40 Best A Nightmare on Elm Street Quotes

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is a classic that reinvented the horror and slasher movie scene. I’m sure everyone has encountered the iconic killer with his intense claws and red and green sweater. The film has been deemed a success to go on to create nine more films. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) shows up in movies, tv shows, and comics as the same psychopathic character that we have all come to love as horror fans. Here is the scoop on A Nightmare on Elm Street quotes!

1. “He scraped his fingernails along things. Actually, they were more like finger-knives or something, like he’d made them himself. Anyway, they made this horrible sound.” -Nancy

The screeching sound might as well be worst than nails on a chalkboard with his all too familiar way of letting his victims know that he’s close.

2. “Nancy. You dreamed about the same creep I did, Nancy.” -Tina Gray

Not only is Nancy a part of the nightmare but Tina as well. We learn about the connection between Freddy and his victims.

3. “I dreamed about this guy in a dirty red and green sweater.” -Nancy Thompson

We know that Nancy lived to tell the tale; however, not everyone is lucky.

4. “I’ll split you in two.” -Freddy Krueger

A death sentence for Nancy using his special claws.

5. “And now you die.” -Freddy

No longer a warning from Krueger to Nancy.

6. “Why are you screaming? I haven’t even caught you yet.” -Freddy

A Nightmare on Elm Street quote that we weren’t expecting to come from Freddy.

7. “Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep.” -Nancy

One of the most iconic lines demonstrates Nancy’s will to live even though we know that no one can live long without falling asleep.

8. “It’s only a dream!” -Nancy

The first human instinct is to disregard strange phenomena when it is deemed too big to think about logically.

9. “Guys can have nightmares too you know. You ain’t got a corner on the market or something.” -Rod Lane

His way of saying that everyone has nightmares regardless of how tough you are towards Tina.

10. “But I told you…hundreds of people a year get killed like that, honey.” -Marge Thompson

When Nancy tells her mom that she slipped in the bathtub. A mother’s instinct is to keep their children out of danger, so Marge warns her about people dying from accidents in the bathtub.

11. “Sometimes I wish you didn’t live right across the street.” -Nancy

Nancy doesn’t seem to have the best relationship with Glen as she finds him quite useless even though he’s supposed to be the jock.

12. “I grab the guy in my dream. You see me struggling so you wake me up. We both come out, you whack the fu*ker and we got him.” -Nancy

She comes up with a plan with Glen to kill Freddy once and for all. But we know it takes a lot more than that to get rid of Krueger.

13. “You’re the jock. You have a baseball bat or something.” -Nancy

The depiction of a jock in Nancy’s eyes is helpful in situations where a killer is after her or so she thought… Glen isn’t as helpful as she hoped.

14. “And now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul, to keep. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul, to take.” -Nancy

This A Nightmare on Elm Street quote shows that Nancy is one of the bravest characters in the movie.

15. “Oh, man. Midnight! Baseball bats and boogeymen! Beautiful.” -Glen Lantz

Glen’s sarcastic attitude is probably how a lot of us would act in a situation where people are killed in their dreams. But this time it’s not the boogeyman…

16. “Well, I guess those people don’t wake up to tell what happens.” -Glen Lantz

People like Nancy have been lucky thus far to escape from Freddy Krueger’s grasp. She even describes Freddy to a tee in her realistic nightmare.

17. “Okay, Krueger, we play in your court.” -Nancy

Since Freddy Krueger attacks people in their dreams, Nancy has to accept that she can no longer try to bring him out of the psychological space.

18. “He’s dead, honey because Mommy killed him. I even took his knives. So it’s okay now. You can sleep.” -Marge

Marge provides reassurance to Nancy as if she’s telling her that no monsters are hiding under her bed. But knowing Freddy’s abilities, that’s far from the truth.

19. “I don’t see why you can’t just give me a pill to keep me from dreaming.” -Nancy

The last resort till Nancy gives in and decides to fight Krueger inside her dreams.

20. “Everybody’s got to dream, young girl. If you don’t dream…you go.” -Dr. King

Nancy visits the clinic to figure out how she can stop dreaming; however, the doctor tells her that dreaming is an essential part of staying alive. It is possible to sleep without dreaming but it won’t last for very long.

21. “What I learned in the dream clinic. That’s what I’m trying to prove mother. Rod didn’t kill Tina and he didn’t hang himself. There’s this guy. He’s after us in our dreams.” -Nancy

She tries to convince her mom that Rod and Tina were killed by Freddy in their dreams. We already know that adults find it hard to believe in things like the boogeyman much less a guy that kills people in their dreams…

22. “But that’s just not reality Nancy.” -Marge

Anyone would find it hard to believe till it happens to them or someone close to you.

23. “It even has his name written in it, Fred Krueger, mom. Fred Krueger. Do you know who that is mother? Because if you do you better tell me cause he’s after me now.” -Nancy

Nancy warns her mother to let her know about Fred’s history before it’s too late.

24. “You want to know who Fred Krueger was? He was a filthy child murderer who killed at least 20 kids in the neighborhood. Kids we all knew.” -Marge

Marge mentions a key connection to Fred and the deaths of kids in the neighborhood. Freddy’s revenge plans might be the scariest we’ve ever seen!

25. “Well, the lawyers got fat and the judge got famous, but somebody forgot to sign the search warrant in the right place and Krueger was free, just like that.” -Marge

The law enforcement lagged behind in securing Krueger to make sure he doesn’t kill anyone else. But this snarky quote by Marge might reflect real-life situations about the flaws of law enforcement.

26. “It drove us crazy when we didn’t know who it was, but it was even worse after they caught him.” -Marge

Everyone wanted to know who the child murderer was, but they didn’t expect it to be Fred Krueger.

27. “It’s too late, Krueger. I know the secret now. This is just a dream. You’re not alive. This whole thing is just a dream…I want my mother and friends again.” -Nancy

She figures out that Fred is taking revenge on people through their dreams because he is incapable of coming after them when they are awake.

28. “You think you were gonna get away from me?” -Freddy

Most people don’t escape the terrifying nightmares. Freddy is well aware that one cannot run away for long.

29. “I just asked you to do one thing, to stay awake and watch me and to wake me up if it looked like I was having a bad dream, and what did you do, you sh*t? You fell asleep!” -Nancy

Glen once again fails to help Nancy, and she lives to scold him about it.

30. “I’m into survival.” -Nancy

One of the A Nightmare on Elm Street quotes signified that Nancy will no longer run away and instead face him head-on.

31. “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.” -Freddy

He gets into the mind of Nancy and proclaims this line several times as ownership over her.

32. “I take back every bit of energy I gave you. You’re nothing. You’re sh*t. “-Nancy

Nancy seems to be one of the few characters that challenge the famous killer. Once finding out Freddy’s history, she immediately stands up against him to let him know that her fear is no longer his to take.

33. “Oh, God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.” -Teacher

The teacher acts possessed when reading a book and mentions the weakness of humankind and Freddy’s ability to take advantage of that with his victims.

34. “I probably could have saved her if I’d have moved sooner. But I thought it was just another nightmare, like the one I had the night before. There was…there was this guy; he had knives for fingers.” -Rod Lane

Rod wasn’t able to think fast enough about the dangers of the dream until it was too late.

35. “I’m going to go and get the guy who did it, and I want you to be there to arrest him when I bring him out. Okay?” -Nancy

Nancy trusts that her dad will be there to arrest Fred when she captures him in her dream.

36. “Just tell me who did it; I’ll go get him, baby.” -Lt. Thompson

Nancy’s dad comes to the rescue even though he can’t really help her. She tells him that Fred Krueger was the perpetrator and that she is only capable of handling him.

37. “Come on, Freddy. Can’t you catch me?” -Nancy

After going through several phases throughout the film, Nancy finally has the courage to face the killer to taunt him.

38. “Don’t look at me like I’m some kind of fu*king fruitcake or something. I’m warning you!” -Rod Lane

Rod explains to Nancy that Tina died, but she seems on the fence about it.

39. “Mother! What’s with the bars?” -Nancy

Mother to the rescue again with her idea of protecting the house to keep out the intruder. But you can’t really use bars against a monster that enters into people’s dreams…

40. “Security? Security from what?” -Nancy

Nancy is thoroughly confused about her mother’s actions in protecting the house from the intruder. She knows that such bars won’t do any good.

Did you know that this film was Johnny Depp’s debut as an actor? One of the main reasons Johnny was chosen was because Wes Craven’s daughter thought he was “dreamy”. We might have to agree!

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out A Nightmare on Elm Street and the rest of the films. The 1984 classic is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. We hoped you enjoyed these scary quotes from A Nightmare on Elm Street.

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