing teenagers in a webcam filled house in Halloween: Resurrection. Jason Voorhees had killed people in space two years earlier in Jason X. Krueger had been muzzled since the Meta 1994 release of New Nightmare. We were a year away from Saw and The Ring had just been released a year prior. No matter what, this film was never going to capture the originals’ intention of subverting norms and showing horror in suburban settings. As it was a 2003 film, director Ronny Yu eschewed any practical effects and instead relied heavily on CGI. It also had a very annoying early 2000s score and soundtrack, and a cast of complete unknowns with little acting ability. This is a fun addition to the canon, but the entire series would be rebooted seven short years later.

5. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) dir. Wes Craven

Two years before he went back to the drawing board completely, with the satirical and Meta film Scream, Craven poked fun at his conventions and experience with New Nightmare. At this point New Line Cinema hadn’t released a new Nightmare film in three years, most likely because the last film was simply awful. With Craven back at the helm, Freddy was turned into a strange new entity. Breaking the fourth wall entirely, this film sees Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund playing themselves, and learning that Kruger is in fact real. Going through Langenkamp’s fictional son (Miko Hughes) Freddy is back and seeking vengeance. Even Craven cameos as himself, seemingly fearful of his creation, in all his burnt glory. Though the child actor is stiff, and the ending is a little bit of a cop-out, I thoroughly enjoyed the weirdness of this film’s production and it’s often creative deaths.

6. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) dir. Stephen Hopkins

The reason that this film isn’t one of the last two films ranked, is entirely because of its creepy Gothic tone and overly dark storyline. The protagonist of this film, as well as the last, is Alice, played here by Lisa Wilcox. There are many flashbacks and dream sequences wherein Alice revisits the conception and birth of Krueger via his nun mother, Amanda. Alice, impregnated by her murdered boyfriend, staves off Freddy’s dream advances, as he tries to corrupt and utilize her fetus to murder more teenagers in their dreams. Between the harrowing dream sequences and the tension brought about from a child being in imminent danger, this is one of the more imaginative and dark entries. The main annoyance in the film is Alice’s friend Yvonne (Minter) constantly undermining her and telling her she’s crazy when there’s ample evidence that she is not. Horror movie logic can sometimes be the most annoying to sit through.

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) dir. Renny Harlin

While some things bothered me about the fifth film, everything bothered me about this film: They kill off the interesting and strong female protagonist in lieu of a timid one, the deaths aren’t interesting, and the characters are annoying. It starts strong, as it follows Kristen, from the third film, now played by Tuesday Knight, but then it veers away as quickly as it can. The next film in the series sees Alice with more gumption and strength, but this film is simply flat and boring.

8. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) dir. Rachel Talalay

I honestly hate everything about this film. First of all, they bring in an entirely new cast that have nothing to do with the original and they’re mostly all terrible. The town of Springwood, OH, which is the setting for all of these films, has become completely deserted and every child has been killed, yet no one from that town, or the surrounding areas, has heard of this phenomenon or Freddy Krueger at all. The tone and visuals are all bleak and ugly, in a way that looks like they were doing it purposefully to ill affect. The kills aren’t enjoyable, the humor falls flat, and every character is so annoying that I could barely sit through one moment of dialogue. There’s a reason that this was marketed as the last of the film’s series, and executives didn’t make another film for three years. Don’t waste a single moment on this gross, bloated, thoughtless movie.

And there you have it, a ranking of one of the most inventive and entertaining horror film series of the past thirty years. While I haven’t seen the rebooted 2010 film, I might be open to it. Robert Englund is my definitive Freddy Krueger and that’s never going to change.