Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) by Kyle L — 24 Aug 2015

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is undoubtedly in my straight forward opinion the best installment in the Nightmare On Elm Street films since the original and in many ways it is one of the sequels that worked really well thanks to several things that seriously made the series come back to life and satisfy fans in a very good way.

This film takes place two years after Part 2 and four years after the original where the remaining Elm Street kids are now sent to a psychiatric hospital after attempting different gruesome ways on staying awake to prevent getting killed by the burned face night stalker Fred Krueger.

With the help of Nancy Thompson(who is now a psychiatrist in the same hospital where they are all confined) and doctor Neil Gordon Nancy teaches the kids to use their dream powers in beating Freddy in his turf and with the help of Neil Gordon he tries to find a way to get rid of Freddy once and for all.

I seriously loved this movie as much as I loved the original and as much as I enjoyed watching the first two Nightmare On Elm Street films. What the fans really said is true, this is the best sequel in the Nightmare On Elm Street series since the original because of two reasons First of all Wes Craven is back not as a director but as a screenwriter for this movie along with a companion and screenwriting partner Bruce Wagner and second of all we get to see two recurring characters from the original Nightmare On Elm Street and that is Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson and John Saxon as her father Donald Thompson, anyways let's go for the review.

What made this movie so famous is that this film was able to retain the style of the original while combining new elements into the mix and I just love the idea of combining Horror with Fantasy elements because this film is extremely different from its predecessor in terms of style and execution and I love how it stays true to the roots of the original which gives the film a believable look and feel.

The things I like about Nightmare 3 is that the movie has a sinister atmosphere and it gave the film an eerie look because seriously the atmosphere in this movie is so eerie, chilling and haunting because there's lots of dark lighting combined with a thick fog in several scenes that made it look extremely atmospheric and chilling thanks to cinematographer Roy H.

Wagner the look of the film is so dark and eerie at the same time. The other things that I like about this film is how they change the setting this time without messing up the movie and I like how the setting was changed from the spooky suburbs in the first two to an eerie, creepy and haunting hospital because the look of the psychiatric hospital in this film is so haunting and the scenes in the quiet hallways of the hospital seriously send some chills down in my spine also I almost forgot to mention the boiler room dream sequence in the climax looks so impressive and amazing at the same time.

What also makes Nightmare 3 a great film is that this movie is also packed with lots of scenes that are extremely eerie, suspenceful, creepy, bone chilling and frightening as well(The haunting opening sequence where Patricia Arquette is running away from Freddy in Nancy's old home, Freddy attacking Kristen in the bathroom, the intense TV kill with one of the best dialogues in film history, the disturbing Marionette puppet sequence where Freddy uses Philip's veins as Marionette strings, the screaming chest of souls scene, the super thrilling mirror sequence and the suspenceful climax until the dramatic finale) plus the soundtrack of Angelo Badalamenti is so eerie and creepy at the same time which gives the film a scary and darker feeling and it really made the film look more frightening than in the original or it comes close to the original.

But there are also three things I like about this film which are the true main highlights of the movie. The first one is the effects and I was like Woah! The effects in this movie are so crazy and this is why Nightmare 3 has a lot of fantasy elements because this film has some of the most spectacular effects in film history right before CGI.

I love all of the special effects used in this movie and there are loads of crazy effects that are so memorable in this film(The giant Freddy snake monster, the mirror sequence in the climax, the outstanding Tongue tying Joey in the bed, Freddy growing to normal size, Freddy gets blown apart by exorcism) but I truly appreciate the stop motion effects used in this film and they look even cooler than the digital effects used today(check out the creepy puppet sequence where the puppet turns into Freddy and the Freddy Skeleton coming to life which is so similar and close to the stop motion used in Jason and the Argonauts film in the 1960's) this is the reason why Stop motion still works like a charm today.

The second best thing about Nightmare 3 is that this film has a superb plot twist with the mythology of Freddy expanding and I love how we get to find out that Freddy's mom is a nun name Amanda Krueger who was raped by a 100 maniacs in an Asylum and Freddy was born it expands Freddy's origins in a good way and I love the twist in this film it is so dark and twisted at the same time.

And the last true main highlight of this film are the characters and Freddy Krueger himself. All of the characters were so believable and likable at the same time and like I said bringing Nancy back along with her Father is the smartest choice in film history while joining up with the new likable characters and I seriously adore the way Nancy becomes a leader of the kids in beating Freddy.

But Freddy himself is extremely terrifying and scarier than ever. He didn't look like he was cracking jokes in this film because based on my point of view he is still terrifying and more menacing than comical and funny because the way Freddy behaves and acts in this film is so creepy and he is very intense throughout every scene where he kills the kids and that is such a cool idea for this film and its great enough that the character of Freddy Krueger is still terrifying in this film which will truly keep the fans satisfied and happy as well.

And those are the three main highlights of this movie. Now the acting is amazing in this film and this film delivered the best casting choices and all the characters were well casted with a bunch of fresh new faces like Patricia Arquette in her very first and most successful role as Kristen Parker, Craig Wasson as Doctor Neil Gordon, Ken Sagoes as Kincaid, Rodney Eastman as Joey the mute boy, Laurence or Larry Fishburne as one of the orderlies and from the recurring characters we got the ever loyal Robert Englund as the terrifying burned face night stalking killer Freddy Krueger, Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson and wow she is more attractive, more beautiful than ever in this film but it was hard for me to watch her character get killed by Freddy in this film it is the toughest thing and saddest moment in this film and last but not least Its nice to John Saxon reprise his role as Nancy's father Lieutenant Thompson or Donald Thompson even though his character also died in this film.

Director Chuck Russell did an amazing job with his work on this film. He made Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner and Frank Darabont's screenplay come to life and the result is an outstanding, well achieved and superb film that retains the style of the original while combining new ideas into the mix and he created a dark Fantasy Horror film that delivers the goods and is extremely effective and has a darker and stronger style combined with a unique execution.

Overall A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is an amazing sequel that delivers the best ideas since the original and it is the best in the series since the original that's what the fans even said as well and it is very true.

This movie gets a 10/8/10.