'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Enters the National Film Registry

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today the films that would be entering The Library of Congress' National Film Registry, and fans of a certain witty dream-stalker will be quite pleased with the news.

A Nightmare on Elm Street enters the National Film Registry, along with other films like Selena, Pink Flamingos and Richard Pryor: Live in Concert. Written and directed by Wes Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street would go on to become the movie that saved New Line Cinema, branding the production company as the 'House That Freddy Built'.

The Library of Congress' had this to say about A Nightmare on Elm Street, in their official press release. "The great horror maestro Wes Craven, as both writer and director, gave a generation of teens (of all ages) terminal insomnia with this imaginative and intense slasher scare fest. Freddy Krueger (played by soon-to-be legend Robert Englund) is the burn-scarred ghost of a psychopathic child killer, now returned to haunt your dreams and take his revenge! Heather Langenkamp stars as the heroic Nancy, who figures out who Freddy is and must be the one to stop him. Also in the cast: Johnny Depp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley and Charles Fleischer. Made on a budget under $2 million, “Elm Street” became a box office sensation and has inspired numerous sequels (including a film that pitted Freddy against Jason of the “Friday the 13th” films), a 2010 remake, a TV series, books, comic books and videogames, making it one of the most successful film franchises in the history of any cinematic genre."