Every A Nightmare on Elm Street Movie Ranked

About as iconic and beloved as a horror franchise can get, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the genre’s true A-list properties. Part of this is due to its extremely inventive premise, but most of it comes courtesy of its antagonist: Freddy Krueger. His is a name known by people who have never even seen a film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, even by those who have had a lifelong aversion to the horror genre in general. One part pop-culture icon and one part genuinely compelling character, Freddy is as noteworthy to the world as Darth Vader.

With seven mainline installments as well as a crossover with Friday the 13th and a remake, A Nightmare on Elm Street has been a major fixture of the horror genre for decades. A mixed bag in the quality department, but successful nonetheless. So, of the nine films in the mixed bag, which is the best? And which is the stuff of nightmares?

#9 – A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

The next two entries may be pretty much unwatchable, but the 2010 reboot is fully unwatchable. Jackie Earle Haley does his best, but there’s just no replacing Robert Englund. And, if you’re going to try, don’t give him poorly written one-liners or make him look like a fish. Or make your movie look like a 2007 metal music video, for that matter.

[RELATED: A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Robert Englund Reveals How He Wants Franchise to Be Revived (Exclusive)]

Maika Monroe would like to star in an A Nightmare on Elm Street film, so maybe it’s time for another try at rebooting the property. Englund very likely wouldn’t be involved, but there’s no reason he couldn’t make a cameo and pass the glove off to another dream demon.

#8 – Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

It’s not hard to see what Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare director Rachel Talalay was going for with the film. But, after having served as a production assistant on the first two films, line producer on the third film, and producer on the fourth, it’s just a question of why she went for an R-rated cartoon instead of capping the franchise off with the elements that made it work in its heyday.

The increased silliness didn’t work out for A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child on either a critical or commercial level, so there was no success to try and replicate. As mentioned, Talalay herself was involved to varying degrees with the movies in the franchise that did work, so the hard-edged course correction that was needed after Dream Child could have been put in place here. Instead, Freddy is more Bugs Bunny than frightening dream stalker, and when the movie isn’t expounding on needless backstory, it’s playing like a copy of a Twin Peaks episode.

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

The best thing about A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child is the above promotional image, but even that shows one of this film’s key problems: Freddy is no longer scary. He’s not even trying to be either as the film sees him dress up as a comic book villain and slash apart a paper-made teenager.

Renny Harlin’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master showed that the franchise could live on beyond Nancy. It also showed that Krueger had become a genuine pop culture phenomenon. The fact that just one installment later it looked like Freddy had run his course is pretty telling as to just how rotten this sequel really is. Hollow and short on kills (and the ones present are pretty lame), this slasher—one of the ’80s very last—showed that it was time for New Line to get rid of their cash cow.

#6 – Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

To its credit, Freddy vs. Jason is more often than not an entertaining film. But that’s really all it is, a check-your-brain-at-the-door diversion. As a horror film, it doesn’t quite pull off any scares, partially thanks to the glossy studio look that accompanied most of the Scream derivative horror films released between 1997 and 2004 like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, The Faculty, etc.

But, for those who came to the show just to see the two horror titans clash, Freddy vs. Jason doesn’t disappoint. And, as a whole, it’s a more effective A Nightmare on Elm Street movie than it is a Friday the 13th movie. For a project that had such a tough time getting off the ground, Freddy vs. Jason is far better than it could have been, but it’s still relatively middling all told.

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

There are quite a few Elm Street fans who really do not like A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, and, frankly, that’s understandable. From the bookending school bus sequences to the entire core possession narrative, it’s blatantly obvious that New Line wasn’t quite sure how to turn Wes Craven’s classic into a franchise.

But, at the end of the day, Freddy’s Revenge is nothing if not memorable and, to a degree, ahead of its time in terms of LGBTQ representation in mainstream horror (the lead character, Jesse Walsh, is straight, but the movie is also not-so-subtle in implying he really isn’t). It’s also the second and final time that Freddy had his cheaper looking (but in a good way) appearance before his makeover in Dream Warriors. The second film makes a fine, but utterly bizarre, companion piece to the original film on double feature night.

#4 – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare deserves all the praise it has received, but it’s also something of an unsatisfying watch. All of the meta elements Craven establishes here, while ambitious, he would perfect two years later with Scream. If anything, it’s the one A Nightmare on Elm Street film that could have done with a two-and-a-half-hour runtime.

Having Freddy tear through the set of the next movie of his own franchise was certainly an interesting one, as was the general idea of having him cross from the cinematic plane to reality, but neither is explored quite enough. Fortunately, what is there is still pretty impactful, namely a look at the quasi-non-fictional life of franchise star Heather Langenkamp and her fully fictional son (played by Pet Sematary‘s Miko Hughes). New Nightmare stands as the best companion piece to the original film, not so much in terms of overall quality, but in how strongly it ties back.

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

An early showcase of Deep Blue Sea and Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin’s blockbuster sensibilities, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master was the highest-grossing slasher film of the 1980s. Adjusted for inflation, the sequel made over $130 million in 2025 dollars, which also means it sold the most tickets of the franchise outside of Freddy vs. Jason.

It makes sense why Dream Master did so well too. For one, the film arrived following Dream Warriors‘ fairly comparable success (and, for the slasher subgenre, critical acclaim). Two, it plays like a fairly ambitious summer blockbuster, with one character getting sucked into a theater screen and another turned into a cockroach. Not to mention, it has a pretty direct reference to the very first summer blockbuster: Jaws. The Dream Master is widely considered the “MTV” Freddy flick, and given all the style Harlin injects into it, it’s easy to see why. Sometimes Dream Master can be a bit too ambitious for its own good, and a dwindling budget led to a pretty lame death scene for its best character, Rick, but overall, the good outweighs the bad.

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

This was the one that made Freddy a bonafide ’80s horror icon. Quite possibly the single greatest slasher sequel of all time, Chuck Russell’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a classic. So good, in fact, that it gives the original a serious run for its money when it comes to nabbing the number one spot.

Bumping Freddy a bit more towards the frontlines works extremely well here, but it would also become a thorn in the side of the franchise as it progressed. Perhaps that’s what makes the fact that it works in this film so impressive. Dream Warriors juggles quite a bit, and it does so successfully across the board. Along with keeping Freddy scary, the film expands his backstory just enough. The film brings back both Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon as Nancy and Donald Thompson, respectively, in a way that is not only organic but simultaneously serves as a fitting finale for them both. Not to mention the sequel introduces a new cast of young characters, all of whom stand out.

#1 –A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

As terrific as Dream Warriors is, there’s no topping the inventive power of Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare on Elm Street. By far the scariest film of the franchise, the movie starts strong with its short-lived focus on Tina and never loses momentum until its weak, tacked-on ending. In other words, it’s not quite a perfect horror film, but it’s mighty close.

By the mid-’80s, the slasher genre was already starting to run on steam, and Freddy Krueger was exactly the icon it needed to retain life for a few more years. His use in the first film is limited, which only helps to accentuate just how frightening he could be when he does show up. Robert Englund was and remains the only slasher antagonist actor who can’t be replaced. They tried with the second film. It didn’t work out.