Trailer

Trivia & Facts

• Katie Cassidy auditioned for the film as a big fan of the original film series.
• This is the third horror film remake to star Katie Cassidy. She previously starred in When a Stranger Calls (2006) and Black Christmas (2006).
• Katie Cassidy was filming this movie in Illinois then flying back to LA to film new new tv show Melrose Place each week.
• Kyle Gallner was first to be cast. Katie Cassidy was the last.
• Both Katie Cassidy and Thomas Dekker had reoccurring roles on 7th Heaven (1996), but in different episodes. They never shared any scenes.
• Katie Cassidy and Kellan Lutz are good friends in real life
• Freddy's sweater was knitted by Judy Graham, the same woman who knitted Freddy's sweater in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
• Kyle Gallner suffered a cut to his abdomen when the glove Jackie Earle Haley had been wearing failed to bend back down, leaving one of the knives still extended. Haley didn't realize this until the scene was finished.
• For his big scene in the opening sequence, Kellan Lutz chose not to sleep for a few days to get himself into character.
• The Freddy gloves were the most protected props on the set. Previous films had issues with the gloves being stolen. Most notorious was a glove was stolen from one of the films and appeared in Evil Dead II (1987) (see trivia for that film) hanging in a shed.
• When Jackie Earle Haley was asked what put him in the right mindset to play Freddy Krueger, he said "sitting in the makeup chair for three hours. After that, you feel like you could kill someone."
• At a Comic Con festival, Robert Englund supported Jackie Earle Haley as the new Freddy after he saw his performance of Rorschach in Watchmen (2009).
• Wes Craven, having signed the sequel/franchise rights away when making A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) just to get it financed, had no involvement with the remake and was not even aware it was being made until well into production. It has even been speculated that New Line Cinema called the movie a sequel rather than a remake so that they didn't have to pay Craven money for having a story credit on the original. In a 2009 interview, he expressed his displeasure with the then-unreleased film, as the original was very important to him.
• Freddy says that the human brain will still function well over seven minutes after the heart stops beating. This is actually true, the human brain will function nearly ten minutes after heart failure.
• Producer Brad Fuller has stated that while the film was a financial success, the backlash from fans, critics and industry professionals alike was so great that the phones at Platnum Dunes didn't ring for two years; they would not make another film until The Purge (2013). He admits that this film was handled poorly and a step back for the company, and it was decided that this would be their last horror remake.
• Jackie Earle Haley frequently improvised on set, feeling this might help unease his fellow cast members if they didn't know what he was going to say.
• Jackie Earle Haley had to wear contact lenses as Freddy. One was bloody and the other one was cloudy, the latter making it really difficult for the actor to see properly.
• Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) was offered a cameo but declined. She would have played a waitress in the opening diner scene.
• Originally intended to be a prequel, but the idea was dropped.
• When Nancy is drowning in the blood, the blood breaks through the floor to pour into the bedroom downstairs. This is a tribute to the original's famous bed-death scene where Johnny Depp is slaughtered by Freddy, causing the room to be drenched in his blood.
• Rooney Mara hated being in this movie so much that she almost quit acting.
• Robert Englund, who portrayed Freddy Krueger in all previous films in the "Nightmare" series, expressed approval of the remake, as he felt the story could be better told with the use of CGI and other special effects that didn't exist in 1984. After the film's release, however, Englund expressed disappointment with it, citing ineffective make-up effects and a lack of empathetic characters.
• At his audition Kyle Gallner impressed everyone so much that he got the role the same day.
• The School Board President of one of the two high schools the movie was filmed at allowed the movie to be filmed there under the condition no death scenes be filmed inside of the school.

Goofs

• When Kris first gets slashed, the spatter on Jesse's shirt is minimal speckling on the left sleeve. However, when he goes to check on Kris, the blood has some how become huge splotches covering his shirt.
• When Freddy is walking towards Nancy in the boiler area, his hand is originally closed with his index finger running along the pipe. In the next shot, his fingers are now opened, slightly trailing behind his index finger. They once more return to their closed position, following the shot.
• When Jesse runs out of Kris' room he grabs his pants and shoes. In the next scene when he runs out of the house he is wearing them without having taken the time to stop and put them on.
• The cardboard boxes marked 1996 and 1997 in the attic rearrange themselves between shots.
• When Jesse tries to comfort Kris before they get in bed, he puts both hands on the sides of her face. In shots from Jesse's point of view only his right hand is on her face, while from Kris's point of view both hands are there.
• When Nancy and Quentin are talking in the school, between shots Quentin's jumper moves so that 'Joy Division' is fully visible on his T-shirt, however when the camera moves back to the position it was before, the jumper has moved back, so that you can only see 'Y Divis'.

Quotes

Freddy Krueger: You really shouldn't fall asleep in class.
[scratches chalkboard]
Freddy Krueger: Hi, Kris.
Kris Fowles: [backing away from Krueger] Who are you?
Freddy Krueger: [walking towards Fowles] You look just as beautiful as ever.
[raises his glove]
Freddy Krueger: You have nothing to worry about. This wont hurt one... little... bit.

Kris Fowles: I'm having these dreams... and there's this man... and he's burned.

Kris Fowles: [sees picture on Dean's grave] You knew Dean that far back?
Kris Fowles: Jesus, that is me. But I don't know how I'm in that picture. I didn't meet Dean until high school.

Kris Fowles: Dean said something right before he died...
Jesse Braun: Oh, please don't...
Kris Fowles: He said, "You're not real." He kept repeating it over and over again. Do you have any idea what that means?
Jesse Braun: No. I don't. Think about. What would it mean? Dean was on a truck load of medication when...
Kris Fowles: Jesse, when it happened, it was like somebody was making him do it but there was nobody there. Jesse, you have to believe me!
Jesse Braun: Kris, it was late and you were scared! Your mind was just playing tricks on you that's all...
Nancy Holbrook: [approaches Kris] I believe you.
Kris Fowles: You do?
Nancy Holbrook: I've seen, I saw...
Jesse Braun: You didn't see anything. You weren't there. Kris was. She's already fucked up, so leave her alone!
Nancy Holbrook: [Kris and Jesse leave] You have no idea what I've seen...

Kris Fowles: Wow. You look like you haven't...
Dean Russell: Like I haven't slept in three days?
Kris Fowles: Dean, what's going on?

Box office

• Budget $35,000,000 (estimated)
• Gross US & Canada $63,075,011
• Opening weekend US & Canada $32,902,299May 2, 2010
• Gross worldwide $115,695,418