Thursday, July 20, 2023

My Review of A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

 


Written by Leslie Bohem
Directed by Stephen Hopkins

Freddy (to Dan): "Kids .... always a disappointment."

Yeah, we've entered the nadir of the franchise with this. I mean the writing was there with the previous offering, but here it's really hit the fan. This one's a stinker.

I do find it interesting that movies three to five in a way can be seen as a trilogy of sorts within this franchise and yet again. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) ain't dead and once again, he's out to settle some scores.

After getting his ass handed to him by Alice (Lisa Wilcox) in the last movie, one of the first things that Freddy does in this one was to take out Alice's boyfriend and baby daddy, Dan (Danny Hassel) pretty sharpish. Goodbye Dan, we barely knew you.

With Dan out of the way, this movie has two big plot strands. The first obviously being Alice's pregnancy and her reluctance to become a mother. Naturally, it's something that Freddy attempted to exploit for his own gain but a dream version of Jacob (Whit Hertford) somewhat managed to provide Freddy's downfall this time around as Alice soon embraced the idea of being a mother.

The other big strand was getting more context on Amanda Krueger (Beatrice Boepple). She had previously appeared in Dream Warriors but through flashbacks we were given the graphic origins of Freddy's conception while also being responsible in the final act for Freddy's defeat.

As for the rest of the characters, we saw a sober and supportive Dennis (Nicholas Mele) as wel as Dan's less supportive parents. Friends wise, both Mark (Joe Seeley) and Greta (Erika Anderson) were a bit underwhelming while Yvonne (Kelly Jo Minter) managed to make it out of this one alive.

- Robert Englund got to be out of make up again at least twice in this movie.
- The second lowest grossing movie of the franchise but still a hit for the year it was released in.
- Standout music: Samantha Fox's Now I Lay Me Down and Bruce Dickinson's Bring Your Daughter ... To The Slaughter.
- Chronology: A year since the events of the last movie.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child might easily be the worst movie in this franchise. The child plot is badly handled, the kills get too silly and the script's a mess overall. I know other movies are more hated by some but for me, this one was truly a mess altogether.

Rating: 5 out of 10

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