Nightmare Retrospective: A Nightmare On Elm Street Films Ranked
- Heather German
- Nov 2, 2020
- 5 min read
Nightmare Retrospective | #10 | A Nightmare On Elm Street Films Ranked
Over the last month or so, I've been going through every single film in the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise and reviewing them one after another. Now, with all nine under my belt, I'm going to conclude this series two days late after Halloween by ranking them, and giving my final words on the franchise - at least until another reboot inevitably occurs.
Please note that this is just my opinion, and I am not trying to pass this off as a true objective ranking. Furthermore, if you are new and interested in hearing more detailed versions of my thoughts on each film, a link to my full retrospective will be included for each entry.
Now, let's get onto the ranking...
9. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
This and number 8 were very, very close, and I thought for a while about which one I liked worse. Ultimately, i had to go with my gut. I absolutely loathe almost every second of this movie and it's lack of any interesting creative decisions, obnoxious characters, nonsensical plot and fake 90's too-cool-4-school energy. I hate how Freddy has become nothing but a particularly sadistic stand up comedian, I hate how the dream sequences and set pieces don't even try to be scary, I hate the unnecessary backstory, and most of all, I hate the ending. The ending is such an aggressive slap in the face to anybody looking for a quality experience of any kind that it pushes this film over the edge into the spot of worst Nightmare On Elm Street film. I feel like I lost years of my life watching this drivel, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a more insulting and useless attempt to bring permanent closure to such a legendary franchise.
8. A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Despite all that I said about Freddy's Dead, it's only marginally worse than the ill-advised 2010 remake. This one feels more like a movie and doesn't have the insulting climax that Freddy's Dead does, but those are about the only improvements. This is such a cold, cynical take on Freddy that it's unbearable to watch for just how charmless it is alone, and add to that some woefully bad execution of some really heavy themes and an incredibly tasteless and misguided reimagination of Freddy's backstory, and you have a bonafide recipe for disaster. Really, all you need to know about this one is that it's the only Nightmare film that doesn't have Robert Englund in it, and it was produced by Michael Bay.
7. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
This seems to be one of the more liked Nightmare films from the latter half of the franchise's original 1980's run, but I'm not really sure why. There are some clever scenes in the second half of the film that elevate it above the previous two entries on this list, but overall this is just a boring, by the numbers installment full of bland characters and a lack of any sort of narrative urgency or focus.
6. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
I don't really have much to say about this one that hasn't already been said. It's decently entertaining, but it's nothing special. That's probably exactly what most people are expecting from this; what else would a movie called Freddy vs. Jason be like? Ultimately, it is what it is, but what it is isn't something I particularly care too much about.
5. A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
Freddy's Revenge is the perfect film to take up the middle slot because my opinions on it are perfectly divided. On the one hand, it's a nonsensical story filled with poor pacing, little to no atmosphere, bad acting and bland characters. On the other hand, its bold reimagining of the repressed horror of Freddy Krueger as an allegory for internalized homophobia during the 1980's AIDs crisis is kind of brilliant in a way. Plus, that chest burster scene is absolutely incredible.
4. A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
The Dream Child is one of the more maligned films in the franchise, and I can understand to some extent - it's completely absurd on every conceivable level and not even remotely scary - but this is campy, so-bad-it's-good horror at its absolutely finest. The Dream Child is far from a quality film, but it's packed to the brim with exciting, hilarious scenes and absurdly juicy melodrama from start to finish. It might have some weird ideas about a woman's right to choose when you look beneath the surface, but there's enough going on otherwise that make this a bonafide guilty pleasure for the ages.
3. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
Wes Craven's New Nightmare was the reboot the franchise needed after the abysmal Freddy's Dead, and it brought the mythology of Freddy to new creative heights - and new depths of terror. One of the scariest films in the franchise, New Nightmare brings Wes Craven back to the director’s chair to tell a strange, frightening story that posit Freddy Krueger as a living incarnation of the concept of horror and storytelling itself, telling a delightfully meta tale about how we as audience members and as a culture interact with horror as a genre.
2. A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
It was very close between New Nightmare and Dream Warriors for the number two spot, but ultimately, there's something so charming and likeable about Dream Warriors that I have to give it the honors. I'm not entirely a fan of the religious aspect of the film, but the loveable cast of characters - the best in the entire series, in fact - a strong central plot that continues the themes from the first film, the return of Nancy and the creative and exciting setpieces and kills make for a hell of an experience that's far better than any third sequel in a horror movie franchise has any real right to be.
1. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
Despite all of the good the series eventually put out later, the original Nightmare is still the best. It's a perfect amalgamation of all of the best aspects of every other part of the series; it's fun and creative, with imaginative set pieces and blood curdling scares that that don’t sacrifice the campy 80's horror charm. It has an iconic synth soundtrack and a delightful performance from Robert Englund, as well as a likeable cast of characters grounded by the wonderful Nancy. It's entertaining on the surface and thought provoking beneath it. It's a film that works wonderfully on every single level, and still holds up as a true classic even today.
In Conclusion
It's undeniable that A Nightmare On Elm Street is a classic that's left a massive impact on the world of horror. While the franchise itself doubtless has it's ups and downs, the highs are incredibly high, and even some of the lows are fun to watch, and I’ve had a great time going through all of it. The franchise has been stagnant since the 2010 remake flopped, but Wes Craven's estate is starting to become active on the IP again, hearing out pitches for new films. We've heard rumors of everything from a Freddy vs. Jason remake to a whole new reimagining of the story from Elijah Wood. Regardless of what happens, I'll be curious to see where the universe takes Freddy Krueger next.
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