What I Liked: The filmmakers pushed the visual look to another level. Dream Warriors started down this path of giving Freddy’s world a dirty and hyperbolic motif but here they made everything filthier and with greater distortion. There’s always wind blowing, it’s always storming outside, it’s always nighttime, there are lots of rags hanging from the ceiling and every single thing around you is decrepit. The grime is inescapable.
By far the best parts of the film are any scenes with
Freddy. This usually means the deaths
but there are a couple of times when he pops in just to say hi. Since the Dream Warriors version of
Freddy was an enormous hit they doubled down on that this time. His humor is amped up to the point where
almost every line out of his mouth is a joke.
I’m more ok with it in this because the rest of the picture matches better
with that type of attitude. The
production on these has become so over the top that I’m more open to the film
having a rowdy atmosphere.
Holy shit are the deaths creative. The nastiest and craziest has got to be when
Debbie (Brooke Theiss (Beverly Hills, 90210)) is bench pressing and
Freddy pushes down on the bar crushing her elbows. Awgh! That
would be horrible enough but then bug arms start growing out of her stumps, she
gets stuck to the gooey floor and transforms completely into a cockroach. Oh no, she’s trapped in a roach motel! Freddy finishes her off by crushing the bug
box in his hand causing roach juice to ooze out the end. Yuck! Not
only is the idea utterly fucking bonkers but the effects are amazing. I can’t help but think they may have been
inspired by Cronenberg’s The Fly with this one.
Kinda split on the copious amount of pop tunes on the
soundtrack. Doesn’t totally fit but I
sorta like the songs they chose.
What I Didn’t Like: The rules keep getting
fuzzier. Kristen from the previous
installment (now played by Tuesday Knight (The Fan) who also performs
the opening credits number) transfers her dream power to her new buddy Alice
(Lisa Wilcox (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures)). So now Alice can pull others into her dreams
(ironic how this ability is a major part of this film and not really used in
the previous one where it was introduced).
First of all, apparently you can transfer dream powers, like at
will? I think the person you’re pulling in
needs to be asleep as well but that’s not clear. So now that Alice has this power Freddy can
only kill those that Alice pulls into her dreams? This setup is confusing.
Overall Impressions: Growing up this is how I
remember a Nightmare picture looking and feeling. Grungy as fuck, exaggerated lighting and
Freddy handing out one liners with each intricate kill. This is definitely the most uneven film so
far though. The deaths are very
entertaining but the high school friends scenes are very mundane.
Look, the movie’s pretty stupid. I can’t deny that. The Dream Warriors version of Freddy
and his deathtraps were a huge hit so this is the logical path to take. But while Dream Warriors might be the
better picture overall I’d rather watch Dream Master most of the time. Take that for what you will.
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