Every A Nightmare On Elm Street Movie Ranked Worst To Best

8. A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
New Line Cinema

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare really tanked the series two years later, but the rot truly began with A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child in 1989.

The Dream Child has the dubious honour of having the biggest budget in the franchise up until that point, while simultaneously bringing home the lowest box office haul of the entire series. So bad was Elm Street 5, New Line Cinema decided the only possible way the franchise could move forward was if it officially killed off Freddy Krueger. Even director Stephen Hopkins labelled The Dream Child a "total embarrassment".

This fifth Elm Street did actually have some great SFX work at play, but the wider plot - Freddy using the dreams of an unborn child to wreak havoc - was just a bit naff. Added to that, the performances of our central protagonists ranged from just-about-passable to outright awful, and here we had yet another example of a Freddy Krueger who was leaning way too much into comedy to make him feel like a truly menacing presence.

The use of certain Gothic imagery brought something a little spooky to Elm Street 5, but those striking visuals were clearly not enough to save a film which made Krueger's backstory even more convoluted. And likewise, while the kills here were fun, there was sadly only three of film.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.