A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master *

Freddy Krueger, the practical joker, is in full bloom here. Dog fire piss (now this is the most unusual way to resurrect the nightmare killer), thanks to Kincaid’s canine companion, during a nightmare in the car graveyard where his bones were buried in A Nightmare on Elm Street III, Krueger’s body returns with burned flesh and knife-fingers glove intact. Freddy has unfinished business concerning the three (excluding Craig Wasson’s doc) that got away, Kristen (now portrayed by Tuesday Night, stuck in an underwhelming role, doing the best she can with it, considering she looks little like Patricia Arquette), Kincaid, and Joey. Because Kristen couldn’t stay away from that boiler room or Freddy’s home, Krueger’s resurrection was possible. Because Kristen has a way to pull others into her dreams, she accidentally enlists the aid of her best friend, the beautiful wallflower, Alice (Lisa Wilcox, gorgeous even when dressed drably), pleasing Freddy immensely. Freddy dispatches the trio from Part III and decides, even though the kids from the parents who murdered him are all dead, their souls his, he doesn’t want to quit killing (it is just too much damn fun!), using Alice to get at her high school friends. When Freddy kills her friends, because she gained a significant power from Kristen, Alice “receives the power” each gives her upon death. While Alice’s friends’ souls belong to Freddy, their power (their personalities, quirks, and strengths) belong to her.
***½
One of two parts to the film. This the basic blog review for those who might not want to read excessively about such a film.

Look, I’m the first to acknowledge that this plot is absurd and just plain silly. But if Freddy can entertain himself taking the souls of teenagers, someone in Part 4 needs to have some sort of advantage against him. There’s a certain rhyme that Alice is trying to learn that could lend her a hand in killing Freddy (or at least keeping him down for a little while until the next sequel) which will lead to quite a make-up effects extravaganza. Where I think this sequel excels is purely because of Renny Harlin’s energy, creative camera work, eye-popping style, and innovative set pieces which allow Freddy to certainly utilize the nightmare world in imaginative ways. Sounds like a broken record, but Harlin learned from what others had done (especially Chuck Russell, the director of Part III), taking it one step further by giving Robert Englund star status and showcasing him more than any other director in the past. Every kill has Freddy using a clever quip (I have to admit that I laughed at them, but I never allowed the fact that this character preyed upon and killed Elm Street children to leave my mind), and often Alice has to look on helplessly as he goes to work on her friends.

I think where this sequel hurts is in the characters. While I think even in this film the characters are more interesting than many in the majority of the Friday the 13^th films, the script gives them just enough development to establish certain aspects before Freddy exploits their weaknesses prior to killing them. Sheila (Toy Newkirk) is brainy and asthmatic, having crammed for a physics exam, her sleep deprivation opening a door for Freddy to “suck face” with her in a class room (his carving an apple is a nice touch). Debbie (Brooke Theiss) has an intense repulsion for cock roaches and obsessively works out; her body image is certainly changed by Freddy who uses both her working out and cock roaches to optimum effect in this film’s showstopping set piece involving a roach motel. Alice’s brother, Rick (Andras Jones) likens himself to Bruce Lee, practicing martial arts in his room, high-kicking, eventually combating an invisible Freddy in one of the lamest murder set pieces of the franchise.

There was a need to kill off the characters from the previous film so that Freddy could move on from the kids related to those parents who burned Freddy alive and start afresh with a brand new batch, gaining a nemesis in Alice in the process. It was a good part for Lisa Wilcox, although, I did feel bad for her because the fifth film doesn’t do her character justice…especially compared to how this film treats her. I think the Alice character is a blank slate when we first see her and as the fourth film continues, Wilcox can provide the details needed until she faces Fred Krueger with enough strength and courage, having watched her best friends die, facing insurmountable odds due to the obstacles she’s up against, leaving the church of the nightmare realm as the souls of the damned are freed from the prison that has held them captive thanks to this evil monster.

Because Alice is introduced as a new adversary for Freddy, Tuesday Knight is cast in the rather thankless role of Kristen, appearing in the film as a catalyst for someone to replace her, then burned off in an inferno. I thought it was unflattering and rather sad that this character is put down this way. Joey and Kincaid are done no favors, either. Kincaid, at least, puts up a small fight (emphasis on small; he drops a car on Fred), while Joey is given the waterbed murder; Joey’s death might slightly call to mind Depp’s fate, although Freddy uses the hot playmate disguise to momentarily offer the kid hope of a shag only to emerge from the water in all his fugly glory. Joey’s mom finding him trapped in the waterbed I must say was rather neat…it was certainly unique. Kincaid gets the “glove stab in stomach” similar to Langenkamp in Part III, the first of the characters to take a dirt nap.

While I certainly don’t mention this in the same breath as Part III, The Dream Master was a good time all the same. I think I have been doing it right watching these movies on Friday nights after putting my kids to bed as it really allows me the chance to dwell on the moments and memories that each film calls to light while experiencing them again. When you listen to dialogue that mentions Dynasty and VCRs, see a commercial of that giant MTV symbol Godzilla-ing about a city, & reminded of “wardrobe malfunctions” such as a spiked wrist band (in a Rambo/Commando montage where Alice “suits up” for her battle with Freddy), and return to the classrooms of when I was a kid, the film functions as a time warp. These trips down memory lane ever so often are just what I need; it can, however, hinder critiquing a film objectively. Can the trip, because it recalls good times, taint an objective view of a film’s real merits and glaring failures?