Contains descriptions of violent and sexual content.
Like any major horror franchise worth its salt, A Nightmare on Elm Street has inspired a whole host of other movies, for better or for worse. Ever since the release of the first film to feature the dream-invading Freddy Krueger in 1984, the slasher genre was never the same, with an all-new breed of smack-talking supernatural horror villain now prowling theaters. The success of all nine Nightmare on Elm Street movies came amid a wave of imitators taking heavy inspiration from the original film.
Movies that take ideas from A Nightmare on Elm Street vary wildly in their obviousness. Some of them recycle a similar concept of an astrally-projecting or nightmare-causing slasher villain like Freddy Krueger, or even simply the very theme of a dream and sleep-oriented horror story. Other times, the influence is less than a variation on a theme and more of a blatant copy, with motifs as specific as Freddy Krueger’s signature fedora, melted face, or bladed glove being ripped off.
10 Bad Dreams
Released In 1988
Bad Dreams 0
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Director Andrew Fleming Release Date April 8, 1988 Runtime 80 Minutes
Hitting all the same narrative beats of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Bad Dreams is among the earliest of the films to imitate Wes Craven’s success with the insidious tale of Freddy Krueger’s revenge. The movie tells the story of the sole survivor of a New Age 70s cult, whose leader and membership willingly burned themselves alive in a mass ritual sacrifice. It’s not long before the film’s hapless protagonist is hounded by nightmares of the cult’s supposedly-dead leader, who seems to be somehow picking off the residents of the mental facility she’s staying at one at a time.
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Interestingly, Bad Dreams is very specifically an homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, right down to the hippie mysticism and the setting of a psychiatric hospital. The film’s absurdity with its kills gradually escalates to A Nightmare on Elm Street levels as well, with one particular death featuring a torrent of blood cascading from air vents emulating the infamous bed scene of the first movie. For what it is, Bad Dreams is a fairly tired recitation of ideas that were better executed elsewhere.
9 Night Killer
Released In 1990
A decidedly bleak recitation of A NIghtmare on Elm Street, Night Killer bears some undeniable similarities to the iconic slasher film while injecting its own dour sense of creativity. An Italian horror movie from Claudio Fragrasso, the film was hilariously billed in its home country as being a part of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, despite having zero connections to Leatherface or his ilk. The plot follows the lone survivor of a deranged serial killer and sexual predator, unable to recall her attacker’s face due to suppressive trauma.
Light on the supernatural elements, Night Killer doesn’t at first seem all that derivative of A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, one look at the titular murderer’s weapon and mask of choice instantly disproves this notion, with the villain touting a melted face and monstrous single clawed-gauntlet to terrorize his victims with. Despite this, Night Killer is weirdly compelling, existing at a strange intersection of ironically-enjoyable goofy rip-off and genuinely astounding morose horror.
8 Wishmaster
Released In 1997
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Director Robert Kurtzman Release Date September 19, 1997 Cast Tony Todd , Tammy Lauren , Robert Englund , Andrew Divoff , Kane Hodder Runtime 90 minutes
Taking the supernatural trappings of A Nightmare on Elm Street even further into the realm of fantasy, Wishmaster has an utterly unique claim to fame as a horror movie featuring genies as the driving villains. Specifically, the film centers around the Djinn, real entities from Arabic folklore, with one in particular being freed from his opal prison after a series of coincidental events. It’s up to an ordinary jewel apprasier to stop the Djinn’s rampage before he can construct a portal that allows his brethren to invade the Earth.
The particular rules of the Djinn’s twisted wish-granting in Wishmaster emulate the complicated paradigm of Freddy Krueger’s reality-warping somnambulist powers, evoking A NIghtmare on Elm Street despite having a very distinct plot. It doesn’t help that Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, appears in the film as the wealthy scion Raymond Beaumont. With Wes Craven as an executive producer, Wishmaster captures the same particular brand of horror as A Nightmare on Elm Street while remaining quite original.
7 Mahakaal
Released In 1994
A Bollywood take on A Nightmare on Elm Street, Mahakaal manages to hit every beat from such a description anyone familiar with Indian-made copycat features might expect. Also billed more elaborately as Mahakaal: The Monster, the Hindi-language horror film follows the same plot of the original Wes Craven flick almost beat-for-beat.
A young girl is plagued by visions of a claw-wielding murderer in her dreams, only to find out the mysterious Shakaal, the film’s version of Freddy Krueger, is a very real threat.
It’s almost impressive just how succinctly Mahakaal rips off A Nightmare on Elm Street, from the near-identical villain to the narrative beats to even one-to-one recreations of famous murder scenes, with some being lifted from later Freddy Krueger sequels like A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Of course, breaking up the flagrant copyright violations are the traditional trappings of the Bollywood horror subgenre, including martial arts scenes, a hilarious comic relief character, and plenty of songs.
6 Dream Demon
Released In 1988
With its very title being the same as Freddy Krueger’s otherworldly patrons, the clawmarks of A Nightmare on Elm Street are all over 1988’s Dream Demon. The British interpretation of Wes Craven’s classic tracks a soon-to-be-wed wealthy scion Diana, as she moves into her new London flat within a sprawling, mysterious manor. It isn’t long before she starts experiencing vivid nightmares that twist her beloved fiancé Oliver into a sadistic torturer, prompting Diana to join forces with Jenny, a London punk with some connection to the eerie house.
Dream Demon assaults the senses with an otherwordly blend of terror that evokes A NIghtmare on Elm Street, peppering in dashes of Hellraiser and David Lynch, as well. The nightmare-oriented premise undeniably owes inspiration to Freddy Krueger, with the film’s enjoyably evil dream sequences evoking the same mixture of disgust and endearment. With some excellent special effects, a solid leading duo, and a fascinating dissection of the haunting nature of trauma, Dream Demon is shockingly provoking for its heavily-borrowed initial concept.
5 Shocker
Released In 1989
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Director Wes Craven Release Date October 27, 1989 Cast Michael Murphy , Peter Berg , Camille Cooper Runtime 109 Minutes
It’s hard to say that 1989’s Shocker lifted directly from A Nightmare on Elm Street considering its status as another movie by Wes Craven, horror visionary and creator of the Freddy Krueger mythos. For every popular franchise he started, there are several lesser-known Wes Craven movies filling out the ranks of his filmography. Among them sits Shocker, which is a clear variation on the same themes of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The story centers on a serial killer who is sentenced to die via the electric chair, only to come back to haunt his killers as an electrified ghost.
Other than being centered on a murderous entity borne from a real-life serial killer, Shocker may seem largely untouched by the influence of A Nightmare on Elm Street at first glance. However, the protagonist, Jonathan, has a special connection in his dreams to the high-voltage ghost as the villainous Pinker’s long-lost son. Beyond the similar imagery of these nightmare sequences, Pinker’s limitations as a being made of pure lightning bear some similarities to Freddy Krueger’s own woes as a dream-bound entity.
4 Sleepstalker
Released In 1995
Nothing provokes the terror of A Nightmare on Elm Street better than a single, memorable supernatural antagonist, and 1995’s Sleepstalker nails this aspect with flying colors. Reaching across the horror aisle to grab a few ingredients from Child’s Play as well, Sleepstalker‘s villain is the bloodthirsty serial killer known as “The Sandman”, who partakes in a voodoo ritual on the eve of his execution to live on as a shifting silicate monster. To complete the ritual, The Sandman seeks the blood of his estranged little brother, Griffin.
For as creative as its villain is, Sleepstalker still unambigously borrows from A Nightmare on Elm Street, with The Sandman’s face makeup feeling like a variation on that of Freddy Krueger’s. The Sandman’s sense of humor and penchant for singing creepy lullabies further identifies him with the more famous dream-bound killer. It’s a shame his film’s laughable CGI can’t stand the test of time as well as the practical effects of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
3 Dreamaniac
Released In 1986
While quite similar to A Nightmare on Elm Street in practice, Dreamaniac at least puts some psycho-sexual twists on the typical formula of the lauded horror franchise. The plot revolves around a heavy-metal lyricist who, in the wake of an upcoming sexually-opportune sorority party, summons a satanic succubus to help make him supernaturally irresistible to the ladies. The catch? The demon plans to feed on each partner the musician manages to charm.
Sprinkling in a hefty dose of eroticism into the typical horror formula, Dreamaniac is unsurprisingly the first not (entirely) pornographic film from director David DeCoteau. As a result, Dreamaniac watches like an adult parody of A Nightmare on Elm Street with some notably cheaper production value, imitating the same visual grime and art stylings of its predecessor. The film is also an early example of a queer-coded horror movie, not unlike the LGBTQ+ themes of Freddy Krueger’s second movie appearance.
2 Satan’s Bed
Released In 1986
Indonesia has long cemented itself as an international hotspot for horror movies, so it’s no wonder that the country would end up producing its own take on A Nightmare on Elm Street. Interestingly, this film’s replacement for Freddy Krueger is a vengeful Dutch ghost, sprinkling in touches of The Exorcist and Poltergeist on top of the already clear influence of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Of all the films to “borrow” from Wes Craven’s classic, Satan’s Bed has perhaps the fewest original ideas.
Satan’s Bed
recreates every iconic moment of the original
A Nightmare on Elm Street
with little deviation, such as Freddy slowly pushing his face through a wall or breaching the surface of a bubble-bath claw-first.
Of course, the central villain haunting the narrative of Satan’s Bed has a disfigured face and wields a claw with bladed fingertips, but he does at least have some partners in crime, including a spectral ghost wife. Still, Satan’s Bed recreates every iconic moment of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street with little deviation, such as Freddy slowly pushing his face through a wall or breaching the surface of a bubble-bath claw-first. Factor in the cheap production value, and Satan’s Bed remains a suitable film for completionists only.
1 Hellmaster
Released In 1992
Smashing together the influences of A NIghtmare on Elm Street and the Hellraiser movies, Hellmaster is an overlooked early 90s horror offering that doesn’t quite master the sensibilities of either. On paper, the premise seems quite original, following a mad scientist of a college professor who toys with twisted experiments, turning helpless students into horrific killer mutants. In practice, however, the film’s A Nightmare on Elm Street affiliations become quite obvious.
For one, actor John Saxon, A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s own Lieutenant Don Thompson, stars as the central antagonist, chewing the cheap scenery as the nihilistic Professor Jones. Jones is also the paranormal survivor of a mob-justice arson case, returning twenty years later after being supposedly burned alive. Most of all, it’s Hellmaster‘s wacky, played up practical effects that bring to mind the imagery of A Nightmare on Elm Street, not to mention the presence of a psychic character that brings to mind the subconscious battles of Nancy Thompson.