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 IQ Score is calculated as round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers: Masterclass (≥160), Stimulating (≥130), Competent (≥100), Passive (≥70), and Numbing (<70). 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 2026-07-18·Methodology

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112/ 200

Competent

Engages without demanding much, watchable and reasonably crafted

Score Breakdown

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: how much the title demands of your mind, its structural complexity, ideas, and sustained intellectual engagement.
Educational Value: what you take away, across academic content, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, life skills, and knowledge transfer.
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

Formula

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

Database scale

2,536 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. We accept no studio money. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions. Our reviewers see no sponsor data, no affiliate revenue, and no screener access in exchange for coverage. 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.

Where to Watch

We don't have live streaming data for this title yet. Find where to watch on JustWatch →

Streaming availability data via JustWatch + TMDB.

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