Welcome back to The Elm Street Retrospective. Much like Freddy after Dream Warriors, Springwood has gone eerily quiet. It's a time of peace as the boiler has finally run cold. The children can rest easy once again, right? After the massive success of Dream Warriors, it only made sense for New Line to deliver another film. This was the point where New Line saw exactly what they had - a massive cash cow.
For me, I don't know how to feel about Dream Master. I grew up watching the hell out of it. Every chance I got, I would rent it from the local video store. I miss video stores. There are tons of fond memories I have of going and perusing the shelves. They would have a deal where you could rent 10 movies for 10 days for $1. I would always find a way of finding some films that I had never seen before or since. And almost an essential piece of that random movie marathon would be Dream Master. This was the installment that just clicked for me.
It also brought us a more interesting take on Freddy as the humor was ramped up to 11. Renny Harlin knew what he was doing with this installment. New Line were very keen on letting him make this distinctly his idea of an Elm Street movie as well. This is an Elm Street that is a blockbuster popcorn film. It's meant to be a fun ride. It definitely doesn't take itself too seriously as well. This is the wisecracker that we've all come to associate with Freddy Krueger. Robert Englund delivers an outstanding performance.
With this viewing, Dream Master felt a little different. I mean yeah, it's the summer blockbuster of the Elm Street series. That's something that is extremely unique with this series. Each installment is different from the previous installment. Yeah, there's a thing or two that may cross over into the next installment. But the tones of each of them are vastly different. The installments after this one definitely are not of the blockbuster variety. So the Dream Master stands alone.
Alright, first thing I want to say is that with this installment - it kind of puts the character of Nancy in a bad spot. I mean at the end of Dream Warriors, she sacrificed herself so that Joey, Kristen, and Kincaid could survive. But with the revival via dog piss of Kincaid's Jason, Freddy is brought back. This definitely made that sacrifice feel a bit hollow, especially as those three characters are quickly tossed aside. Now, it was a bit of a bold move of handling it that way. I understand that Patricia Arquette didn't want to return and that there was some disputes behind the scenes that led to that. For those that enjoyed those characters, it feels a bit like a slap in the face. On the other hand, it feels like a play on the horror trope of the survivors of the previous film to die in the beginning of the next.
Something I really enjoy about Dream Master is how it expands on the lore. It quickly establishes that there's more going on in the dream world than just Freddy. It begins to slowly suggest that what we've seen is only a small fraction of what's actually going on. Especially as it establishes that there's two gatekeepers and that Freddy's one of them. It is a bit of an intriguing concept. Basically something that could have just been developed a bit further if they had chosen to do so. I mean yeah, technically they did with the Dream Demons later on. But that could have been so much more. Maybe it's time to revisit that in a reboot.
Outside of Kristen, Joey, and Kincaid, all of the newcomers are great. Lisa Wilcox is great as Alice. Her performance is incredibly layered and does feel a bit like a throwback to Nancy. Each and every one of them are a bit sterotypical besides Alice. But they are believable and do well with what they were given. I do wish that some of them would have survived besides Dan. Was it necessary for Shelia? I honestly don't think it was. Imagine if they had let her live, she'd be serving the same purpose that Yvonne ultimately did.
The kills are a bit more fantastical in this installment. Poor Rick, if only he hadn't fallen asleep in the bathroom. That was a small detail that I hadn't really grasped till this time. One of the bigger highlights being the roach hotel segment. I mean look at the effects that were used. Pretty incredible. The makeup for Freddy continued to change as well and now we have more of a pepperoni pizza look to him. Interesting thing is how this seemed to become his more iconic look.
It's no surprise that this installment was a success as well. It's pretty easy to see why. This is a fun ride that you can turn your brain off to. There are some that may say it is a small retread. But the way I look at is it's the 'blockbuster' take on the original concept. It is the installment that I tend to return to the most as well.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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