<P> A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American supernatural slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer as a remake of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name, which revolves around a group of teenagers who are being stalked in their dreams by an enigmatic man named Freddy Krueger . </P> <P> Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes produced the film for New Line Cinema, as an intention to reboot the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, with the cast of Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker and Kellan Lutz . This production makes it the ninth installment of the franchise . The film was released by Warner Bros. on April 30, 2010 . It received mainly negative reviews from critics and grossed $115 million against a production budget of $35 million, making it the highest - grossing film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise . </P> <P> Kris Fowles (Katie Cassidy) goes to the Springwood Diner to meet with her ex-boyfriend, Dean Russell (Kellan Lutz), who falls asleep at the table and meets a man covered in burn scars, wearing a red and green sweater, a fedora and a clawed glove on his hand . The burned man cuts Dean's throat in the dream, but in reality it appears that Dean is cutting his own throat as his friend, waitress Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara), looks on with Kris . At Dean's funeral, Kris sees a photograph of her and Dean as children, but cannot recall ever knowing Dean before high school . Kris begins to dream about the burned man herself and refuses to go to sleep for fear that she will die in her dreams . Jesse Braun (Thomas Dekker), Kris's ex-boyfriend, shows up at her house to keep her company while she sleeps, but Kris meets the burned man in her dreams and is murdered . Covered in her blood, Jesse runs to Nancy's house to try to explain what happened and he learns that Nancy has been having dreams about the same man: Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley). </P> <P> Jesse is apprehended by the police under suspicion of murdering Kris, and is killed by Krueger when he falls asleep in his jail cell . With her friends dying, Nancy begins to question what everyone's connection is to each other, given that none of them can remember each other before their teenage years . Eventually, Nancy and her friend Quentin Smith (Kyle Gallner) discover that all of them attended the same preschool together . Nancy's mother, Gwen (Connie Britton), reluctantly tells Nancy and Quentin that there was a gardener at the preschool, Fred Krueger, who was accused of abusing Nancy and the rest of the kids . Gwen explains that Nancy was his favorite, and that she came home one day telling her mother about a hidden space in Krueger's room and the things he did to her there . Gwen claims Krueger skipped town before he was arrested . Nancy does not believe her and attempts to track down the remaining kids from the school . Nancy eventually discovers that all of the other kids have been killed, most of them in their sleep . Meanwhile, Quentin tries to accept that his nightmares are nothing more than repressed memories, but he falls asleep during swim practice and witnesses what really happened to Krueger . Quentin sees everyone's parents hunt down Krueger, and then burn him alive . Quentin and Nancy confront Quentin's father, Alan Smith (Clancy Brown), about murdering Krueger with no evidence that he had committed any crime . Thus, Nancy and Quentin believe that Krueger wants revenge on them for lying as children . As a result of their insomnia, Nancy and Quentin begin sporadically dreaming while they are still awake . To try to stop Krueger, they decide to go to the preschool and learn what they can . </P>

Who played freddy krueger in the 2010 nightmare on elm street