This Day in Horror History: Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Opened in 1984
Mike Sprague
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On this day in horror history, Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street with Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger was released in 1984.
In Wes Craven’s classic slasher film, several Midwestern teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger (Englund), a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams — which, in turn, kills them in reality. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy (Langenkamp) begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends’ parents may be the key to unraveling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) solve the puzzle before it’s too late?
Written and directed by Craven (Scream) on a budget of $1.8M, the film grossed $57M worldwide and is considered one of the greatest horror films ever made.
Produced by Robert Shaye, it was one of the first films produced by New Line Cinema, leading the studio to be nicknamed “The House that Freddy Built”.
The first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, it spawned six sequels (so far), a TV series, Freddy’s Nightmares, a Friday the 13th crossover, Freddy vs Jason, and more. A remake with Jackie Earle Haley was released in 2010
The film sports a 94% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: Wes Craven’s intelligent premise, combined with the horrifying visual appearance of Freddy Krueger, still causes nightmares to this day.
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