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25 comments
14 comments
Rank This Matchup or Comment/Reply Below
on 7/15/2009
The face-off of two slasher-icons and I'm not really sure what to vote here. Love them both but I have seen Nightmare way more often and Freddy is the better bad guy I think. Yeah might change that later...
on 8/8/2009
Grrrr aaaarrgghh.. Elm Street!
on 11/10/2009
The NIGHTMARE series had more quality films (1, 3, NEW NIGHTMARE), but the first HALLOWEEN is untouchable.
on 11/14/2009
I'm eagerly anticipating a matchup of these remakes here on flickchart.
on 2/23/2010
when i was a kid i was always more afraid of freddy. 1, 2 freddys coming for you...
on 3/30/2010
2 icons of the horror genre... I prefer Freddy
on 11/4/2010
Freddy is the better character, Halloween is the better movie.
on 5/6/2011
Okay. Two GREAT Slashers Head to Head. But the Choice should be so obvious. When HALLOWEEN is played on T.V, it's a Five Star Rated film. It still has reviews like "One of the Scariest Films of ALL Time" and "One of the Greatest Films Ever to Exsist". So why do people prefer Nightmare on Elm Street. Yes, i admit, it is AMAZING and has to be Wes Cravens second Best Film (The Serpent and The Rainbow being his best) and it completely ANNIHILATES the Scream Films on it's own (because Scream is SHOCKING!!!) but YET, HALLOWEEN has a better Story, Michael is more Terrifying (his mask shows NO Human Emotion and he NEVER talks and, heck, his Walk is scary. He is also a more Sinister Character), The Cast is Top Notch, the Theme Music is better and the Director (John Carpenter) is a LIVING LEGEND!!! So what, there is no Blood in it (unlike Nightmare whoose Bloodshed was created by Make Up Master, Tom Savini, who is also known for the Bloodiness of Manic and The Burning) but it IS a Better first. Hands Down, HALLOWEEN is a A LOT more Better. it truly is "The Grandaddy of Slasher Films". EXCELLENT 5 Star Viewing.
on 8/19/2011
Why is Freddy better? Have a nightmare about these two, see which one still scares you when you realize it's only a dream..
on 7/8/2012
I really wanted to see these films for a long time, and now i saw them both, and.... they were very disappointing. they didn't scare me in the least, but if i had to choose the movie that i think is better, i'll go with Nightmare, mostly because i actually cared about the characters
on 8/22/2012
What I like about Halloween is the mystery of Michael Myers. I have a motto when it comes to horror movies. "The less you know about someone or something, the scarier it is." In other words, fear of the unknown. When Loomis (played brilliantly by Donald Pleasence) talks about Myers in the movie, watch his facial reactions. He's scared out of his mind. And it puzzles and interests us as the audience because we are offered very little insight into what brings about the doctor's fear other than the fact that Michael is "pure evil." The fear is generated not from what he did in the past, but what Loomis knows he's capable of doing in the future now that he's grown up. Halloween also gets a bonus for needing no gore whatsoever, and that kick ass soundtrack. Nightmare is good, but it doesn't do enough for me to separate it from some of the other cheesy B horror flicks of that decade. If you want a popcorn flick that will scare you half the time and make you laugh the other half, watch Nightmare. If you want a movie that leaves you feeling chills down your spine, watch Halloween.
Nightmare on Elm Street wins but my opinion really doesnt matter. I not a fan of horror movies at all.
I'll go with the original Nightmare.
on 1/11/2013
I enjoyed the origina Nightmare on first go, it took me a while to get into Halloween.
Neither really held up. Hmm. If John Carpenter wrote a retarded new wave Halloween song a la Big Trouble instead of that dissonant keyboard theme, maybe I'd have an easier time deciding (which way, I'm not sure),
on 3/25/2013
both classics... I take Nightmare on Elm Street, bc even tho Halloween brought the slasher genre to Hollywood, Nightmare perfected the genre. Using the villain to merge the dreamworld and reality was a stroke of brilliance. Played well on screen I thought. All that said, John Carpenter is awesome and Halloween is still a great movie as well
on 5/19/2013
Greatest match-up in the horror genre by far.
on 8/9/2013
Nightmare. Halloween helped originate the Slasher genre, but Nightmare took it to a supernatural level.
on 10/24/2013
Definitely Halloween.
on 10/25/2013
Halloween for me, but I love both.
on 11/5/2013
This is a hard one, but the winner of this matchup has to go to Halloween!
on 4/12/2014
Both in my top 5 and one of these is number 5 and the other is number 1
Both really got me into film
on 11/1/2014
Pretty close, but Halloween is more suspenseful and unsettling.
on 3/14/2015
Nightmare is in my top 200...Halloween is in my top 60!
on 10/23/2015
Two horror classics. But Halloween is a lot more serious.
Well, I haven't commented on this one yet? Yes, for sure two classics. But Halloween is waaaaay better.
While the studios have done their best to cheapen Halloween with countless inferior sequels, remakes and ripoffs it remains the granddaddy of slasher films. No shame in silver Freddy.
on 11/1/2015
Nightmare is a classic, doubt about it, but Halloween is... Halloween!
on 3/23/2016
Scream is the scariest of the two. The opening scene beats both movies on its own. Halloween isn't far behind.
on 11/2/2016
To me, Michael cocking his head while staring at the body of a boy he's just impaled is far scarier than any of the more outrageous kills in Nightmare. But I admit that conceptually, Craven's film is pretty terrifying--even as an adult, going to sleep after watching Freddie kill a bunch of kids in their dreams is a struggle. I'm not crazy about the endings to either movie: Nightmare's is obviously tacked on, while Halloween just ... ends. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I also am not crazy about Donald Pleasance as Loomis. Still, Halloween by a hair.
on 6/8/2018
Both movies are classic horrors and my top two horror movies of all time, BUT even though I prefer Freddy over Myers, Halloween not only started a genre but it is a masterpiece, from themes to great scenes. But my opinion can change.
on 6/9/2018
Halloween is scarier and has way more tension. I like Nightmare fine, but was not blown away by it.
on 7/6/2018
Halloween is the better movie, but Freddy had better sequels.
on 10/24/2018
Halloween easily.
Halloween just felt very basic to me. Yeah, it started a genre and is interesting to go back to just to see where the clichés came from but 40 years later I just see them as clichés. Wes Craven is the poor man’s John Carpenter in many ways. Scream is simple, clichéd and ridiculous and Nightmare is honestly, TRULY ONE OF MY favourite horror films of the 1980s... no i’m not joking. Nightmare wins.
on 10/30/2018
Halloween is a little better than A Nightmare on Elm Street. My choice is Halloween.
And I prefer Michael Myers over Freddy Krueger. Like Jason, Freddy has been ruined over time..not as bad as Jason though.
on 4/21/2019
This is an almost impossible decision, but ultimately the simple terror of the Shape wins out. You can always remind yourself that Freddy is a fantasy, but a man with a kitchen knife is an all too real kind of horror.
on 8/3/2019
Seen them both for the first time within the last year. I'll take Halloween, fairly easily.
on 9/29/2020
In response to Ceridwen, I've been thinking a lot about horror recently and I kinda have to disagree. A man with a kitchen knife is a man. And 'men' can be stopped. However, a fantastical monster like Freddy or zombies, now those are scary because of the unpredictability
A nightmare on elm Street is better, Freddy is cooler than this overrated Michael Myers who is just a worse Jason Voorhees.
That's because you live in Australia! The giant spiders and the giant snakes would kill a man with a knife effortlessly.
on 10/3/2020
^ haha, I'm (pleasantly) surprised you remember that. Although spiders and snakes are known for being terrifying, I can't trust the birds, dingos and marine life.
on 1/12/2021
I love nightmare but halloween is in my top 10 films of all time
on 6/11/2021
Too me, Halloween is the best horror movie ever after Jaws.
on 9/11/2022
Halloween. it's such a classic and a cut above most horror movies. the movie really makes you care about the characters. they aren't the one dimensional skinny-dipping cartoon characters that we see in lots of other slasher movies. Halloween had good actors. like the scene in the car between Laurie and Annie seems like a real conversation between real people. also Donald Pleasence is great as the determined Dr. Sam Loomis. the Loomis and Michael Myers relationship was particularly effective, in the tradition of other great horror fiction nemeses such as Frankenstein and his monster, or Van Helsing and Dracula. but I love A Nightmare on Elm Street as well obviously.
on Mar 3
Halloween. This Has Such A Different Feel Than All Of The 70s/80's Horror Movies INCLUDING The Exorcist. Halloween Wins.
