A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
You shouldn't have buried me, I'm not dead
Continuing the October of your nightmares, we move right on to the fourth entry this week. Is it good? Is it bad? Well, we officially hit the part of the franchise that is effectively a void in my memory - I might remember little tiny snippets or scenes, but until we get to a New Nightmare - which we won’t this month - I can’t really say I remember a substantial amount about this and our next one. That just means it’s fun for both of us, as I go in largely like it’s a new movie! Well, a new old movie, considering it’s almost as old as me still. Either way, strap on your claws and get out your sweaters, it’s time to meet the Dream Master in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4.
We pick up with a familiar character finding herself in an unfortunately familiar place - the old Freddy house. Still run down, still spooky, but also largely not inhabited this time around. Still, we may have a bit of a freak out that pulls two other returning friends back into the dream, which promptly ends when our dream-puller gets bit by her friend’s dog while in the dream and wakes her up. Her new friend group doesn’t really know about this sort of thing - at least not until her past friends get picked off by the man of your dreams himself after he gets brought back by flamethrower dog pee? I mean, look at that point it’s a dream so your guess is as good as mine. Anyways, the body count starts, and our final child of Elm Street might have just accidentally brought a whole new set of counting sheep to the slaughter.
Actors do a fine job here. It still doesn’t entirely feel like it’s some super big budget high-profile acting gig, but part of that might just be some other issues that we can come across. I do think they are doing a fine job for what their roles are asking though - so most any complaints towards the actors I would personally log are generally more oriented towards the writing side of stuff. There’s some charming relationships between the characters that the actors do a good job of playing out, and we are fully into the one-liner dropping Freddy at this point. Nobody here is really that vapid sort of character you want to see just get murdered off, so at the very least the acting doesn’t make characters more disposable.
Characters themselves aren’t quite as good as the actors, but there are some little shining spots. Our new lead that takes over for the old lead actually gets to go on a complete journey from head-in-the-clouds day dreamer to a no-nonsense sure of her self lady - which might have been nicer for her friends if it took less dead people to get there, but through hardships adversities right? We also play a bit more with the dream side of the characters, letting the dreams both reflect twisted dreams - like the hot topless chick swimming in your water bed - or just straight up being a nightmare - like turning into a bug. Of course, Fred is back there hamming it up as he does at his most enjoyable, but just because some of the lines might be incredibly wacky doesn’t mean Englund doesn’t deliver them real well to keep at least a layer of menace to them. Freddy has also somewhat evolved further by this movie, so folks stuck around with the franchise get to see that play out.
How much you like or don’t like that evolution will change between folks I’m sure. Once again, it seems to ignore the second movie - either that or imply the kid from that is in fact an OG Elm Street kid whose family just decided they wanted to move down the street into the crazy persons house. Part of that comes from the expansion to Freddy’s reach - and it sort of further introduces that Tulpa aspect to him in this movie, where he doesn’t have the capacity to get just any old person until the new lead accidentally gets pulled into the situation by the old lead and slowly sorts of spreads like a virus. It’s nice to have something that resembles a rule or logical step, even if it’s out there. Of course, we also introduce the concept of a dream master, which sort of plays up the dream warrior by making a sort of non-evil Freddy role to fight Freddy. That in turn allows that lore to pan out a little bit more, even though perhaps some might feel like it might side-step the whole thousand maniacs thing from last time, although evil is evil even by another name really.
Effects world gets plenty to light up the night with. It’s good stuff too, usually there’s a spot or two where I might point out things being not as good as others, but outside of a few dummies getting hucked around nothing in here really screams “we ran out of budget.” I will say some of it can be a bit grosser this time around - like the stuff around the turning into a bug - whereas other stuff can be a bit more subdued feeling - like a couple of folks getting killed by just getting stabbed. There also seams to be a much more subdued effect on the real world in this one - from levitating people and blood geysers of the first to this one where someone might literally get all the air sucked out of them in a dream only to just have a lethal asthma attack in the real space. It does still play with it some, it’s just not nearly as dramatic outside of the dreamscape.
Audio is mostly fine, although I found a bunch of deliveries to be overall kind of quiet - but again, this might be a Hulu thing as it does feel like it occurs a bunch there when watching stuff through the website. I don’t feel like I have it stand out to me as much when i watch things over in the movie space where it all runs through the projector-based apps though. Then again, maybe the audio balance is just kinda quiet a bunch of times. Deliveries are generally good although at times a bit corny or kind of time-locked. Nothing really took me out of it, but I also recognize that sometimes it might feel, i don’t know - ADR-y? Maybe after-dubbed is a decent way of describing what I’m thinking, maybe it isn’t. Rhymes that happen to be somewhat altered make their return, not just the main Freddy rhyme this time either. It’s a bit of a lyrical rap battle between sleeping giants if I wanted to pitch things in an overblown confusing sort of way. For the thinking folks, there’s a bunch. Thanks to the new lead, you get plenty of growth-based things that may and may not be apparent, like power of friendship and coming out of your shell. The classic believing in someone, good versus evil, and other reoccurring stuff is in here as well. The playing of the dreams into characters psyche probably also brings something to the discussion table for folks who like it.
The movie is a good sequel I would say. I would say that perhaps it’s a stronger version of three, but three also felt like it had a little bit more variety in it with it’s multi-layered plot threads and attempt to give more history to Kreuger. Effects wise, this one is knocking it out of the part, especially with the finale. I wouldn’t call the acting any worse than the rest of the franchise, although certainly better then some it. It’s a good flick, although of all the movies this one definitely benefits most from having seen the one before it - although it does do a little recap thing on Freddy, some folks might be real lost about the whole dream-pulling stuff at the start without realizing who any of those characters are, as opposed to the third movie where all you would really miss out on is any attachment to the first movies final girl since the movie explains out everything it has. Still another good romp in your nightmares, let’s see if next week’s will keep up the good dreams.