Wes Craven's New Nightmare

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2:30

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

R

1994

1h 52m

Horror

Fantasy

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

76%

Tomatometer

51 Reviews

67%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Reality and fantasy meet in unsettling ways in this installment of the long-running horror series, which finds director Wes Craven and actors Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund all portraying themselves. As Heather (Heather Langenkamp) considers making another film with Craven, her son, Dylan (Miko Hughes), falls under the spell of the iconic disfigured villain Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Eventually, Langenkamp must confront Freddy's demonic spirit to save the soul of Dylan.

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Critics Consensus

Wes Craven's New Nightmare adds an unexpectedly satisfying - not to mention intelligent - meta layer to a horror franchise that had long since lost its way.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Apr 5, 2010

This one's defeated by the rigid formula.

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Joe Leydon

Variety

Mar 26, 2009

Englund once again is in bravura form as Freddy, playing as much for nasty laughs as unnerving shocks.

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Time Out

Jun 24, 2006

The climactic punch-up fails to match the power of the first film's true ending, but in deconstructing his own bastardised creation, Craven redeems both the series and his own tarnished reputation.

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Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Sep 9, 2026

It is a wonderful epilogue that concludes the original franchise on a powerful note.

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Brian Bisesi

Horror Movie Club Podcast

Sep 2, 2026

2.5/5

Wes Craven’s concept is undoubtedly interesting and perhaps ground-breaking, but the film itself is often a dull slog that has none of the imagination or outlandishness of the "lesser" installments in the franchise.

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Don Shanahan

Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast

Nov 29, 2025

Meta work from Wes Craven before meta became cool.

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Rick W

Oct 30, 2024

Grew up watching this movie and I always wanted to see it on a big screen and am eternally grateful to the Alamo Drafthouse for screening it this October. Quality was outstanding and the quality served to immerse me so sufficiently that it took me back to being a kid.

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Diane

Oct 17, 2024

Loved every moment of it!!!

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Knox D

@P1xel-F1lms 6 days ago

the design is sick and I like how its in the real world not the dream and real world (edit) holy Jason's been real quiet since this released Freds height

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Julian C

@juliancooper_12 Oct 1, 2026

I appreciate Wes Craven returning to give us one last A Nightmare on Elm Street film with a different direction, but this isn't very rewatchable

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Robert P

@Superbad Sep 9, 2026

A great tribute to Freddy thus my 3.5 star rating!

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Ollie W

@RT90619198 Sep 1, 2026

After the first film the Nightmare sequels were all played for laughs. The nadir of "The Final Nightmare" was followed up with this attempt to create a slightly more adult, serious and scary standalone film in the franchise. Sadly, it doesn’t work. It’s neither scary nor particularly interesting. The child actor playing Heather’s son delivers a terrible performance. They changed the makeup and look of Freddy for this film and it’s the worst he’s ever looked: it was a very strange decision to mess with the image of an iconic character.

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Synopsis

Reality and fantasy meet in unsettling ways in this installment of the long-running horror series, which finds director Wes Craven and actors Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund all portraying themselves. As Heather (Heather Langenkamp) considers making another film with Craven, her son, Dylan (Miko Hughes), falls under the spell of the iconic disfigured villain Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Eventually, Langenkamp must confront Freddy's demonic spirit to save the soul of Dylan.

Director: Wes Craven
Producer: Marianne Maddalena
Distributor: New Line Cinema, Roadshow Home Video [au]
Production Co: New Line Cinema
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 14, 1994, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $18.1M
Runtime: 1h 52m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo, DTS

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