A Nightmare on Elm Street: Critic Reviews

76%

MovieWeb: 43 reviews

13%

RottenTomatoes: 160 reviews

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A.O. Scott New York Times (Top Critic)

50

Traffics in overly familiar scare tactics, setting up predictable false alarms and telegraphing in advance just when Freddy will pop into the frame and utter one of his labored witticisms.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Xan Brooks Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

60

Does it matter that the plot is little more than a cynical, machine-tooled retread of the 1984 original? Debut director Samuel Bayer was not hired to dismantle the franchise but to shoot it afresh.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Jen Chaney Washington Post (Top Critic)

13

All we can think of is how much we miss the Robert Englund Freddy. Man, that guy knew how to have a killer good time.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Elizabeth Weitzman New York Daily News (Top Critic)

20

Haley's a fine actor, but he was far scarier in the suburban drama Little Children. And Englund's unpredictable presence is definitely missed.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Chris Vognar Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

60

The jump scares, given a little extra oomph by the ever-looming possibility of a double wake-up, do what they're supposed to do. They make you jump.
Full Review » 2 years ago
James Rocchi MSN Movies (Top Critic)

30

... Like watching a brilliant garage band's sparse, smart singles turned into loud, expensive, overproduced karaoke sing-along versions with the same notes and lyrics but none of the passion and power.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

25

I stared at A Nightmare on Elm Street with weary resignation. The movie consists of a series of teenagers who are introduced, haunted by nightmares and then slashed to death by Freddy. So what?
Full Review » 2 years ago
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

50

I've seen far worse horror remakes, but let's not grade on too much of a curve: This Nightmare offers dutifully grinding thrills of a routine sort.
Full Review » 2 years ago
J. R. Jones Chicago Reader (Top Critic)

Using blasts of shrill, high-decibel noise in place of actual scares has become a common horror-movie tactic, the cinematic equivalent of botox, silicone, and penile-enhancement surgery.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

38

Like a cover band with more stagecraft than talent, A Nightmare on Elm Street looks good recycling "greatest hits" moments but fails to capture the excitement of the original.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

A Nightmare on Elm Street may be the most unneeded movie of the year. And that's saying something.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Dennis Harvey Variety (Top Critic)

While the 1984 film has aged, its now-familiar jolts still pack more punch than this pic's recycled ones, which sometimes register so tepidly as to cause snickers.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Kyle Smith New York Post (Top Critic)

25

To the audience suckered into paying to see this, here's why your generation sucks.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

50

It's a movie that starts slowly, and only starts moving us to the edge of our seat in the third act, adequate for a horror picture, but no more.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Peter Howell Toronto Star (Top Critic)

38

There are a lot of things wrong with this remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, not least of which is that it was made at all.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Christine Champ Film.com (Top Critic)

67

Full Review » 1 year ago
Liam Lacey Globe and Mail (Top Critic)

50

The result of the new Nightmare is, at best, a kind of stand-off between predictability and competent execution.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Andrew O'Hehir Salon.com (Top Critic)

This moody, lifeless movie rips off lines, scenes, dream sequences and character kills from Craven's film ... while draining them of energy, suspense and meaning.
Full Review » 2 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

50

Welcome to 2010, Freddy Krueger. You were scarier in 1984.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Michael Rechtshaffen Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

Good luck staying awake.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Christy Lemire Associated Press (Top Critic)

The novelty has long since worn off, and cheap, generic scares are all that are left.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Richard Corliss TIME Magazine (Top Critic)

The new Nightmare is a straight, shiny, honorable remake.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Peter Travers Rolling Stone (Top Critic)

38

It's the Bay touch you feel in the way actors register as body count, characters go undeveloped, and sensation trumps feeling. A nightmare, indeed.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Richard Roeper Richard Roeper.com (Top Critic)

60

Stylish remake isn't as good as the original, but it has enough genuine scares to merit a mild recommendation.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Robert Abele Los Angeles Times (Top Critic)

40

As an exercise in "re-imagining," to use Hollywood's favorite rehash euphemism, this Nightmare is mostly stale goods.
Full Review » 2 years ago