Number 4: Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5: The Dream Child
We’ve reached one of the more difficult parts of the countdown. There’s a strong argument that Part 4 could sit in this spot. The Dream Child is often seen toward the back end of the Nightmare series, and there are downsides to it — plenty of them.
Here’s my reasoning. Of the two movies where our Dream Master Alice defeats Freddy, this is the one that doesn’t dismantle the previous film in the first twenty minutes. Much like The Dream Master, it’s unmistakably 80s in tone and effects. But more importantly, it tries something different with the franchise this far in. Probably just a personal opinion, but I found the question of whether unborn babies dream interesting enough to carry the story.
We also build on some of the lore introduced in The Dream Warriors: Krueger being the son of a nun who was abused in an asylum. The doors were locked, the guards left for a few days — unlikely, yes, but it’s a ghost story. Amanda Krueger first appeared under the alias Sister Mary in Dream Warriors, and in The Dream Child she has powers to haunt and stop Freddy… at least until Part 6.
We get another round of very 80s deaths. A character is killed inside a comic book. But Freddy retains a darker edge not seen for a few films at this point. The Amanda Krueger ghost story and some more unsettling kills alongside it give the film a tone shift away from the “MTV Freddy,” though not completely.
It’s mixed. The latter half of Part 4 is probably stronger. But for me, the different premise and the change in tone just edge it over Part 5.
And now we’re heading into the top three — the films with the most involvement from series creator Wes Craven. The three that most people think of when they look back on A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Next time, we look at the film that took the whole saga and turned it on its head. An influential entry with DNA that runs through so much of modern horror. I’ll see you in the next one.