The Problem Even Fans Have With Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

With its wildly innovative narrative, relentlessly gory effects, instantly iconic villain, and winking sense of humor, Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" set the horror world ablaze upon its 1984 release. And admiration for the slasher classic has only grown since unleashing the nocturnal knife-fingered killer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) on the masses. So much so that these days "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is widely regarded as not only one of the best horror films of the 1980s, but one of the greatest of all time. 

If you've yet to experience Craven's cinematic nightmare, the film follows a group of teens who come to realize the disfigured madman of their dreams (Mr. Krueger himself) is actually killing them in the real world. In the context of that genuinely unsettling setup, Craven and company do things with their hellish dreamscapes that continue to terrify audiences almost four decades, and several increasingly silly sequels, later. But even as universally adored as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is by horror lovers from every generation, some still have a few issues with the film. And a few of those fans recently even took the film to task in Reddit-land over one specific problem. Here's why they were hating on "A Nightmare on Elm Street." 

For all its slasher-rific charms, it seems some "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fans remain underwhelmed by the acting in the film. That's clear in the Reddit thread's original post, which stated under no uncertain terms, "The four main teens in the first movie, even Johnny Depp, all get a big yikes from me. I know everyone loves Nancy a lot but Heather just can't do it ... Look I like these movies for the effects and aesthetics but the acting is just oof across the board."

Turns out several Redditors share the same opinion about "A Nightmare on Elm Street," with IsHisNameJulian offering support by posting, "The acting in the first one is rough, ngl..."  User zmbdog promptly backed the hot take about the O.G. "Elm Street" film's acting, stating, "The first one isn't great performance-wise," and Ichithekiller62 took matters a step further by positing the acting in every "Elm Street" movie suffers "Because many (not all) are more interested in 'creative' kills." 

Not every user was turned off by the acting in "A Nightmare on Elm Street," however. TurboTina759 sagely offered that the film's performances were more a product of the era than the actors: "Agree to disagree. I'm not saying that any of the acting was Oscar worthy, but pretty on par for horror especially of the respective times." Acting criticism aside, nobody on the thread is arguing Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is anything other than a classic.