approval rating and an average rating of 4.12/10 based on 32 reviews. The site's consensus is: "A Nightmare on Elm Street feels exhausted by this cheesy fifth entry, bogged down by a convoluted mythology while showing none of the chilling technique that kicked off the franchise." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Caryn James of The New York Times wrote that the film "doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is – a genre film that won't totally insult your intelligence or your eyes". Variety called it "a poorly constructed special effects showcase" with "highly variable" acting, but praised the special effects, stating that "saving grace is the series of spectacular special effects set pieces featuring fanciful makeup, mattes, stopmotion animation and opticals". Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune praised the direction of Director Stephen Hopkins, stating, "Using a style heavily indebted to music videos - lots of fast cutting, odd angles and gratuitous camera movements - Hopkins keeps the energy level up, though his manner is a bit too choppy to keep all of the diverse elements together." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times described it as "a dynamic, fully visually realized experience", complimenting the acting, set design, and directing. Thomas identifies Krueger as representing the irrational adult world to teenagers. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post ranked it below the first and third films, saying the plot is too confusing. In a 2016 interview with Den of Geek, Robert Englund recollects the experience working with director Stephen Hopkins, "I met Stephen Hopkins, who's like the handsomest man in Hollywood, at a Thai restaurant in Culver City. Stephen was doing storyboards and he's such a great illustrator that I just said, 'Take me now.' He goes, 'I want this whole sequence to be like M.C. Escher.' I went oh, perfect for a dream sequence, I get it. That's all he had to say to me and show me his doodle on a napkin, and I was hooked." In the same interview, he also praised the special effects and experience when shooting the film, "My best time on that was the sequence in the insane asylum. That was fun because that was my first time with the floating crane camera. There's no crew. It was just me and 100 extras, and