A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Welcome to your new nightmare.
Teenagers Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean are all neighbourhood friends who begin having the same dream of a horribly disfigured man who wears a tattered sweater and a glove made of knives. The man terrorises them in their dreams, and the only escape is to wake up. But when, one by one, they start dying violently, the friends realise that what happens in the dream world is real, and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake.
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| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 30 April 2010 |
| Genre | Horror, Mystery, Thriller |
| Director | Samuel Bayer |
| Starring | Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner and Jackie Earle Haley |
| Runtime | 95 min |
| Rated | R |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 3.8/10 · Metacritic 35/100 · Rotten Tomatoes 14% · TMDB users 5.5/10 |
| Budget | $35 million |
Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street is streaming on Max ($18.49 a month) in the US. If that is the only reason to subscribe, one month of Max is $18.49 at list price.
We check availability daily. Page last updated 29 October 2026. Prices are standard monthly plans and change often, so check with the service before you sign up.
Rent or buy
You can rent A Nightmare on Elm Street on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Fandango at Home and Spectrum On Demand. It is also for sale on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street in 36 other countries
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| Antigua & Barbuda | Max |
| Argentina | Max $9590 ARS |
| Austria | Max €11.99 |
| Bahamas | Max |
| Barbados | Max |
| Belgium | Netflix €10.99 |
| Belize | Max |
| Bolivia | Max |
| Brazil | Max R$34.90 |
| Chile | Max $9590 CLP |
| Colombia | Max $24900 COP |
| Costa Rica | Max |
| Dominican Republic | Max |
| Ecuador | Max $8.29 |
| El Salvador | Max |
| Germany | Max €11.99 |
| Guatemala | Max |
| Guyana | Max |
| Honduras | Max |
| Jamaica | Max |
| Japan | U-NEXT ¥2189 JPY |
| Liechtenstein | Max |
| Luxembourg | Max |
| Mexico | Max $149 MXN |
| Netherlands | Netflix €9.99 |
| Nicaragua | Max |
| Panama | Max $8.29 |
| Paraguay | Max |
| Peru | Max S/35.90 |
| Portugal | Max €9.99 |
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| Switzerland | Max CHF16.90 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | Max |
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| Uruguay | Max $U399 |
| Venezuela | Max |
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What kind of watch this is
Samuel Bayer’s 2010 remake runs 95 minutes and leans on a simple, brutal mechanic: sleep is death. Jackie Earle Haley plays the knife-gloved threat. Rooney Mara anchors the cast as the one teenager determined to stay conscious long enough to find the source. The tension comes from the fear of closing your eyes, a universal instinct the film exploits without mercy. It is less a story about a monster and more an exercise in insomnia, where the only safe place is the one you cannot enter.
What the critics said
The scores are not kind. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 14% as of November 2024, with an average rating of 3.8 out of 10. Metacritic lands on 35 out of 100, a number that signals generally unfavorable reception. The consensus argues the film is visually faithful but lacks the depth of the original. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 1 star, asking if we were supposed to be scared. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it a nightmare where sensation trumps feeling. Even Robert Englund, the original Freddy, disliked the make-up effects. The audience grade was a C+.
How it did with audiences
The film cost $35 million to make and took in $115 million worldwide, a ratio that keeps studio accounting departments awake at night. On TMDB, users rate it 5.5 out of 10. It broke the record for midnight openings for a horror film, beating the 2009 Friday the 13th remake. That specific metric is the kind of trivia that survives the death of the rest of the run.
What came next for the cast
Rooney Mara swapped indie dramas for a thriller. Jackie Earle Haley moved from a quiet drama to a string of blockbuster action parts. Katie Cassidy found a long-running TV anchor. The timeline shows what followed, not that this film caused it. Careers rarely move in straight lines. They meander, pause, and occasionally jump tracks without explanation.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Read more: Barbarian
Sources
- A Nightmare on Elm Street on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q300508 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 film)” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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