A Nightmare On Elm Street Movies: Ranked From Worst To Best

The best of Freddy (and the rest of Freddy).

By Joe O'Brien /

Freddy Krueger is surely the greatest horror icon of them all; a slasher figure destined to live on forever in the endless Nightmare films and of course our actual nightmares, too. Since 1984, there have been nine Freddy films to date (including Freddy Vs. Jason). When the A Nightmare On Elm Street films first began in the '80s, slashers were all of the rage, and the success of similar films like Friday The 13th ensured that the Nightmare films too would find an audience. They certainly did, and with so many fans wowed by the original, sequels were not only likely, but an absolute necessity for New Line Cinema. Like most horror franchises, A Nightmare On Elm Street suffers from inconstant quality among the many entries. The series has had many different casts and crews and has aged over four decades, so there is of course a lot of variety in the films and a lot of different dynamics at play. Freddy has gone from scary to funny to downright ridiculous and perhaps scary again (or, at least that was the intention). All in all, the series is one of the greatest in horror history and each of the films have something to make them worth watching. Here is a ranking from the worst A Nightmare On Elm Street films to the best.