One of Craven's best films. An memorable horror/fantasy film.

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2005)

When a scared teenager by the name of Tina (Amanda Wyss) woke up from a bad dream. When a creepy, filthy man is always trying to kill her in her dreams. When the girl tells to her friends:Nancy (Heather Langerkamp) and Glen (Johnny Deep) about her nightmare that ended up having the same dreams as her. On that same night, after she told her friends. Her boyfriend-Rod (Nick Corri) ended up sleeping at Tina's House. Later that night, when she was sleeping with her boyfriend and then she wakes up from a terrible drams, she finds herself being torture and killed by the man of her dreams! When Nancy starts dreaming about this man, which he doesn't seems to be real and he always tries to get her in her dreams. Nancy is slowly finding out, who is the murderer and why for his brutal killings towards teenagers.
Written and Directed by Wes Craven (The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, Swamp Thing) made a clever, scary, horror/thriller-which is extremely entertaining. There is a good performance by Langerkamp and also a genuine memorable small role by Robert Englund-Who's plays Freddy Krueger (The Horrible Man from their Dreams), who ended up being one of the most infamous undead villains in Cinematic History. The only weak point of Craven's film is Ronee Blakely as Nancy's mother.
The original DVD has an good anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) with an strong-digitally remastered:Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD Extras are an fun running commentary track by Craven, Langenkamp, John Saxon as Nancy's father and Director of Photography:Jacques Haitkin (Shocker). DVD also included the theatrical trailer and Jump to a Nightmare opinion. On the box set of "A Nightmare on Elm Street Series", on the eight disc. DVD has interviews with the cast & crew talking about the making of the first-Elm Street film.
The latest two disc set. DVD has an new Widescreen digital transfer and an new re-mix Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. This DVD has the original commentary track but also added an new one with the cast and crew. The new DVD also features:Documentary, Featurettes and more.This horror film ended being a Box office smash in the fall of 1984. This is well made, it is also One of Craven's best and it's still worth seeing. Horror Buffs will love this film. Johnny Deep's film debut. (****/*****).