Review of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) by Antonio N — 02 Jun 2010

We've now reached the sixth Nightmare on Elm Street, now dubbed Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, a 95 minute swan-song to our favorite nightmare killer who comes crashing down on horror fans by completely "jumping the shark".

In the far off future, the infamous town of Springwood, OH has now been officially wiped out of all youth, save for one (Shon Greenblatt) who is sent through a rollercoaster of bad Freddy/pop culture nightmares until finally being thrown out of town with Amnesia in hopes of bringing back more teen souls for Freddy to consume.

Naturally, Greenblatt winds up in a halfway home where head counselor Lisa Zane (and adolescent youths Breckin Meyer [in an early role], Lezlie Deane, and Ricky Dean Logan) takes him back to Springwood to uncover his missing memory.

Instead, the group becomes trapped at the infamous house on Elm Street as well as in Freddy's world, where he forces the kids to face the demons that terrorize him, not to mention a few others. We also get a very interesting subplot involving Freddy's upbringing and estranged family before he became the stuff that nightmares are made of.

There's some clever deaths, some really bad jokes (the whole video game sequence comes to mind), and a BEVY of cameo appearances, including Johnny Depp (in a very funny role), Rosanne & Tom Arnold (yeesh!), and Alice Cooper (playing Krueger's abusive stepdad).

There's also the lovable Yaphet Kotto in a role that doesn't properly utilize him until the end. As far as sequels go, this is definitely the weakest one, but also the most infamous. It throws everything AND the kitchen sink into the film's running time, not to mention the constant marketing of Freddy's final death which is surprisingly simplistic and nothing special to be honest.

Still, if you're a genuine Freddy fan (like myself), you'll have a place in your heart for this overly silly sequel.