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Rank 131Up 1
#13 in Horror Movies
of 30 ranked entries
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven · 1984
Craven found the one place a teenager cannot lock a door. The dream logic lets the film break its own physics without cheating. Recorded specifics: year 1984, director Wes Craven, runtime 91. Panel highlighted premise no one had used, practical rotating-room effects and freddy before the sequels softened him. The reservation on record is franchise dilution damaged the original’s standing.
SlasherSupernatural
Score breakdown
How A Nightmare on Elm Street earned 86.6
Each criterion is scored independently, then combined using the weights published on Horror Movies.
- Critical acclaimweight 30%
- 84.1
- Audience ratingweight 25%
- 89.1
- Cultural impactweight 25%
- 87.6
- Rewatchabilityweight 20%
- 86.2
On the record
Recorded detail
| Year | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Director | Wes Craven |
| Runtime | 1h 31m |
| Score | 7.4 |
Panel verdict
Strengths and reservations
What it gets right
- Premise no one had used
- Practical rotating-room effects
- Freddy before the sequels softened him
Where it gives ground
- Franchise dilution damaged the original’s standing
1 appearance
Where this entry ranks
From the same list
Ranked alongside it
Rank 01Editor’s pickThe Shining
Stanley Kubrick · 1980
Kubrick turned a haunted-hotel novel into a study of a man who was already broken before he arrived. The Overlook’s symmetry and impossible geography do more work than any of its ghosts.
97.3/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 02Editor’s pickThe Exorcist
William Friedkin · 1973
Friedkin shot a possession story like a police procedural, and that flat documentary realism is exactly why it landed. The scares are practical, physical and almost unbearably patient.
96.0/100 Top 49 score1Down 1
Rank 03Editor’s pickHereditary
Ari Aster · 2018
A grief drama that curdles into something far worse. Toni Collette’s performance is the engine, and the film’s refusal to offer relief is its defining quality.
94.1/100 Top 49 score2Down 2
Rank 04Get Out
Jordan Peele · 2017
Peele built a horror film where the threat is social rather than supernatural, and every uncomfortable pleasantry in the first hour pays off in the second. Tightly written to the frame.
94.0/100 Top 49 score—No change
Rank 05Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock · 1960
Hitchcock killed his lead an hour in and broke the audience’s contract with cinema. Everything about the modern thriller descends from this structural decision.
93.9/100 Top 49 score4Down 4
Rank 06The Thing
John Carpenter · 1982
A paranoia film wearing a creature feature’s skin. Rob Bottin’s practical effects remain the high-water mark for physical horror on film.
92.1/100 Top 49 score3Down 3
Rank 07Alien
Ridley Scott · 1979
A haunted-house film staged on a working industrial spacecraft. The crew talk about pay disputes before anything goes wrong, and that grounding is what makes the horror bite.
91.5/100 Top 49 score4Up 4
Rank 08Editor’s pickHalloween
John Carpenter · 1978
Carpenter made a film about suburban sightlines — the horror is what is standing still in the background. Shot cheaply and edited with total confidence.
90.6/100 Top 49 score—No change
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