The Nightmare on Elm Street Series - Rate/Rank/Thoughts

I'd suggest watching A Nightmare on Elm Street 4. There is really no reason to go past that though.

It is worth watching for the middle section with a time loop and also has the most creative kill of the entire series. The kill is as creepy as it is funny. My big issues are that Patricia Arquette's character is re-cast and this is when the series becomes more full-blown ridiculous. I already had problems with the silliness of Part 3, but there it finds more of a balance.

I dislike 2 because the story and characters just leave me indifferent. There are certainly interesting things about it, but it just falls flat overall. The opening scene is great though.

Yes, the original has traces of camp, but Wes Craven knew exactly how much to use, where to use it and how to use it. The camp actually adds to why the movie is scary and that isn't the case with Part 3 imo. It takes away from the scariness here.

The original is the best of course, I don't think too many dispute that. Even with the acting being kind of hit or miss, it's still a great idea executed wonderfully, though the open ending is a bit unnecessary.

The second one comes next, despite it's weird directing style, it's the only sequel to keep the darker style and still feels like a straight up horror film.

The Dream Warriors comes up next, it's decent but overrated. Things still get too silly here even if it's not near as silly as the next few entries. I do like it enough as a more direct sequel to the first though.

I guess New Nightmare ranks next just on it's acting and unique take alone. It's definitely a better idea than execution but there's still enough to like here.

If Freddy vs Jason counts, it comes up next. It's stupid but there's a place for fun stupid and this film does that very well.

I'll put the remake here, not nearly deserving of the hate it gets. It didn't do things uniquely on it's own to justify itself, but it was still executed well enough for being this kind of remake.

I put Freddy's Dead next. It's an awful film technically, but I kind of have to applaud the outright insanity and devolution to a pure comedy film here. It still makes me laugh which is more than I can say about the next two.

Dream Master is ok I guess for what it is but it's still a badly executed sequel in every way and a big FU to fans of the third film. The fact it even tries to take itself remotely seriously is an insult.

I think most agree Dream Child is the worst, just a terrible movie all around with nothing redeemable. It's not scary, it's not funny, it's not interesting, it's not much of anything.

I'm glad it works for you.

The wonderful thing is that we can all like whatever we want and dislike whatever we want, regardless of what anybody else thinks. More to the point, we don't even have control of what we like or dislike.

I agree that Freddy is scary in 2.