Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) by Filipeneto — 22 Apr 2021

A good sequel.

The fourth film in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise is a direct continuation of the previous one, and begins with Freddy Krueger's revenge on the group of teenagers who defeated him before. However, things do not end there, and the film presents a very well elaborated script, in which the villain has many opportunities to scare us, although the credibility of what is told can sometimes be too imaginative.

The cast does its job satisfactorily. Robert Englund remains impeccable in the role of Krueger, who immortalized with his way of acting and his surrender. Lisa Wilcox is a good protagonist, Rodney Eastman does a positive job and stands out from the crowd and Tuesday Knight seemed satisfactory, but not particularly notable. Even so, I don't think the cast's work was happier than in the previous film.

Technically, it is a very well made film and appears to have a lot of money invested. The CGI and the special effects are quite good and worked well and there are several deaths and strong scenes with great visual impact. Englund's make-up also looks realistic and detailed, and that makes it disturbing and impactful. There is room for humor, but the film is genuinely tense and the suspense was built in a coherent and skillful way. Dark cinematography with strong colors helps to accentuate this tension and the soundtrack also plays an honorable role, although sometimes it does not seem to sound very good.