What is A Nightmare on Elm Street's IQ Score?

A Nightmare on Elm Street has an IQ Score of 112/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Competent tier. The score breaks down to 31/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 18/50 Educational Value, and 37/50 Craft & Quality.

Is A Nightmare on Elm Street educational?

A Nightmare on Elm Street is low on educational value, 18/50 on TVI's rubric. Watch for entertainment, not for learning.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

A Nightmare on Elm Street IQ Score 112/200

A Nightmare on Elm Street has an IQ Score of 112/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Competent tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-08-22·Methodology

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112/ 200

Competent

Engages without demanding much, watchable and reasonably crafted

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,606 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Wes Craven's premise weaponizes sleep itself, forcing the viewer to parse which frames are dream and which are waking as Nancy Thompson maps Freddy Krueger's rules. The rotating-bedroom kill and the geyser-of-blood effect show inventive practical craft on a modest budget, though the teenage performances stay uneven.

A genre-founding horror with real conceptual ambition under the slasher surface.

People & Production Wes Craven · Media Home Entertainment · United States 23 connections