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Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Play trailer 2:30 Poster for Wes Craven's New Nightmare R 1994 1h 52m Horror Fantasy Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 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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Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

What to Know

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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Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Apr 5, 2010
This one's defeated by the rigid formula. Go to Full Review
Joe Leydon Variety Mar 26, 2009
Englund once again is in bravura form as Freddy, playing as much for nasty laughs as unnerving shocks. Go to Full Review
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. Go to Full Review
Grant Watson Fiction Machine Sep 9, 2026
It is a wonderful epilogue that concludes the original franchise on a powerful note. Go to Full Review
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. Go to Full Review
Don Shanahan Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast Nov 29, 2025
Meta work from Wes Craven before meta became cool. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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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. See more Diane Oct 17, 2024 Loved every moment of it!!! See more Joel H @786Joel 2 days ago How meta is too meta? That’s what I kept asking myself while watching Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Sometimes the surreal nature of making a movie about the making of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise was fascinating. At other times, it was just plain confusing. But it was definitely unique and made this story feel fresh again. It’s always risky, though, to hinge your movie on a child actor, because their performances can be hit or miss. And this one was a miss. Freddy looked cool, though, and Craven brought the fear back to his character. New Nightmare is one of the better sequels in this series. See more Kevin G @RT09447547 Oct 19, 2026 A good film that brought back the nightmare franchise. i really love this movie. it doesnt have the camp of 4-6. it feels liek the first three elm street. its brigns the scariness back to freddy. though i did get bored a little. recommend this. im glad i can put this next to the good elm street films. See more Shadow R @GeminiShadowRealm Oct 16, 2026 Wes Craven’s New Nightmare takes an ambitious, meta approach to the slasher genre, acting as a clear precursor to Craven’s work on Scream (especially recalling Scream 3 with its movie-within-a-movie setting). Instead of a standard sequel, Heather Langenkamp plays a fictionalized version of herself living in California with her son, while cast members like Robert Englund and John Saxon also appear as themselves. After an exhausted dad falls asleep driving following a bad dream, real life begins to mimic a script Wes Craven is secretly writing, causing nightmares and phone calls to bleed into reality. While the concept is clever, the execution feels more like a psychological drama than a true horror movie for long stretches. The highlight remains Heather Langenkamp, who proves once again why she is the best final girl in the entire franchise. Overall, it’s not a bad film and deserves credit for its inventive premise, but the plot structure keeps it from being one of my personal favor See more Knox D @P1xel-F1lms Oct 4, 2026 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 God damn Freddy's height See more Read all reviews
Wes Craven's New Nightmare

My Rating

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Movie Info

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
Roadshow Home Video [au], New Line Cinema
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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