All 9 Nightmare On Elm Street Movies Ranked

A Modern Nightmare

A Nightmare on Elm Street remains the archetypal franchise of the slasher genre. In 2021, Wes Craven’s brainchild was hand-picked by the US National Film Registry for preservation as it is “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. It’s certainly a franchise that continues to live long in popular culture. Although it’s been over a decade since an instalment has reached the big screen, the iGaming industry has played some part in ensuring Nightmare‘s longevity. There is a licensed online slot available exclusively at 888casino, which is based on the 2010 movie. This operator is one of the top-three most recommended sites in the UK market according to oddschecker, which compares the latest welcome offers as well as the general user experience of iGaming brands. As A Nightmare on Elm Street is listed on a highly reputable platform that’s licensed across Europe and beyond, this has helped to keep the franchise alive and kicking (or screaming).

There has been plenty of conjecture surrounding the prospect of a second reboot of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Robert Englund reportedly keen to return as Krueger, but with contractual and development roadblocks still lingering, it’s likely to remain a nine-movie franchise for the time being.

Since we’ve only just finished this year’s Halloween celebrations, now is the perfect time to reminisce about Freddy Krueger and co. by ranking all nine releases from 1984 through to 2010, moving from best to worst…

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

You simply can’t beat the original for pure theatre and intensity. It’s very hard for directors to recapture the essence of an original movie, and we feel that’s the case with A Nightmare on Elm Street. The vulnerability of Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and the shock and awe of the first sighting of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) wins the day. The original is arguably Krueger at his most gruesome, compared with the rest of the franchise. Let’s not forget that the original also features Hollywood icon Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz too!

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare was the first in the franchise since the debut actually screen-written by Craven. It was designed as a ten-year anniversary homage to the original and it certainly does not disappoint. Unlike the rest of the franchise, New Nightmare takes place on a very different timeline. This is Nancy’s best appearance in the series yet, while the meta commentary was before its time and only started to get the recognition it deserved years later.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

The third iteration of A Nightmare on Elm Street also curries favour with us. Dream Warriors focuses on the last of the Elm Street children, set within a psychiatric ward. Kristen Parker, who is admitted with apparent suicidal tendencies, is befriended by Nancy Thompson, and they are both the target of Krueger once again. Krueger’s performance is spine-tingling, with some chilling one-liners as well as some outright brutality.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

The penultimate release in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Freddy vs. Jason was the first Freddy Krueger slasher of the new millennium. It was the highest-grossing release in the franchise, earning more than $116m at the box office globally, and with good reason. It’s high up on our list for sentimental reasons too, with this being Englund’s final performance as Krueger. This was the crossover movie that the fans had craved for a decade, since Krueger’s appearance in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, with Jason helping Freddy to restore his dream-crushing powers.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

The final release in the franchise also fares well against some of the older iterations of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Custodians of the franchise have been able to look past the absence of Englund as Freddy Krueger, with Jackie Earle Haley stepping in with consummate ease. It’s a faithful reboot of the 1984 original, with critics consistently positive about its ability to stay true to the plot.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

Freddy Krueger fans didn’t have to wait long for a sequel to the original – 12 months in fact. The film follows another child from Elm Street, Jesse Walsh, who suffers from the same recurring nightmares after moving into Nancy’s old home. It’s always hard for a sequel to live up to expectations and Freddy’s Revenge is no different. They didn’t need to rewrite the formula that made Krueger such a monster, though, with many considering him more one-dimensional this time around.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

The fourth instalment of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise was a very forgettable affair. In fact, long-standing fans of the franchise consider The Dream Master to be in a different league to the rest of the series – and a much lower one, at that. It does little to evolve from the narrative of the previous three films, but it still ranks as the third-highest grossing movie in the franchise, such was the hype around this series in the late 80s.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

A year after The Dream Master came the snoozefest officially known as The Dream Child. Despite being the highest-grossing slasher movie of the year, this puzzler had you sitting on the couch laughing along rather than feeling like you wanted to hide behind a cushion. It was cheesy, convoluted and the plot itself was a real head-scratcher. 12 months after its release, director Stephen Hopkins admitted The Dream Child did not fulfil its potential. Hopkins cited a “rushed schedule” and blamed New Line and MPAA for “cutting the guts out of it completely”. Needless to say that Rotten Tomatoes gives this poor excuse for a slasher just 30% on its ‘Tomatometer’.

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

It’s fair to say there was only one film in this franchise worse than The Dream Child and that coveted prize goes to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. At the time, it was dubbed the final instalment of the series. Viewers are left feeling like they’ve entered their own bad dream, with Freddy Krueger morphing into some kind of Looney Tunes-esque parody of himself. Krueger has gone from being a spine-tingling phantasm to a tame, utterly predictable baddie that people found funny rather than disturbing. Needless to say Rachel Talalay wasn’t pushed to write and direct any future releases in the franchise.