In Nightmare on Elm Street 4 one thing becomes apparent very quickly. Robert Englund is now the star of these films.  This is the film that took the series in an entirely different world. Freddy’s to be exact. He now controls these films. It isn’t necessarily the sleep deprived teens anymore it’s Freddy who is the most interesting character. Nightmare on Elm Street 4 follows a few years after Nightmare 3. The survivors of the first film are having dreams again of Kruger this time they are not so lucky. All of our leads that survived in part 3 are quickly killed and we are given a new batch of teens to deal with led by Alice.

The films script takes some elements from  the previous nightmare films most notably Nightmare 3. It takes the Dream Warriors premise and runs with it. Alice gains the dream warrior abilities of her friends after they are killed by Freddy. This is a solid premise to work with in the Nightmare series but sadly it’s not all that well executed. Nightmare 4 is not that great of a horror film or a cheesy film. Granted there are some elements that make the film fun. Englund once again brings his sadistic charm to the role of Kruger and some of his one-liners are classic in the horror genre.  Most notably “How’s this for a wet dream?”. Englund has often been the only consistent factor of the Nightmare films and he’s easily the best part of this film.

I don’t really mind Nightmare 4 though, there is enough evocative imagery and enough fun here to make it enjoyable for a fan of the Nightmare series.  I personally think the first 20 minutes of the film is just as solid as anything in Nightmare 3 but the film loses most of it’s luster in the third act. In the third act of Nightmare on Elm Street we find out another weakness of Kruger and it’s absolutely absurd. He has a Dorian Grey complex. He can’t see himself otherwise he dies. Really? Kruger the same man who can have a gaping hole blown through him in the same film and regenerate can’t see himself in the mirror? It’s just kind of odd that in the film where Kruger seems his strongest he has his most pitiful ending. Nightmare on Elm Street 4 is not the worst film of the series by any means but it’s definitely not one of the best. At it’s finest it does some really interesting things and at it’s worst it’s fucking awful.

Nightmare 4 is the first film in the series to have a Freddy-first point of view and although it’s interesting it doesn’t really work. There needs to be a certain equality between Kruger and the teens. If Kruger is the only interesting character then we are just waiting for Kruger to kill the next teen. We’re not rooting for any of the characters we’re waiting for Freddy. The first Nightmare on Elm Street film did this brilliantly. Renny Harlin was not the best director for the series to continue in a good way. Harlin is a bit too Hollywoodish to do the series justice and it’s bothersome to see. There are moments I like in this film but for the most part it’s kind of just a middling exercise in Freddyology.

Nightmare Series Ranked

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street- 9.5
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors- 8
3. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge- 4
   
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master- 4
   

The Next entry will be At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul. I’ll post it later today.

~ by resdog55 on May 5, 2010.