Back to trending
Nightmare at Shadow Woods

Nightmare at Shadow Woods

Horror · Thriller · 1987

Twins Todd and Terry seem like sweet boys -- that is, until one of them takes an axe to the face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in.

Movie details

Nightmare at Shadow Woods

“Not all the evil is on Elm Street ...”

1987 Horror · Thriller 1h 19m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

Twins Todd and Terry seem like sweet boys -- that is, until one of them takes an axe to the face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Nightmare at Shadow Woods?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

The Prowler

The Prowler

Horror · 1981

Thirty years after a murder on the night of Avalon Bay's graduation dance, the sleepy town's teens meet grisly ends at the hands of a prowler once thought to be a jilted soldier home from war.

Trick

Trick

Horror · 2019

A detective tries to track down a masked killer who reappears every Halloween to wreak bloody havoc.

Bloodline

Bloodline

Horror · 2019

Evan values family above all else, and anyone who gets between him, his wife, and newborn son learns that the hard way. But when it comes to violent tendencies, it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

No One Lives

No One Lives

Horror · 2013

A gang of ruthless highway killers kidnap a wealthy couple traveling cross country only to shockingly discover that things are not what they seem.

Halloween Ends

Halloween Ends

Horror · 2022

Four years after the events of Halloween in 2018, Laurie has decided to liberate herself from fear and rage and embrace life. But when a young man is accused of killing a boy he was babysitting, it ignites a cascade of violence and terror that will force Laurie to finally confront the evil she can’t control, once and for all.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

Horror · 1988

Ten years after his original massacre, the invalid Michael Myers awakens on Halloween Eve and returns to Haddonfield to kill his seven-year-old niece.

Ma

Ma

Horror · 2019

Sue Ann is a loner who keeps to herself in her quiet Ohio town. One day, she is asked by Maggie, a new teenager in town, to buy some booze for her and her friends, and Sue Ann sees the chance to make some unsuspecting, if younger, friends of her own.

Halloween

Halloween

Horror · 2018

Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

Black Phone 2

Black Phone 2

Horror · 2025

Four years after defeating The Grabber, Finney Blake is struggling with life after captivity. When his younger sister Gwen begins receiving calls in her dreams from the Black Phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp, the siblings become determined to solve the mystery and confront a killer who has grown more powerful in death and more significant to them than either could imagine.

The Children

The Children

Horror · 2008

A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

John Grissmer

Written by

Bruce Rubin

Louise Lasser

Louise Lasser

Maddy

Mark Soper

Mark Soper

Todd / Terry

Marianne Kanter

Marianne Kanter

Dr. Berman

Julie Gordon

Julie Gordon

Karen

J

Jayne Bentzen

Julie

William Fuller

William Fuller

Brad

Lisa Randall

Lisa Randall

Andrea

Court is in session

Put Nightmare at Shadow Woods on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.