Tuesday, April 27, 2010
A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
This film represents the final part in a 3 part arc (3,4,5). Alice & Dan return from Part 4. There are three characters set up. You get Yvonne, a high diver who doesn't look the part. Mark, a comic book artist portrayed by an atrocious actor. And finally Greta. It plays up the dufus loser parents angle more than anything. Mark's dad is a fat slob and Greta's mom is a shallow high society snob.
Now let's get to the writing. This is the all exposition script. Newspaper clippings, Freddy's background and so much recap. You can do anything with the nightmare sequences and the fact that they chose to go with poor ones shows. Case in point, the demonic Freddy baby is used as a means to re-introduce Freddy to the world. Might as well just write the whole thing on a chalkboard at this point as so many scenes are straight up exposition. On top of that, a scene involving Mark and Alice bringing up abortion has no place in this movie. Do they realize once they do that, THEY will start having nightmares?
This film also features the most over the top kill of the series involving an incredible drawn out sequence between Dan, a truck and a motorcycle. Let's not forget a dozen one-liners. OK, now how can we make it dumber? Mark's dream sequence (a sequence that rips off the "Take On Me" music video) in which Freddy dons a superhero cape.
The makeup effects are incredibly sub standard. Case in point, Greta's death. Freddy stuffs her face with food and ends up make her face look like the Lady In the Radiator from Eraserhead. This sequel suffered the most edits from the MPAA and it shows.
In summary, this film suffers alot in having a good idea and not knowing what to do with it. In the realm of franchises, any sequel that ends with a 5 (Halloween, Friday the 13th, Star Trek, Saw) is bad news.
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