A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

1, 2 Freddy's coming for you

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 slasher film starring Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, John Saxon, and Johnny Depp is his horror debut and film debut. This movie is about four teenagers who live on a street where serial killer Freddy Krueger (Englund) invades and kills them in their dreams, then showing their death in the real world.

## Plot

In March 1981, Tina Gray awakens from a nightmare wherein she is attacked by a disfigured man wearing a blade-fixed glove in a boiler room. Her mother points out four mysterious slashes on her nightgown.

The following morning, Tina is consoled by her best friend Nancy Thompson and her boyfriend Glen Lantz. The two stay at Tina's house when Tina's mother goes out of town, but their sleepover is interrupted by Tina's boyfriend Rod Lane. When Tina falls asleep, she dreams of being chased by the disfigured man. Rod is awoken by Tina's thrashing and sees her dragged and fatally slashed by an unseen force; forcing him to flee as Nancy and Glen awaken to find Tina bloodied and dead.

The next day, Rod is arrested by Nancy's father Don Thompson despite his pleas of innocence. At school, Nancy falls asleep in class and dreams that the man, who calls himself Freddy, chases her to the boiler room where she is cornered; she then deliberately burns her arm on a pipe. The burn startles her awake in class and she notices a burn mark on her arm. Nancy goes to Rod at the police station, who tells her details about what happened to Tina along with his own recent nightmares. This makes Nancy believe that Freddy is responsible for Tina's death.

At home, Nancy falls asleep in the bathtub and is nearly drowned by Freddy. Nancy then depends on caffeine to stay awake and invites Glen to watch over her as she sleeps. In her dream, Nancy sees Freddy prepare to kill Rod in his cell but then he turns his attention towards her. Nancy runs away and wakes up when her alarm clock goes off. Freddy kills Rod by wrapping bed sheets around his neck like a noose. Nancy and Glen find his body hanging in his cell. At Rod's funeral, Nancy's parents become worried when she describes her dreams about Freddy. Her mother, Marge, takes her to a sleep disorders clinic where, in a dream, Nancy grabs Freddy's fedora (with his name "Fred Krueger" written in it) and pulls it from the dream into reality.

Upon barricading the house, Marge reveals to Nancy that Krueger was an insane child murderer who was released on a technicality and then burned alive by parents living on their street seeking vigilante justice. Nancy realizes that Krueger, now a vengeful ghost, desires revenge and to satiate his psychopathic needs. Nancy tries to call Glen to warn him, but his father prevents her from speaking to him. Glen falls asleep and is killed by Krueger.

Now alone, Nancy puts Marge to sleep and asks Don, who is across the street investigating Glen's death, to break into the house in twenty minutes. Nancy rigs booby traps around the house and grabs Krueger out of the dream and into the real world. The booby traps affect Krueger enough that Nancy is able to light him on fire and lock him in the basement. Nancy rushes to the door for help. The police arrive to find that Krueger has escaped from the basement. Nancy and Don go upstairs to find a burning Krueger smothering Marge in her bedroom. After Don puts out the fire, Krueger and Marge vanish into the bed.

When Don leaves the room, Krueger rises from the bed behind Nancy. Nancy realizes that Krueger is powered by his victim's fear and she calmly turns her back to him. Krueger evaporates when he attempts to lunge at her.

Nancy steps outside into a bright and foggy morning where all of her friends and her mother are still alive. Nancy gets into Glen's convertible to go to school and then the top suddenly comes down and locks them in as the car drives uncontrollably down the street. Three girls in white dresses playing jump rope are heard chanting Krueger's nursery rhyme as Marge is grabbed by Krueger through the front door window.