When a franchise has 6 original films, 1 meta deconstruction, 1 crossover and a gritty reboot, you expect a certain variance in quality. Some of these films are an absolute blast, some of these movies are terrible. These are my personal rankings from worst to best based on how good a film it was (I know how subjective that is) and how much fun I had watching it. It should be noted that my wife’s rankings differ. Spoiler alert, obviously.
9. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Okay. Last place was almost a tossup between the gritty reboot and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (the 6th one). However, when I sat down to really think about it, I had to decide if a remake that did almost everything wrong was worse than an original sequel that did almost everything wrong, and the answer is yes; yes, it is.
For better or worse, (sometimes better, occasionally worse) part of what separates the Nightmare series from the Friday the 13th and Halloween series is that the Nightmare series has a real sense of fun to it. Yes, Freddy does go from menacing and sly to overtly gimmicky and campy as the series progresses; yes, the series does get bogged down by some truly bizarre mythology the further down we go. But even in the weaker entries to the original series, the spark of attempted creativity and life exists.
The Nightmare on Elm Street reboot from 2010 has no life to it. From the second the credits started, I looked at my wife and said “Oh my god it’s so bullshit serious. I can already tell this movie isn’t going to be any fun at all”, and I was right. The plot remains largely the same from a byline perspective, but it is executed without any humor, or the desire for the audience to have a good time.
This movie also makes the conscious decision to change Freddy from a murderer back from the grave to wreak vengeance on the parents who killed him, by murdering their kids, to a flat-out child molester back from the grave to wreak vengeance on the kids who told their parents on him. That’s a sour choice. Did we really need that? And on top of that, the movie doesn’t even have anything interesting to say about repressed memories, collective trauma, shared experiences, or anything.
This movie also makes the dangerous choice to co-opt some of the original’s iconic imagery including knife hands in the bathtub, and Freddy coming through the wall as Nancy sleeps. You have to be sure you have a good movie on your hands before you can adapt any classic images, because otherwise you just remind the audience of a better movie that they’re not watching. You can guess what happened here.
Additionally, I can barely call the people who populate this movie “characters”. Rooney Mara (a good actress in anything else I’ve ever seen her in), who plays Nancy, acts as though she would rather be watching both the Steelers and the Giants lose than be in this movie. Her mom played by Connie Britton is given nothing of note to do. I couldn’t tell you a single personality trait of anyone who appears in this movie. Jackie Earle Haley is menacing enough as Freddy, but the kills are nothing special.
Did this remake need to exist? Did it add anything special or unique to the overall franchise? The answer to both is No. And that is why it’s last. Worthy of note: my wife thinks I am crazy for putting this last.
8. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
This is easily the worst of the original films. Yes, this is the one where Freddy rides a broom a la the Wicked Witch of the West in an extended Wizard of Oz motif. Sigh.
This movie just isn’t good. It’s campy in all the weirdest places, and Freddy has officially jumped the shark to only being kitschy and silly. The plotline where he has a daughter (never heard of her before) is ridiculous. The acting and characters aren’t particularly memorable (cameos from Roseanne and Tom Arnold don’t count. Neither does one of the kids being played by Breckin Meyer).
There’s a ridiculous scene where one of the characters who may or may not be previous Nightmare star Alice’s son Jacob falls out of a plane and down a hill longer than Andy Samberg in Hot Rod. The only memorable kill in the movie comes from Freddy using a Nintendo glove to torment Breckin Meyer inside a video game. It’s tough.
That being said: if you watch this film as a parody of the series, or under any sort of alcohol or drug influence, you can move this one up to 2 ranks ahead of its current placement. Do with that what you will.
7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
This movie is unfortunately a few shades below decent. I admit I had fairly high expectations coming off the bizarrely good fourth movie, but I was definitely let down by this one.
The main plot revolves around Freddy coming back to hunt more teens, with the twist being that Freddy is using the dreams of Nightmare 4 lead Alice’s unborn baby to do it. This is actually a pretty decent twist, but I just wish it had been executed differently. I did look over at my wife and wonder why Alice didn’t just get an abortion about 8 seconds before another character asks Alice the same thing. Unfortunately, her answer largely amounts to “because there wouldn’t be a movie otherwise” and that’s stupid.
The other problem is that we spend a lot of time with the child-version of Alice’s unborn baby in a dream state (the kid is played by the boy whom Alan Grant “teaches” about raptor hunting habits in Jurassic Park. The kid’s eyes give it away instantly) rather than developing any of the characters in a meaningful way. Oh, and let’s give Freddy’s mom Amanda Kreuger more screen time too, even though we already know her story. Great.
Oh yeah, about Alice’s friends; she has all new friends (except for boyfriend Dan who is a supporting character in Nightmare 4), and none of them seem to know anything about the events of the last movie, which strikes me as a little odd. Didn’t y’all go to the same school last year? Did you miss where like 6 students, including Alice’s own brother died? For a movie with explicit continuity retained from the previous two films, this feels like quite a leap. The kills in this movie are fine. Nothing terribly special, which I am counting as bad because there have been so many clever ones throughout the series up until this point. There are some ridiculous comic book set scenes (one character’s personality trait is comic books) that prompted me to hum “Take on Me” over and over again until my wife asked me to stop. That’s about it.
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
Some people rate this one as their least favorite, but I do disagree. Don’t get me wrong, this movie isn’t great, but it’s definitely not as overtly bad as some of the other entries. This movie is actually a really unique entry, not only in this series, but as a slasher film as a whole. Freddy’s Revenge is notable in the franchise for having the only male lead in the series. Yes, the character Lisa (who looks like a young Meryl Streep) is definitely a secondary protagonist, but our man Jesse is definitely the lead here.
This film is also notable for having a strong gay subtext hovering just above the surface. The main character Jesse visits a leather bar where he spots his gym teacher, who proceeds to force Jesse to run laps at school, before being killed in the shower after an ass-slapping towel session. Additionally, in a later scene when Jesse begins kissing his neighbor Lisa, he panics that his body is “changing”, and he runs away. We are supposed to understand that this is meant to be Freddy’s influence, but they aren’t really fooling anyone. These elements alone make this entry at least an interesting one to dissect and consider.
That being said, this movie is deservedly unpopular for completely changing Freddy’s main motives and abilities. Rather than simply killing teens in their sleep, Freddy is now trying to possess Jesse, so he can carry out Freddy’s murders for him. This does only happen when Jesse is sleeping, but you gotta admit, it’s not quite the same. You can tell the filmmakers weren’t exactly sold on this development either, because they switch back to very dream-based action in the movies that follow.
In addition to the change in Freddy’s MO, the film has opted to show more of Freddy physically, which…isn’t the best choice. It’s like seeing an entire Xenomorph; Freddy is less scary the more of his body you see. He’s not a hulking, shapeless mass like Jason or Michael Myers, so when you see him, it needs to be the claws, the eyes, the tongue, a flash of burn makeup. Otherwise, he’s just a dude in a sweater and hat, and that’s not menacing. The “kids” at the pool party he attacks are all bigger than he is.
This is not to say the movie is all bad; the pre-Freddy pool party Lisa throws is classic 80’s teen movie shenanigans. Her dad playing Benny Goodman music and grilling for the kids before he goes to bed is a particular highlight. As for the acting, the actor who plays Jesse has at least committed to the story. Jesse’s mom played by Oscar-nominee Hope Lange is also good as the mom trying to convince her husband that Jesse isn’t a drug addict.
All in all, it’s definitely not great, but it’s not as terrible as some people may have you believe.
5. Freddy vs Jason (2003)
What can I say; I have a weird soft spot for this movie! As I said in a previous review of this movie, Freddy vs. Jason knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be, and it delivers on that in spades. It has plenty of both icons, lots of carnage (the bed kill is a particular highlight), a plot that actually makes enough sense, filled with characters who move that plot along in a logical and meaningful way, and some unexpected humor. Yes, Jason does commit most of the murders in this film, but Freddy’s aura hovers over all the proceedings quite well before the climactic fight scene, which takes up approximately 20 minutes of screen-time. Plus, I love Kelly Rowland.
This movie does lose points for that awful early 2000’s slow motion camera bullshit (why was that a thing?) and for not being a strictly Freddy based movie, which prohibit it from being higher. Oddly enough, this movie also ranked 5th (out of 12) on my ranking of the Friday the 13th movies.
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
This movie was surprisingly good. It had no business being as good as it was, considering the third movie was supposed to be the end of the franchise. But, I bet New Line was happy; Nightmare 4 was a huge hit, grossing almost $50 million in 1988 dollars.
Some nitpicking before I get started: It always bugs me when horror movies with direct continuity from previous films kill off the characters who survive the previous movie at the beginning of the current one. I just watched Kristen, Kincaid and Joey (all great characters) defeat Freddy at the end of the third one, and now 20 minutes into the fourth one, they’re all dead? Bummer. Shout-out to Kincaid’s adorable dog being named Jason. Anyway, I digress. The actual details of the how Freddy comes back don’t really matter; he is back, and he is ready to hunt teens again. Freddy himself is just sitting on that line between menacing and campy, but you can definitely tell the cracks are forming. There’s nothing too eye-roll worthy yet, but it’s coming.
What really sets this movie apart are the surprisingly great characters. While I did mention that Kristen, Kincaid and Joey are only in this movie for a short while, the other characters, including the martial arts fiend Rick, his sister Alice, their tough friend Debbie and genius friend Sheila all have an unexpected gravitas; they’re funny and well written as opposed to bitchy, nasty or plain dumb the way most slasher victims are presented. I actually found myself rooting for these kids, in a way you definitely don’t expect by the fourth installment of a slasher series.
Yes, it is sad that Patricia Arquette is not back as Kristen but considering that this film is really all about Alice, that ends up not being as big an issue as I had expected. Side note: my wife absolutely loved the shag haircut of the girl playing Kristen who replaced Patricia Arquette.
As part of the plot, final girl Alice begins to inherit the best abilities of her dead friends, including some smarts from Sheila, toughness from Debbie and martial arts abilities from her brother Rick. This all relates to her overall character arc of growing from shy, mousy teen catering to her alcoholic dad’s mood swings to a strong, independent woman who defeats Freddy (for a bit anyway). Plus, we get a perfectly 80’s montage of Alice putting on martial arts gear and tough-girl metal bracelets and it is as cheesy as it is bitchin.
This film also has some really solid set-pieces and kills too. The scene where Alice goes to the movies to see Reefer Madness, and ends up being sucked into the screen, back to Nancy’s old house by Freddy has some excellent visuals. Joey, ever the horndog goes out exactly the way he was attacked in the previous movie (by a sexy lady he should not trust), while Debbie has an extremely memorable Kafkaesque death that will stick with anyone who does not like bugs. Even smaller deaths like Sheila’s “asthma attack” in class are well executed with good visuals. The time loop where Alice and Dan race to save Debbie but find themselves repeating the same 3 minutes over and over again is an unexpected delight hidden deep in the movie.
The only reason this movie is not higher in the ranking is because of just how solid the other movies are, and the further development of Freddy as comic-leaning figure.
3. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
AKA, Wes Craven’s practice run for Scream. Okay, that’s kind of an exaggeration, but only by a bit. This film, which reunites Heather Langenkamp as Nancy, Robert Englund as Freddy and John Saxon as Nancy’s dad, while each actor also plays themselves in the real world, is an alternately funny and creepy meta takedown of the effects of the horror genre on children and an actual Nightmare on Elm Street movie in its own right.
The plot is not as confusing as it may appear. Heather, Robert, and John are real-life actors who are cautiously awaiting Wes Craven’s latest script for a new Nightmare movie. Meanwhile, Nancy, I mean Heather is worried about the effects of her horror movie career on her young son Dylan and other children as she begins to have nightmares about Freddy. She knows these aren’t real, but when her husband dies in a freak accident and her son begins having trouble sleeping, Heather, I mean, Nancy must find it within her to defeat Freddy one more time.
This movie features some great performances from its leads, some solid set pieces (Freddy’s temple hideout from Clash of the Titans is great) and a brilliantly executed dark comic streak make this movie a must see for any fan of horror once they get tired of the same old stuff.
The only reason this isn’t ranked #2 is that for large stretches, Freddy remains absent for much of the running time, which makes it harder to qualify as an explicit Nightmare on Elm Street film. Still fantastic and well worth your time.
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
AKA, what should have been Nightmare 2. Released in 1987, this film stars Patricia Arquette as Kristen. Kristen has a history of mental trouble, and when she starts seeing Freddy in her dreams, her mother sends her to a mental institution where the other kids in her ward have been having similar dreams. Now, it’s up to Kristen, her new friends and the medical staff (including an orderly played by Laurence Fucking Fishbourne) and a new intern played by none other than Heather Langenkamp, back as Nancy, to defeat Freddy.
This movie is fantastic and everything you could want from a Nightmare on Elm Street movie.Freddy is still menacing, but he also gets in some classic one-liners including the all-time great ad-lib “Welcome to Primetime bitch” as he kills one of Kristen’s friends, Jennifer who aspired to be an actress by shoving her head in a TV.
The characters are complex, sympathetic, and well-written. Each of the kids in the hospital has a distinct personality including the brash Kincaid, horndog Joey, sweet but tough Taryn, nerdy Will, and the aforementioned aspiring actress, Jennifer. I cannot stress enough how awesome it is to have Heather Langenkamp back as Nancy, and her reveal as the hotshot intern devoted to dream studies is amazing. Shout out to cameos from Dick Cavett and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
This is also the film that introduces Freddy’s mother Amanda Kreuger and explains Freddy’s past in a way that allows the group to beat him. While this mythology will eventually go off the goddamn rails, it makes sense as presented here in small enough doses to work, while giving the characters helpful clues.
Dream Warriors also features some all-time great death sequences including teen patient Phillip being walked through the halls as a marionette by his own veins, Taryn’s sad death after being injected drugs (she was a recovering addict who deserved better! Justice for Taryn) by Freddy and Will’s D&D related death in an alley. This movie also features original character Nancy’s death. This easily could have been (and was planned to be) the last film in the franchise. What a way to have gone out on.
But, it can’t be #1 because there can only be one film to fill that spot.
1. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The stylish original movie in the franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street, released in 1984 is still the best because it includes all the classic elements with none of the filler that you eventually see the series get bloated by.
This movie was released at an interesting time for the major American slashers. Halloween’s future was in flux after a poorly received third film that failed to start the franchise as an anthology series, and Friday the 13th was releasing its triumphant and hugely successful supposed “Final Chapter” the same year. Neither franchise had gotten trapped in its own BS yet, nor had they made the jump to explicitly supernatural plots. Then comes A Nightmare on Elm Street.
We all know the plot by now; a group of teens all begin experiencing the same dreams of a burned man with knives for fingers, where if he kills you in the dream, you die for real. The man in the dream is of course, Freddy Kreuger; a child killer who got off on a technicality, and who suffered his own death at the hands of the Elm Street parents who burned him alive in an act of vengeance. As the teens get picked off one by one, it’s up to our hero Nancy to stop him. It’s a simple premise that Wes Craven knows his way around perfectly.
Pretty much everything in this movie works. The plot is easy to follow with some good twists and turns to keep it interesting. The four main kids in the movie, Tina, Rod, Glenn and of course Nancy rise above being simple slasher material. Special shout out obviously to Heather Langenkamp as Nancy and future superstar Johnny Fucking Depp as Glenn. Oscar nominee Ronee Blakely as Nancy’s alcoholic, guilt ridden mother is highly effective, as is John Saxon as Nancy’s dad/town cop/resident skeptic.
This movie also features some of the most well-known death sequences in horror, including Tina’s bloody body being dragged around the room by an invisible force, and Glenn’s geyser of blood from the center of his bed. Other great visuals include Nancy’s mother pulling out the knife hands from the furnace (what a kill trophy), Freddy’s tongue coming out of the phone to lick Nancy, Freddy’s hand rising out from between Nancy’s legs while she takes a bath (probably the single most iconic image of the franchise), Freddy’s outline coming out of the wall while Nancy sleeps, Glenn’s crop top jersey and Nancy’s journey up the stairs of her house as she slowly sinks into each step. Those sequences are so freaking good, I am willing to overlook the comic scene where Nancy’s mother, played here by an obvious blow-up doll/dummy gets sucked into the window by Freddy at the end.
And Freddy. What a creation. Robert Englund only has about 7 minutes of screen time in this film, so even as he gets in some trademark gallows humor, he is always allowed to be legitimately frightening. This movie also has some unexpected additional laughs. I laughed out loud when Nancy announces to Glenn “I look 20” while checking herself out in a mirror. A quick search later indicated that Heather Langenkamp was 20 when the movie was released, which makes the joke even more perfect. Also, huge shoutout to the scene where Nancy’s mother takes away her coffee cups so she’ll go to bed, only for Nancy to pull out an entire fucking coffee maker from behind some pillows under her nightstand. That’s why she’s a classic heroine and moments like that are why this movie is the best in the franchise.
For final reference, my incorrect wife’s rankings from worst to best are: Freddy’s Revenge (2), Dream Child (5), Final Nightmare (6), Freddy vs. Jason (8), Nightmare Remake (9), Dream Warriors (3), Dream Master (4), New Nightmare (7) and Original Nightmare (1)
