It's hard to overstate just how significant Wes Craven's the original A Nightmare on Elm Street is much more than an artifact to be ired. It remains a thrilling spectacle – albeit with some of its originality tarnished.

The movie's power comes from an ingenious twist on tried and tested horror conventions. A group of teenagers finds themselves hunted by a hideously scarred killer who determinedly picks them off one by one (especially if they make any of the classic horror movie mistakes of ignoring the obvious peril, wandering around alone at night, or – worst of all – having sex).

What sets Nightmare on Elm Street apart is the fact that the danger comes not from a living, breathing villain, but from a supernatural entity who stalks his victims in their dreams. It's a twist that pushes the movie beyond slasher tradition and into much weirder – and more terrifying – territory.

A Nightmare On Elm Street's Scariest Moments Remain Potent

At first glance, a modern viewer dropping in on Elm Street for the first time might struggle to pinpoint what makes the horror so effective. A slightly creaky opening sequence (with gloriously 80s, synth-heavy scoring) gives way to a quartet of awkward teenagers (including an almost unrecognizably youthful Johnny Depp) exchanging dialogue that's about as ear-scraping as one of Freddy Kreuger's claws screeching across a wall. Iconic antagonist and his signature weapon aside, there doesn't seem much to mark the movie out. However, like all great American suburban parables, Nightmare's real power comes from what lies below the surface.

In a movie that is all about being unable to trust what's real and what's imagined, everything feels upsettingly disted – in the best way possible.

In other movies, the stilted dialogue might hold back the horror. Here it enhances it. The protagonist's slightly odd behavior and communication style only add to the movie's dreamlike atmosphere. There's something unsettling and uncanny in the world Wes Craven conjures. In a movie that is all about being unable to trust what's real and what's imagined, everything feels upsettingly disted – in the best way possible. Characters never behave as we feel they should, making it impossible to trust in objective reality. It's an ingenious trick that helps blur the lines between the waking world and the deadly nightmares haunting the heroes.

This discomfiting and oppressive mood sits like a duvet over the entire film, giving even innocuous scenes a creepy sheen. Beyond the general milieu, however, Nightmare's spectacular set pieces still pack an impressive punch. Tina's death, writhing across the ceiling as her boyfriend watches helplessly, remains shocking. Freddy's gloved hand sprouting from bathwater between Nancy's legs is perverse and threatening. Depp's familiar face disappearing into a bed, giving way to an inverted fountain of blood, is spectacularly gory. All of these moments, combined with Nightmare's more pervasive dread, are enough to give anyone bad dreams.

A Nightmare On Elm Street's Influence & Legacy Is Its Biggest Weakness

Given how effective and multilayered A Nightmare on Elm Street's horror is, it's unsurprising that its influence can still be felt. Freddy Kreuger's knifed hand upped the ante for a whole new generation of murderous slasher villains, while his horribly playful personality has echoes in the likes of Art the Clown from the Terrifier series. Alongside Jamie Lee Curtis from Halloween, Nancy is perhaps the archetypal final girl – a template horror films of all shades continue to benefit from. However, while these enduring hallmarks highlight Nightmare's greatness, they also limit some of its effectiveness to a modern audience.

So many movies have showcased an equally unhinged villain by this point that Freddy, like his own famous headgear, seems slightly old hat.

It's almost impossible to watch some of A Nightmare on Elm Street's most famous sequences in 2024 and not be reminded of subsequent (and often lesser) imitations. So many movies have showcased an equally unhinged villain by this point that Freddy, like his own famous headgear, seems slightly old hat. Much of this is down to Wes Craven himself. His Scream movies are direct parodies of A Nightmare on Elm Street – right down to the fact that Depp's Glen and Skeet Ulrich's Billy Loomis look almost identical.

The result is that A Nightmare on Elm Street's fierce originality has become somewhat compromised. Scenes that were once rightly considered shocking and boundary-pushing are so well incorporated into the horror canon that they've lost some of their original power. Nevertheless, it's telling that – despite its pop-cultural omnipresence, A Nightmare on Elm Street remains an indisputable horror, four decades after its original theatrical release.