A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Ninety-one minutes, one striped sweater, and a final scene that makes no sense at all. The ending feels bolted on, and the parents in A Nightmare on Elm Street are so useless they barely count as characters. Some of the teen acting is stiff too. But Wes Craven had one brilliant idea: put the bad guy in the one place you can’t avoid visiting every night. Nancy is the best part. Heather Langenkamp plays her as a smart, stubborn kid who stops screaming and starts planning, booby-trapping her own house and studying the enemy. Robert Englund gives Freddy a playful, scratchy menace, and the movie keeps him in the shadows long enough that he’s actually scary. Johnny Depp shows up in his first movie and mostly tries to stay awake. The dream scenes are creepy, never gross. It made $25.5 million domestic on a reported $1.1M. An 8.2 because the idea is perfect and the ending trips over its own shoelaces. $1,306 says you brew a second pot of coffee tonight and tell everyone it’s for work.

What works: The concept is genius, Nancy is a resourceful hero who fights back, and Freddy is genuinely creepy before the sequels turned him into a punchline.

What doesn’t: The parents are paper-thin, some of the teen acting is stiff, and the last scene undercuts everything that came before it.

Who it’s for: Horror fans who want the original before Freddy became a stand-up act, and anyone who brags about never having nightmares.