In the now 30 odd years since “New Nightmare’s” release, praise for the film has only increased, a fact noticed by the man who immortalized Freddy Krueger, actor Robert Englund. Speaking to Daily Dead in 2020, Englund explained how “New Nightmare “— the actor’s personal favorite “Elm Street” film — gained new life thanks to “Scream”:

“When ‘New Nightmare’ came out, it was successful, but it wasn’t a huge hit. It was just a moderate success. And then Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ came out and that was even more meta and more deconstructed, but it was a little easier for the audience to digest, and all the characters were people that were self-referencing horror movies and the elements in horror movies. Wes was playing with that in ‘New Nightmare’ … Eventually, a lot of the ‘Scream’ fans started renting ‘New Nightmare’ and they picked up on just how smart it was.”

To Inverse, Englund remarked on how “It’s almost like the ‘Scream’ franchise opened a door of perception for how to watch ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’,” astutely observing how “what happened with that film is we were a tad ahead of our time.”

With hindsight, it makes sense why “New Nightmare” was poorly received upon its release — it had to deal with being a sixth sequel that changed series “rules,” Freddy fatigue, and more. Yet thanks to “Scream’s” evergreen popularity (which includes an ongoing theatrical film series), Craven’s movies continue to be discovered and re-evaluated, with “New Nightmare” in particular being seen for the intelligent, scary, and insightful work that it is. 

Not only does the film deserve it, but as Craven himself warns in the movie, its success may also be keeping the evil calling itself Freddy Krueger tamed … for now.