Review of A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989) by Everett J — 29 Mar 2009

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

directed by Stephen Hopkins.

written by Leslie Bohem.

starring Lisa Wilcox, Erika Anderson, Beatrice Boepple, Danny Hassel, Whitby Hertford, Kelly Jo Minter, Joe Seely, Pat Sturges.

The series suffers a deluded foray into abject silliness while Fred Krueger continues to be Henny Youngman spouting off ignoble one-liners instead of hacking people up which is his birthright.

This one has Krueger return through that age-old horror portal: he sneaks into the skull of a baby in a womb and infects the little bugger?s dreams! There?s a scene early in the film where Alice, (Wilcox), one of the two survivors from the last installment dreams a nurse at Westin Hills Asylum named Amanda Krueger who is being inadvertently locked in with the crazed criminally insane lunatics who promptly swarm on her. We learn from the previous film that she was raped over 100 times before giving birth to Fred Krueger.

In the real world, Alice is graduating with her typically eclectic group of friends. There is Greta (Anderson), an uppity girl whose mother Racine (Sturges) treats like a princess insisting she is going to be a top model. Greta is supposed to avoid any fun lest it ruin her hair or pad her thighs. Mark (Seely) is a comic book geek who draws his own comics. Other than that he?s devoid of personality and it?s only a matter of time before the audience can enjoy his death. Yvonne (Minter) is equally lacking in personality but she?s at least feisty and the one person who doesn?t buy into Alice?s whole Fred Krueger trip. Still, collectively, these characters are not the type who are missed once they serve their true purpose and expire horrifically at the hands of the star of the show.

Fred Krueger is no longer terrifying. He does scrape his blades along the edge of a pipe in this one but he no longer hides in the shadows lurking, waiting for the dreamer to fall into his trap. He?s no longer this mysterious creep hungry for the flesh of the very young and unwitting children of Elm Street. Earlier films assured that the sexuality of Fred Krueger was prominently featured and a significant aspect of the production. His ultimate prize was the sweet, virginal girl to whom he could be devoted throughout all eternity. Here we have a group of negligible teens who are all graduating and ready to take their place in the world. They are in fact on the cusp of adulthood and not strictly children anymore. One wonders what Krueger even sees in this new batch of insignificant types because they are one step removed from his favored targets.

In this film, it?s very difficult to know whether Alice is dreaming or not. She walks to work and ends up at the asylum where she witnesses a scene that certainly seems like a dream. First Alice is being wheeled in on a Gurney but the scene changes and Alice is replaced by Amanda Krueger who is screaming in agony. Amanda gives birth to a monster that quickly escapes and finds a pile containing Krueger?s clothing and glove. The thing grows to adult size and neither Amanda or Alice can do anything to stop it. This little scene perhaps represents Alice?s fears surrounding her own impending delivery. But, one is left confused as to when it takes place because Alice ends up at work four hours late. She calls Dan (Hassel) who rushes over only to be killed by Krueger who has magically come into the actual world instead of remaining in dreams which has always been creator Wes Craven?s intent. Here Freddy is able to shape shift into objects and the effect is more comical than offsetting. Indeed, the entire film feels ludicrous at times, and the special effects are truly wanting. The baby looks ridiculous and is certainly an aspect of the film that is particularly laughable.

Ultimately there just isn?t enough of Krueger doing what he does best. He?s been turned into a cartoon character who has lost his calling card and it?s perhaps the saddest part of the entire film series. Krueger used to be a proper boogeyman who terrorized each and every victim he brought to an early death; he was an angry, menacing devil who maintained his deep longing for the flesh of little girl children and his sacrifices remained vital and operational. Here however, all that has been lost and he?s simply a catchphrase spewing clown who has been modified to appeal to those who cannot stomach the truly macabre aspect of his character. Sure, he still kills people in this film and admittedly some of the deaths show some ingenuity but they are funny rather than scary. All of the horror has been taken out and the result is less than satisfying.

Fred Krueger is supposed to be an exquisitely crafted menace who does terrible things to children and just cannot stop himself from continuing his nefarious activities in their dreams. He?s set up as a beast, a wholly distasteful creature of supreme depravity and yet here he is prancing around like a tit. Krueger should not behave as if his pants were on fire; he should move slowly, like a wild cat stalking its prey. Then he should rush in and disembowel the lucky recipient of his special attention. He should stick hot pokers up their anal cavity, pour hot lava down their throat, or simply slice them up with his glove knives. Whatever he wants to do, it should be clean, ordered, and dynamic. Turning himself into a motor scooter so he is rendered horribly in wretched effects should never have been an option. Plus, putting him inside a wretched looking baby that also looks like the effects crew had their blind and armless five year old nephews sculp and mold the creature should have died on the cutting room floor. It?s just daft to watch such a character lose himself in such foolishness.

It?s a considerable travesty that there aren?t any characters worth fighting for in this film. Even Alice has lost that exquisite innocence which made her so delectable in the last film. Lisa Wilcox played Alice as wholly virginal with no clue of sex or boys. She was a perfect Krueger victim because she reminded him of the little girls he prefers: sexless, pure. Alice was pure and now she?s had sex so she?s lost what made her such a viable character in the previous film. Now she doesn?t possess any unique qualities for Fred Krueger to luxuriate over and she?s just another sex-drenched teenager who has tainted her flesh with sex. It?s unfortunate that there aren?t any virgins for Krueger to chase around because this is what he longs for, it?s what he lives for. Truly there is nothing better for Krueger than a nice, plump five year old girl who cannot find her way home. Krueger loves to come in out of the shadows and face the child with his big, bad claws in silhouette. This is vintage Krueger and it?s this that has been ruined in this film as the man of great mystery has gone missing and there is no way of bringing him back.

Overall, this film does nothing to further the true Fred Krueger legend which is based around his ability to sneak up on his prey without making a massive spectacle of himself. In this film, Krueger goes to great lengths to make himself visible and it?s precisely the opposite tactic he?s used so effectively in parts one, three and four. He?s a dangerous man and all that has made his so frightening in the past has been stripped from him and he has been left with nothing solid to grasp hold of. He?s no longer the sick madman who loves the flesh of little girls and wants nothing more than to capture as many of them as possible. He settles on teen-agers even though they do not fully satisfy his appetite. They merely fill in for what he really wants which of course a film of this sort would never dare to show because serial killers who preys on the little ones are never going to be memorialized on the screen. Still, he has managed to kill some kids that matter in previous films. In most of the previous films, a key female figure was a virgin, pure and oh so white and pale. These are Krueger?s ideal victims and he chases them through their dreams with great vigor and dedication. Fred Krueger has always been a sexual pervert and this film takes that aspect away from his character; he no longer is shown wanting to penetrate these particular victims with his makeshift penis. The film is the most expensive one thus far in the series and it?s the least effective. Less is more when it comes to horror and this film never paid any attention to those words.