A Nightmare on Elm Street

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A Nightmare on Elm Street

R

Released Apr 30, 2010

1h 36m

Horror

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Popcornmeter

14%

Tomatometer

182 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

Full Review

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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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

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Re-imagining a character whose appeal is largely inextricable from his initial era is a suicide mission. Stay too pure to the original & what’s the point? Complications stray from its strengths. It's basically a question of who would fall on the grenade.

Rated: .5/5

Nov 1, 2022

Full Review

Cody Leach

Cody Leach (YouTube)

A commendable attempt by Haley to step into near-unfillable shoes is completely let down by a generic copy & paste script and an overuse of unforgivable CGI. Rooney Mara acts like she'd rather be anywhere else and most audience members will feel the same.

Rated: 2/5

Aug 20, 2022

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Gregory S

It’s not as bad as the critics say, but it definitely is not that good either. Truly wish Hollywood would stop tryjng to remake things. They forget what made it a great story in the first place. Haley does a alright job with Freddie, but does not have the flare that England brought to the role. Which is sad because I generally enjoy a Haley performance.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/18/25

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Greg C

The change of Freddy's character kills the whole film, but it's not terrible, especially not the worst remake in numerous years.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/12/25

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Ricardo D

There are a lot of bad horror remakes these days, this one is still one of the worst. The took away everything that made a Freddy Krueger an iconic villian.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

06/08/25

Full Review

Dani C

This just didn't work for me probably because I'm of the generation that saw the original and Robert England as Freddy is iconic which is a hard act to follow. There's just no upgrade to that film. Maybe if someone was to watch this who hadn't seen the original, or knew much about it they may well enjoy it as it's not badly done and it's fairly scary. The Freddy in this is very menacing with a creepy voice. I got bored and turned it off not even half way into the film though

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/06/25

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Shaun R

Didn’t start baldly. Ended terribly. Left me thinking this film was awful which is a shame. Surely it can’t be hard to end a film well.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

05/03/25

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Gordo L

Stupid stupid horrible terrible 😞 😔 I thought this will be a banger from the trailer but no horrible

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

04/19/25

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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