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One, Two . . . How to Watch the A Nightmare on Elm Street Movies in Order

Our in-house horror hounds help you hunt down all nine A Nightmare on Elm Street movies for the watch party of your dreams.

How do you watch the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies in order?

The fedora-rockin’, dream-dwelling slasher Freddy Krueger feeds off of your fear—but he might leave you alone if you stay up late watching his movies.

To help you test our hunch, we’ve prepared this guide on how to watch the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies in order. (Super)naturally, we can’t guarantee your Freddy binge-watch will work, but it (usually) doesn’t hurt to try.

Now let’s countdown to your Freddy-movie marathon: 1, 2, Freddy’s comin’ for you / 3, 4, better lock your door / 5, 6, grab your crucifix / 7, 8, better stay up late / 9, 10 . . . never sleep again . . . 

Why trust us? At age 9, Randy Harward begged his mom to take him to see An American Werewolf in London. She resisted but eventually relented.

Soon after that core cinematic experience, Randy discovered FANGORIA magazine and video stores. Several decades later, he supports himself and his raging horror habit by writing, reading, and talking about scary movies for CableTV.com.

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. . . running slowly while being chased in a dream. Enter your zip code below to see faster internet providers in your area.

What are the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies?

In 1984, at the end of the slasher era, Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced to the world Freddy Krueger—the wisecracking, dream-squatting slasher with a sinister sense of humor, dirty fedora, all-scar complexion, green-and-red sweater, knives for fingers, and control of your dreams.

We were already afraid of the dark, of things going bump in the night, of silent stalkers waiting around corners with machetes. Freddy brought a new danger: If you fall asleep, you enter the Dreamworld, Freddy’s territory, where  can manipulate and torment us before raking our flesh with his bladed glove (among other things).

Image of a dark alley where a man in a fedora reaches out with impossibly long arms. A scene from 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street, covered in How to Watch the A Nightmare on Elm Street Movies in Order.

Somebody need a hug? (Video screenshot from Max)

The super freaky film spawned seven sequels, a TV series, a 2003 collab with Jason Voorhees, a 2010 remake, three documentaries, countless sleeping pill prescriptions (probably), and an enduring horror icon in Krueger.

List of A Nightmare on Elm Street movies in order (release and chronological)

How to watch the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies in chronological order

Watching the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies in chronological order is the same as watching them in release order. This excludes the 2010 remake, which delves deeper into Freddy Krueger’s backstory, because it’s non-canon—or not part of the official Elm Street timeline. You can watch that one before or after the main series—but we recommend the latter.

The JustWatch links below will tell you where you can stream, rent, or buy the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, the Freddy’s Nightmare TV series, and three different Elm Street documentaries.

Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Elm Street 1

If you’ve seen A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), you recall the first time you saw Freddy’s dumpster-fire face, heard his metal claws scraping metal pipes, or heard his gleeful taunts and sneering snicker as he toyed with victims. If you haven’t seen writer-director Wes Craven’s classic supernatural slasher movie, well now you know some of what to expect.

Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

Elm Street 2

Some say A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge is bad. Others say it’s comically bad. But most people say it’s all of the above, but mostly remarkable for its gay subtext, which is so obvious that you might as well swap out “subtext” for “plot.” Jack Sholder (Alone in the DarkThe Hidden) directs.

Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Elm Street 3

In the third Elm street film, Freddy’s back and armed with even more razor-sharp one-liners (and, of course, the glove). Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), the original film’s final girl, is back too—and so is series creator Wes Craven, who opted out of participating in Freddy’s Revenge. And there’s a totally bitchin’, hot-as-fire theme song courtesy of ’80s hair farmers Dokken. Directed by Chuck Russell (The Blob remake, upcoming Witchboard remake).

Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Elm Street 4

In Renny Harlin’s (Die Hard 2, The Strangers: Chapter 1) The Dream Master, some of the Dream Warriors, no longer patients at the Westin Hills mental hospital, return. Through them, we meet a new final girl, Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox), who fights Freddy in this movie and the next.

Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Elm Street 5

A year after the events of The Dream Master, Alice is pregnant and Freddy has a new strategy: Using her unborn baby’s dreams to get to Alice and her friends. Directed by Stephen Hopkins (Predator 2, Lost in Space).

Where to watch Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Elm Street 6

Rachel Talalay (Tank Girl) directs this “final nightmare” that wasn’t final, but was a nightmarishly bad father-daughter face-off. (Yes, that means Freddy Krueger the child killer has a daughter.)

Where to watch Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1997)

Elm Street new nightmare

Wes Craven returned to write and direct this sixth Elm Street sequel, where things get meta for the cast and crew of all the previous Elm Street films. A scarier, less funny Freddy, it seems, has found a way to get to them in real life.

Where to watch Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Elm Street fvj

Nobody in Springwood fears Freddy anymore. To cure his impotence, FK raises Jason Voorhees from the dead, poses as the Friday the 13th axe man’s late mother, and convinces Jason to kill for him. Directed by Ronny Yu (Bride of Chucky).

Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Elm Street reboot

This remake—music video and commercial director Samuel Bayer’s only feature-film credit—goes for a scarier Freddy. To that end, Bayer cast Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, The Bad News Bears) in the role, eschewed Freddy’s trademark wisecracks, and changed the character’s makeup to more closely resemble a burn victim. Meh.

How to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street documentaries

The A Nightmare on Elm Street series inspired three outstanding documentaries that hardcore Freddy fans might want to add to their Elm Street marathons.

Where to watch Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)

Elm Street never

The four-hour Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) spans the entire series and features interviews Elm Street creator/director Wes Craven, all six sequel directors, and many of the actors (no Johnny Depp or Patricia Arquette, though—bummer).

Where to watch Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019)

Elm Street queen

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street focuses on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge star Mark Patton and the film’s gay subtext.

Where to watch Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story (2023)

REngStory

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story is all about the man who originated the role of Freddy Krueger and played him in every sequel (but not the 2010 remake).

How to rent or buy the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies on demand

The JustWatch links above also work for renting or buying the Elm Street movies from video-on-demand (VOD) retailers like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Google Play Movies, Redbox, and VUDU.

Rental pricing is typically $1.99–$3.99, while purchase prices are $5.99–$18.99. The lower end is for standard definition (SD) in each price range, while the higher end is for HD or better resolution.

To rent every A Nightmare on Elm Street movie, not including the documentaries, you’ll spend $32–$36 (plus $8 if you want the docs). To buy the films digitally will cost $82–$116 (plus $13–$18 for the docs).

How to watch the Freddy’s Nightmares TV series (1988–1990)

Elm Street freddy's nightmares

Freddy’s Nightmares, like Friday the 13th: The Series, is an anthology series. Unlike the Friday series, the main villain is actually in it—mostly to introduce episodes. Freddy Krueger does, however, appear in some of the stories. It’s too bad, though, that Freddy’s Nightmares is hard to find on streaming services or even on disc. We’ve seen the show on Screambox and Tubi before, but it’s not even on YouTube now. Hopefully, that’ll change soon.

FAQs

How many A Nightmare on Elm Street movies are there?

There are nine Elm Street movies. Since Wes Craven’s original A Nightmare on Elm Street came out in 1984, there have been five sequels, a non-canon sequel, a remake, and Freddy vs. Jason. Here’s the list of Elm Street movies in release order.

  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
  • Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
  • Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
  • Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

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