Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) by Matthew B — 11 Oct 2015

A bit of a dip in quality for the franchise, but The Dream Master has a few fresh ideas and some very memorable kills to make it passable. It picks up not too far after the events of the 4th film with an unfortunate re-cast of Kristen (Patricia Arquette was pregnant at the time of filming) rearing it's ugly head with a less-than-stellar replacement, Tuesday Knight.

After Freddy is finished dispatching the survivors from the previous film, we're introduced to brand new characters who weren't part of the Elm Street kids, but Freddy is after them anyway for.

..reasons. This film was directed by somewhat hack filmmaker, Renny Harlin who does a good job with the dream sequences/kills but his directing of the actors needed work. The way they dispatch of Freddy this time around comes completely out of nowhere where they use his reflection to then have the souls inside him tear him apart; problem is he's appeared in mirrors, TVs, etc.

before, so the continuity is out the window, but the special effects for this scene are amazing! The main reason to watch these movies is for Robert Englund's performance and he kills it again here, dawning his quippy, one-liner act in this film and onward.

Not a highmark for the series, but it's not a bad watch if you're marathoning the series.