"Your birth was a curse on the whole of humanity. I will not allow it to happen again. You brought me back to give you life, but now I must take yours."
Here we are at the fifth movie in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child." With "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master," we were introduced to the so-called "Master of Dreams," who defeats Freddy, of course, in the ending, and banishes him to hellish abyss of wherever it is he belongs. However, the movie had it's ups and downs and ultimately, in my mind, ending up being rather slow in the parts where Freddy wasn't involved. While "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" doesn't come anywhere close to "A Nightmare on Elm Street" or even "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," it does do a little bit better than "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master." This one was a lot more fun, I thought, to watch. The scenes between Freddy's kills were hardly noticed, as the story unfolds and unfolds. They worked very well at creating a movie to capture the audience's attention this time, is how I see it, and they ultimately succeeded. While in some parts, such as the death of the character Mark Gray, the movie can be a bit much to swallow, I'd say that generally, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" is one of the better entries into the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series. However, at this point, it seems to me, like it's missing something without the return of Wes Craven to do something. It's nothing major, but you can't help but wonder where the series would be right now if Craven had headed the sequels and everything. He wrote for "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," and that one really turned out well, so you have to wonder to yourself how these other ones would do, were HE to direct them. At any rate, I applaud the people who came up with the idea for this movie because it is once again a nice, original, and creepy twist to the series that keeps the basic premise the same, and changes everything up a bit, just like the last two sequels did, and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" tried to do. While this film doesn't stick out pass the legendary original, or it's kickass second sequel, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," it definitely sticks out among the series as one of the more inventive outings into the sick, twisted, and demented world of Freddy Krueger, and it really makes sure you know that. I definitely applaud them for everything they did with the film, and while some things in the movie are a bit overdone, or even underdone, it's still a very enjoyable film, and makes a nice addition to the series.
The directorial torch of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series is once again handed over to a knew director. In the case of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child," the torch goes to a man named Stephen Hopkins, who has also directed two other films that I really enjoyed, "Predator 2" and "The Reaping." Having seen those, I definitely know that Hopkins directorial status is a bit underrated, but he definitely knows what he's doing FOR the movies, and that gets some major points from me. One things all the directors of this series have managed to keep up, are the angles and filters they use to make the movies so eerie and creepy because Hopkins definitely has this down. One of his most awesome angles, in my opinion, happens during the ending sequence where Freddy is facing off against Alice once more. They use a staircase that twists and bends, and takes them all in different directions, and the different angles that are used to film the sequence just make it all the more awesome. You get reactions like, "Oh my God! He's going to get them!" And such, but also you laugh because of some of the antics of our friend Freddy Krueger. That was definitely one of the better feats of angle-masteration in the movie. Also, it's in this same scene that we get some really awesome filters, especially when Amanda Krueger enters. I won't go into further detail with that, but just know that it's got some awesome filters that really add a creepy effect to everything, while at the same time adding an effect for Amanda that makes it seem like victory is near at hand. That's the best I can explain it, but I'm sure you'll know what I mean if you've seen the movie, or WILL see it. The Writers of this movie also do a great job. Creating a story based, once again, from the characters created by Wes Craven, are writers John Skipp, Craig Spector, and Leslie Bohem. Bohem also develops the screenplay for the story that he helped to create. These guys manage their job very well, and manage to create a script that keeps up the pace of the movie as well, which is definitely an upside. They managed to create characters that you can really get along with, too, whereas in the last installment the feelings you had about the characters' deaths were merely an afterthought. Their story also has it's definitely applause-worthy moments, and is definitely noteworthy by me, for the most inventive twist in the series yet. The Writers definitely deliver us a movie that is very fun to watch, and is definitely worthy of being in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series.
The visuals of this movie, like all of it's predecessors, are handled very well, though there are a few rocky spots. Once again, we see Freddy Krueger in all his burnt unglory, as he goes around slicing up the screen. As many may remember, in the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and even it's sequel, "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge," Freddy was a darkly lit character that no one really understood. By now, though, the characters, and US, have gotten used to who Freddy Krueger is, so they've taken that away. Don't get me wrong on this angle, though, because it doesn't take anything away from the creepiness of the character. Rather, it gives us a new kind of creepiness for Freddy, that causes us to dread what he's going to do to the characters, as much as we want to see WHAT it is, exactly, that Freddy plans to do to them. Speaking of Freddy, he's resplendant as ever in this movie, with his legendary fedor and striped red and green Christmas sweater, sporting the massive burns and the iconic gloves that we've all grown so used to by now in this series. As he slashes the screen, one thinks to himself, "How could these regular things be so scary put together?" Well, it has to do in part, by a good actor who can do the right motions, but I think it's the burns that bring it all together myself, as he bloodies up the screen. And speaking of blood, the blood is still looking very realistic throughout the film, and since the film counts on bloody and gorey kills, this is a definite upside. Which brings me, of course, to the kills, which are as bloody, disgusting, disturbing, creative, and inventive as they ever were in the first four movies, which is definitely an upside. I think the one death that really stuck out for me in this movie, was the death of Dan Jordan, who is racing to the aid of Alice when he nods off, and suddenly his truck goes insane, and Freddy takes over. He is thrust through the window, ending up somehow in the pool house at their school. He leaves, and tries to get into his truck, but it's locked, so he takes the motorcycle that is sitting right next to it. But soon, it's clear that he didn't wake up, and that he made a mistake. Freddy is alive, and attaches himself into Dan, causing him to crash face first, without a helmet, into a semi, while in reality, he was in his truck. It was so whacky, and explosive, that for some reason it was the one kill of the movie that stood out to me. Now, there are some shaky visuals in this movie, too. The one that stands out most to me, is the little baby thing in the beginning that grows up to be Freddy. It was supposed to look disgusting, yes, and it does, but it also looks WAY fake, and rather animatronic, which it probably was, but being able to tell that it is, wasn't what the movie was supposed to do. They kind of dropped the ball there. Also, the death of Greta Gibson was a bit ridiculous looking, and you'll see what I mean when it comes up. The rest of the visuals, however, are handeled fantastically for the movie, and really add a nice creepy and eerie air to it, that only an "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movie shound have.
The storyline of this movie is what really struck me as awesome. It's yet again a new concept for the series, that still keeps the basic air of what "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is supposed to be about, and how everything should go throughout the film. They create a whole new way for Freddy to get at people, though, and that's what I really liked. It also returns us to the surviving characters of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master," and uses them for the movie. I really liked that a lot, even though I didn't particularly care for the characters in the last film. For some reason, I found them more bearable in this one. Weird, but whatever. The premise of using a baby is something that I think made an excellent aspect for it, as I've said a lot already. What it really does, is create a way for Freddy to get to Alice's powers, while she's still awake. Meaning, he can use her to get him new prey whether she's awake OR asleep, which is definitely not a good thing for her. Freddy also starts to taint the boy, which means he's getting himself a prodigy, which is not a good thing for Alice, either. This movie also acts as a sort of explanation, or insight, rather, into what went into the conception of Freddy Krueger. I liked the angle with Amanda Krueger being brought back so that Freddy could once again return to the world of dreams, and wreak his havoc on the kids therein. However, doing this wasn't smart for Freddy because Amanda hates the spawn of Satan that she brought into the world, and she's powerful enough to rise against him. Basically, she's the only one that Freddy is afraid of, which is a whole new aspect for the series, since Freddy basically didn't get scared of anyone that stood up to him. In fact, he was quite sure he'd be able to kill them with minimal problem. His mother, however, is another story, and I like that it. It means that Freddy isn't the big badass that he pretends to be, and it brings him down to a different level than what the fans are used to. Granted, his still not scared of anything else, and he's as ruthless and merciless as ever, but it's the small steps that count. The storyline of this movie was definitely one of the best parts about this movie, and really helps make a nice addition into the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series.
The movie starts off as Alice Johnson (Played by Lisa Wilcox of "Wedding Band") and her boyfriend, Dan Jordan (Played by Danny Hassel of the made-for-TV movie, "Columbo: Murder, a Self Portrait," where he played a bit role) are making love together. When they finish, Alice gets up, and heads into the showever. As she is showering, the drain starts to splutter up some nasty liquids, and she reaches her hand in to pull out whatever is plugging it up. She soon however, gives up, and stands back up. However, the shower heads starts to splutter out some steaming hot liquid, and she tries desperately to shut it off. However, the walls start to seep water, and the hands do, too, and soon she's caught in the shower. She bangs on the door to get out, and finds herself thrust into a hallway of a strange place. The place is filled with what looks like a ton of raving mad lunatics, as things happen. She walks forward, suddenly realizing that she is wearing a nun's outfit, and that there are some people on a balcony who are counting. One of them, impatient as ever, tells the other to forget it, that there ARE a hundred there, and they turn to leave. Alice shouts at them to get there attention, but to no avail. Suddenly the maniacs converge on her, and she wakes up screaming in bed. Dan reaches over to her to comfort her, but suddenly turns into one of the maniacs that was in the room. She finally wakes up screaming. We then see Dan giving speech, and saying farewell once and for all to Springwood High School. They're all graduating, and soon Dan joins Alice, and her friends, Greta Gibson (Played by Erika Anderson of "Shadows of the Past"), Yvonne (Played by Kelly Jo Minter of "Miracle Mile"), and Mark Gray (Played by Joe Seely of "Shag"). They start talking about everything, and Greta gets called away for pictures, and Dan and Alice walk off to spend some more time together, but soon, Dan's parents show up, and drag him off to discuss his future in football with a talent scout who had shown up, leaving Alice to herself. She walks along muttering about how her Dad hadn't showed up, when Dennis Johnson (Played by Nicholas Mele of "Torchlight"), her father, shows up. He says she did look beautiful up there, and that he had been sitting behind the bleachers watching because he didn't want to embarass her, having the town drunk in the stands. She tells him that as long as he's still going to the AA meetings, then she doesn't care what people think of him. They go off together talking, heading to take a picture with her friends and their parents. Reluctant as he is, Dennis takes the pic, and we get a still shot of a bunch of kids goofing off, while the parents are all looking serious. We cut to a scene with Dan and Alice kissing each other, and Dennis walks up. Dan bids his farewell, and walks away. Alice talks with her Dad, and tells him that she'll be fine walking to work, since it's just through the park. She heads off, and sees some girls jumproping, but when she hears the legendary Freddy rhyme that they're saying she gets worried. The girls run off, and she follows them, heading into a copse of trees. When she comes out on the other side, she finds herself face to face with a nun, who walks up some stairs. As she heads after her, she finds herself in an assylum. She follows the nun up some more steps, but suddenly finds herself being wheeled down a hallway on a gurney, and she starts to scream and flail. They wheel her into an examination room, and tell her that everything will be fine. Soon, though, she finds herself as just an onlooker, and a different woman is sitting on the gurney. She is having a baby, and screaming. Soon, though, the baby is born, and it is an abomination. The mother screams that it is no child of God's, and reaches for the baby to kill it. However, the baby is accidentally dropped, and it scurries away through the doors. However, as Alice goes through the doors, she finds herself in the very church where she faced down Freddy the last time he came around. The baby is crawling towards the clothes where Freddy died and went back to hell. Alice realizes what is going on, and heads to stop it, but suddenly as it reaches the clothes, a pillar rises into the sky, and she is thrown backwards. Next thing she knows Freddy Krueger (Played by Robert Englund of "Dead & Buried") jumps down, and is ready to kill her, when the nun shows up. The nun we know, is Amanda Krueger. She tells Freddy that he brought her there to bring him back to power, but she must destory the abomination she has let loose on the world. Freddy, disappears, saying that they'll see, and Amanda starts to tell Alice that she needs to find something to stop him, but Freddy cuts her off, and Alice wakes up, and walks into the Diner. She finds out that she is four hours late, and starts to really worry because now Freddy is back. She heads to the phone and calls Dan, who is at a party waiting for her to get off. She tells him what happened, and worried, he heads back. But as he is driving, he nods off, and soon, Freddy gets to him, and kills him. Alice wakes up yet again, having seen everything, but not wanting to believe. When she heads outside she sees the reck, where Dan hit the semi head on, and as she walks up, she sees Dan dead in the truck, on fire with everything else, and passes out. She wakes up disoriented in the hospital, and asks Yvonne, who works there, how Freddy got out of the dreamworld. Yvonne, of course, has no idea what she's talking about, and she tells Alice that Dan is dead, Alice starts to freak, when the doctor comes in. He tells her that everythings alright with her, but she knows that something is wrong. She asks them what's wrong with her, and finds out that she is pregnant with Dan's baby. Soon, though, it's apparent that Freddy is somehow using her, as she witnesses the death of her friend Greta. She realizes that Freddy is using her baby to get to her to get to her friends. Once again, Alice finds herself up against a foe that she had thought was dead, and she apparently, still does not understand. All of the actors and actresses in this movie, manage their parts very well, getting down each of their respective character's worries, feelings, emotions, and other such characteristics VERY well. Robert Englund's performance as Freddy Krueger is once again, done very well, and makes for one very spooky and creepy movie, as he always does. Definitely a great job on the casting of this movie.
All in all, this was definitely a great installment into the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, and was a slight step up from "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master." The movie manages to keep your interest throughout the entire film, and comes up with a nice new concept that really works out nicely for the series. The Director of this movie really knows his job well, and gets all the proper angles and filters right that really add a nice suspense, eeriness, creepiness, and spookiness to the film, which really makes it that much more fun to watch. DEFINITELY a great job on the Directing of this movie. The Writers of this movie manage to come up with an EXCELLENT concept that works nicely to bring freshness to the series, and developing characters that you can actually feel for to take it along nicely. DEFINITELY a great job on the Writing of this movie. The Visuals of this movie are as awesome as ever. The point of view for the killer is done very well, making it very spooky, and Freddy is looking as creepy as ever as he slashes up the screen. The blood and gore looks very realistic which helps along the very inventive and intense kills be that much more inventive and intense. However, there are a few spots with the visuals that didn't turn out so well, and looked a little bit sketchy. DEFINITELY a great job on the Visuals of this movie. The Storyline of this movie was done very well, and uses an EXCELLENT concept to bring something brand-new to the series, while at the same time using the same old concept throughout it that made the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series so awesome. DEFINITELY a great job on the Storyline of this movie. The Acting ties everything about this movie together. All of the Actors and Actresses deliver performances as characters that are PRETTY Convincing, PRETTY Believable, and PRETTY Realisitic, as well as delivering performances as characters that you can really FEEL FOR, though I'm not sure how well you could RELATE TO them, on MANY different levels. DEFINITELY a great job on the Casting of this movie. So if you've enjoyed the first four installments of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series, and really love Freddy Krueger, then you DEFINITELY need to check this movie out. It's very fun, and has an awesome concept to it that makes for a great story. So give it a try. I'm almost POSITIVE that you will not get COMPLETELY disappointed with it. I know I didn't!!!!!
THIS CONCLUDES PART 5 IN MY REVIEW SERIES FOR THE "A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET" SERIES!!!!! STAY TUNED FOR PART 6, "FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE!!!!!"
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