A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Director: Stephen Hopkins

Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, Kelly Jo Minter, Erika Anderson

Have I seen it Before: I’m not even sure that’s a valid question anymore. I oddly do have a strong memory of being in the video department of a grocery store* and being absolutely transfixed by a large cardboard ad for the movie, with Krueger (Englund, Dream Demons bless him for hanging around this long) admonishing those walking by to be quiet, as the baby in the bassinet from hell was sleeping. Also, I thing I read a submission by the screenwriter for an anthology I was working on years ago. For the life of me, I can’t remember if we bought the story or not.

Did I Like It: Clearly, I’ve watched A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), and these two films so absurdly blurred together that if I were to ever break my rule and write a second review for a film I would probably still be just as uncertain that I’ve ever seen the film. For two films which were not

In that way, it’s oddly a little a bit like Star Trek: Generations (1994), or better yet Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). Now, stay with me here, no matter how much you may not want to. At this point in time, the series was putting out a movie a year, and Freddy was appearing weakly as a host (and occasional character) of his own syndicated horror show. The franchise was clearly spread just a bit too thin. Freddy is over-exposed. Throw in a writer’s strike for full production chaos flavor, and voila, a franchise that vacillates between being over-produced and forgettable, yet strangely cheapened from its heyday.

*This was in those halcyon days when you could rent movie about five feet from the deli department of any grocery store. I’ll never know why they always put the video department right near the deli…

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Director: Renny Harlin

Cast: Lisa Wilcox, Danny Hassel, Tuesday Knight, Robert Englund

Have I Seen it Before: I honestly don’t remember. I’m going to hazard a guess and say I have not.

Did I Like It: The hoary cliche is to say that no movie in the Nightmare series beyond the original completely sucked. It’s reductive, of course, especially considering for my money the first film is likely over validated, but I would say both that the seventh is far and way the best film of the series*.

But there is a reason that the sequels receive mostly side eye from people. The novelty of Dream Warriors is long since gone, connections to the beginnings of the series have disappeared (a quick look-see into the history of the series indicates Wes Craven was even interested in continuing his re-connection with the series, but New Line myopically had no interest in his pitch), and what we’re left with is movies that bleed together and can’t even manage to entertain in the depraved way that even the basest horror films can accomplish.

One might think that I made a typo in the preceding paragraph when I referred to “movies,” but I assure you that was intentional. This movie is so blandly inconsequential that I was tempted for more than few minutes to write my first ever dual review, as this and The Dream Child (1989) are basically interchangeable. Even a schlocky—but somehow still over-validated—movie maker like Renny Harlin only manages to prove why he shouldn’t have briefly been given the keys to a-list movies, and only produces journeyman level work. He had to have either sold his soul to some supernatural entity (who isn’t Freddy Krueger (Englund)) or really delivered this one under budget to get where he got. That second one tends to make a lot more sense, because after Cutthroat Island (1995), everyone came to their senses.

*And, in an opinion that is likely to get things thrown at me, the best film Wes Craven ever made.