In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, a year has passed since the Dream Warriors vanquished Freddy Krueger. With the nightmarish boogeyman supposedly defeated, Kristen, Joey, and Kincaid have been rehabilitated from the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital and have returned to their daily lives.
However, Kristen is still suffering from nightmares and is convinced Freddy isn’t gone for good. And she isn’t far wrong, as Freddy is accidentally resurrected… when a dog pees on his grave (I’m not making this up).
Back from Hell (or wherever he’s been residing), Freddy sets out to terrorise some teens once again, setting his sights on those who wronged him – namely Kristen, Joey, and Kincaid. But these aren’t the only teens Freddy wants to torment, and he soon seeks out Kristen’s best pal, Alice, as well as her group of friends.
Directed by Renny Harlin, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master stars Robert Englund, Ken Sagoes, Rodney Eastman, Lisa Wilcox, and Tuesday Knight. The movie is the fourth instalment in the Elm Street series and until 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason it was the highest grossing entry in the collection.
Oh, so it must be amazing then, right? Erm… not quite.
The Dream Master exists because the previous film, Dream Warriors, was a critical and commercial hit and this convinced New Line Cinema and producer Bob Shaye there was still life left in the series, despite Freddy’s supposed demise. Anyway, with fans ready to shell out money for more, there was only one thing to do: Resurrect him!
Freddy’s resurrection is of course daft, but then The Dream Master as a whole is quite daft and is also the film where the Elm Street series begins to take a notable turn in quality. The story seems less important, Freddy becomes less scary and more like a figure of fun, and the series transforms into a franchise, with disposable characters and entries.
It’s important to point out that The Dream Master isn’t a bad film, nor is it the low point in the series, but it does mark a significant shift in gear. The series will fall off a cliff shortly, but for now it mostly runs on autopilot.
Of the film’s set pieces, a couple stand out from the crowd (a bloody waterbed, a stomach churning pizza, etc) but none quite hit the heights of what has come before. However, there is fun to be had and there is some enjoyment from seeing Robert Englund having a ball as Krueger.
Englund is always good value in the Elm Street series, even in the bad films. He elevates the material and becomes the big draw with each new film.
But even with Englund continuing to deliver, it’s clear the Elm Street series is not as fresh as it once was. This is a Nightmare by the numbers and nothing more.
Sure, this one might have been a big financial success when it was released back in ‘87, but this is arguably due to goodwill from the previous entry. Those who liked Part 3 came back for Part 4, and that’s what made this one a hit – not the content of the film itself.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master has its moments, and there are enough set pieces to distract from the underwritten story, but this isn’t a great entry in the series. It’s watchable and for the most part that’s ok, but for the first time there is a feeling the Elm Street series is treading water, and this will only become more apparent in future instalments.
Still, it could be worse. The Dream Master is not awful, so keep this in mind.
Should you wish to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master the film is available on digital download. The movie is also available on DVD and Blu-ray as part of the Elm Street movie collection.
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