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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 50 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

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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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Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 04/05/2010
This one's defeated by the rigid formula. Go to Full Review
Joe Leydon Variety 03/26/2009
Englund once again is in bravura form as Freddy, playing as much for nasty laughs as unnerving shocks. Go to Full Review
Time Out 06/24/2006
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
Brian Bisesi Horror Movie Club Podcast 1d
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
Meta work from Wes Craven before meta became cool. Go to Full Review
Paul Lê Bloody Disgusting Oct 14
4/5
[An] ambitious blur of reality and fantasy. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Rick W 10/30/2024 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 10/17/2024 Loved every moment of it!!! See more Ollie W @RT90619198 2d 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. See more Alex B @AlexBioni Aug 27 I've Got Some Gingerbread for Ya! This is a love letter to the franchise, and I really enjoyed it. It's meta, with the characters playing themselves and wanting to make another Nightmare movie. I loved the story and the new lore they add to Freddy. Freddy's tongue action is CRAZY. This feels original and fresh, and it breaks the usual formula, which was a nice change. I also liked the behind the scenes movie aspect. Freddy's design was great too. He looked different enough while still feeling like Freddy. Heather Langenkamp was great, and so was Miko Hughes. They put that kid through a lot in this movie. The hospital sections dragged a bit, but they were building toward that crazy hospital room scene, so I'll give it a pass. I don't think this is as good as the first, but it might be my second favorite. It also feels like Wes Craven was laying the groundwork for Scream. Overall, a solid watch and better than most of the sequels. You have to appreciate how original it is. See more Romas M @Romas Aug 16 Greetings from Lithuania. "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" (1994) was for me the best sequel in the series. This and first film were the only ones that really scared me when I've first watched being very young (to young for a rating). This movie had a clever premise how to inject some new ideas and life into long running series. But its execution that makes it work. This film is really scary, and made me scared back in the day. Revisiting this movie in 2026 on newly remastered 4K box set was a blast - it really hold up as one of the really best in the series. Overall, directed by a great late Wes Craven and superbly acted by Heather Langenkamp and Miko Hughes this film is a really good horror film. One of the few best in the series. See more Charles T @CharlesGaming1000 Jul 14 A great self awareness experiment before Scream came out!!! 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
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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