A Nightmare on Elm Street

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A Nightmare on Elm Street

R

2010

1h 36m

Horror

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Popcornmeter

14%

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184 Reviews

43%

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100,000+ Ratings

Teenagers Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean are all neighborhood friends who begin having the same dream of a horribly disfigured man who wears a tattered sweater and a glove made of knives. The man, Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley), terrorizes them in their dreams, and the only escape is to wake up. But when one of their number dies violently, the friends realize that what happens in the dream world is real, and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake.

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Critics Consensus

Visually faithful but lacking the depth and subversive twists that made the original so memorable, the Nightmare on Elm Street remake lives up to its title in the worst possible way.

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Candice Frederick

Reel Talk Online

It's cliched, boring, and anticlimactic.

Rated: D+

Sep 11, 2017

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Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

I did jump a few times, and I liked Haley's dour malevolence, but overall, the new Nightmare on Elm Street is a by-the-numbers bad dream.

Rated: B-

Sep 7, 2011

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Christine Champ

Film.com

Freddy's back -- and he's slicker and more sinister than ever.

Rated: B

May 6, 2011

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

As the final word on Elm Street, this is strangely leaden stuff.

Rated: 5/10

Oct 6, 2025

Full Review

Patrick Cavanaugh

The Wolfman Cometh

Like countless other reboots, this leans into all of the wrong things people liked about this franchise.

Rated: 2/5

Sep 11, 2025

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

A Nightmare on Elm Street is just as tedious as the other horror remakes by Platinum Dunes, avoiding any semblance of creative thought or innovative interpretation.

Rated: 1/4

Aug 18, 2023

Full Review

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Jenni K

This movie gets a lot of flack but I honestly really like it, it’s scarier and not as funny as the OG movies but the acting and story line are good.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/30/25

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Isaac K.

This was definitely a scary and less comedic freddy Kruger

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/26/25

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Yash B

The original version of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is an '80s staple and influential in many ways. The 2010 remake attempts to be unique in some ways, but it just doesn't stick the landing. The movie is repetitive and not particularly engaging. There are some effective moments and kills, but the movie fails to do anything better than the original version, which always makes a remake feel kind of pointless. Overall, this is one of many bad horror remakes that has some interesting ideas sprinkled in there, but nothing is executed in a way that makes it worth seeing over the original 1984 classic.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/25/25

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Filip G

It was scary, i jumped alot, and it was very on point, nothing about it was boring

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/20/25

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David J.

God awful! Should never have been made. Some movies just need to be left alone and not remade or rebooted.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

10/05/25

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Broke B

The 2010 Nightmare on Elm Street stumbles as a glossy remake, but its decision to reframe Freddy Krueger as a child molester makes it one of the most disturbing portraits of real-world evil in mainstream horror. The execution falters deeply, yet the trauma at its core lingers longer than the jump scares. Best watched without comparison to the 1984 film by the same name.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/04/25

Full Review

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Samuel Bayer

Director

Jackie Earle Haley

Freddy Krueger

Rooney Mara

Nancy

Kyle Gallner

Quentin

Katie Cassidy

Kris

Thomas Dekker

Jesse

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Synopsis

Teenagers Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean are all neighborhood friends who begin having the same dream of a horribly disfigured man who wears a tattered sweater and a glove made of knives. The man, Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley), terrorizes them in their dreams, and the only escape is to wake up. But when one of their number dies violently, the friends realize that what happens in the dream world is real, and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake.

Director: Samuel Bayer
Producer: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller
Screenwriter: Wesley Strick, Eric Heisserer
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Production Co: Platinum Dunes
Rating: R (Language|Disturbing Images|Strong Bloody Horror Violence|Terror)
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 30, 2010, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $63.1M
Runtime: 1h 36m

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