A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - USA

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American horror film directed and written by Wes Craven. The film features John Saxon, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund and Johnny Depp in his feature film debut. Set in the fictional Midwestern town of Springwood, Ohio, the plot revolves around several teenagers being terrorized in their nightmares by the ghost of a serial child murderer named Freddy Krueger.

The film's premise is the question of where the line between dreams and reality lies. The villain, Freddy Krueger, thus exists in the "dream world" yet can kill in the "real world".

A Nightmare on Elm Street is as creepy as it is original. Who hasn't been wakened in the night by a bad dream only to reassure themselves that it was only that? Sometimes those nightmares are so realistic we have to ground ourselves back into reality before we can put the fears aside. The film taps into that phenomenon and gives it physical life.
Many horror films of the period managed to become maudlin and ridiculous upon future review, but not Elm Street. It remains one of the most formidable films of the era and one that will not easily be duplicated.

It succeeds by preying on archetypal fears and imagery - the myth of the bogeyman, the power of the unconscious conjuring up the worst horrors imaginable.

A highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy.

IMDB Info :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087800/