A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors: Review By Soylent Green:The Devil's Eyes

A transitional film for the "Elm Street" series, the third entry in the Krueger saga proves to be an entertaining yet somewhat uneven horror film. Featuring good performances, outstanding special effects and a surprisingly astute script this one stands out as the best of the "Elm Street" sequels.

The script (credited to Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner, Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont) wisely strays from the formula beginning to take shape with Pt. 2. That entry featured Krueger haunting a young boy who moved into the old Elm Street house, pushing the series dangerously close to being a stalk n' slash which the "Nightmare films are DEFINITELY not. "Dream Warriors" is easily one of the stronger entries in the Elm Street series. The story is far more involved in fantasy/horror than it is in horror. Part 3 thankfully brings things back around, re-introducing main characters from the first film (Nancy and her father).

More importantly, this entry advances the mythology behind Krueger with a back story pertaining to his mother (a nun) and his birth (she was raped by hundreds of mental patients). Sadly, some of the supporting characters are downright embarrassing. The two biggest offenders are dreamworld switchblade toting, mowhawked Taryn ("In my dreams I'm beautiful. And bad ") and D&D geek turned dream wizard Will. I don't think Craven ever envisioned his monster being zapped by laser beams emanating from the finger tips of a boy dressed in a wizard's cloak.

Regardless of the sometimes shameful characters, the teens are played by a rather strong troupe. There isn't a bad actor in the bunch. Patricia Arquette is very good as heroine Kristen, Ken Sagoes provides comic relief with his curse laden outbursts and Rodney Eastman emotes well as the mute Joey. Bradley Gregg, one of the best of the young actors, is sadly dispensed too early in the film (in the puppet scene, the film's murder highlight). On the adult side there is strong support from Priscilla Pointer, John Saxon, Craig Wasson and Larry Fishburne (a dead ringer for Laurence Fishburne). Wasson as Dr. Neil Gordon is really believable especially given that he spends most of his time talking to the ghost of a dead nun. John Saxon does a super turn as the now drunk Mr. Thompson. The finale featuring Saxon and Wasson finding (and battling!) Freddy's skeleton is perhaps the film's strongest scene. Returning Heather Langenkamp is still a bit stilted in her delivery but it is good to see her return to the franchise.

Director Chuck Russell made his feature film debut with this sequel. He did a great job with some of the dream sequences, effectively creating visuals that have a dream like quality (Dali-esque melting tricycles, murderous tongues & puppets, large human swallowing snakes). Unfortunately a majority of the dreams are lit in a way that screams '80s rock video with solid beams of light bursting through conveniently cracked walls. He also fails to maintain an even tone as the films jumps from horror to camp comedy without warning. Following this Russell went on to helm a much more consistent film with the remake of "The Blob" (he has since moved onto budgets big enough to allow him to go by Charles).

One element where the "Elm Street" films really shine is the effects work and this film is no exception. Featuring work from the teams of Kevin Yagher, Greg Cannom and Mark Shostrum, the effects range from the surreal to the gory and all are executed well. There is even an excellent bit of stop motion animation involving a puppet that becomes Freddy. With a budget of roughly $5 million dollars, the effects teams pulled off a lot of great big screen moments.

Sadly, this films contrasting tone reflects where the "Elm Street" series was heading. The first forty minutes maintain the mystique of Freddy Krueger being a menacing boogeyman. Then we arrive at "Welcome to prime time bitch " It is a seemingly harmless punch line that symbolizes the point at which Freddy Krueger went from repulsive child killer to witty serial killer. After this point, all of the dark menace that Krueger displayed in the earlier film's is abandoned in favor of audience pleasing one liners. Krueger had jumped the shark as they say. Renny Harlin, who described Freddy as "horror's James Bond," worked under even less demanding dramatic restraint. And distributor New Line Cinema couldn't be happier as it was the highest grosser of the series (before "Freddy vs. Jason).

Instead of attempting more of the same like "Freddy's Revenge" did, "Dream Warriors" is much more imaginative and expands on the Elm Street/Freddy Krueger story and explores new territory. We get new insight into Freddy's origin, and an interesting - but sometimes unsettling - new story as Nancy and the kids manipulate their dreams to fight back against Freddy.

Body count = 5

Coming up: Part Six: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge