A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Following up the previous Nightmare film, dream demon Freddy Krueger is resurrected from his apparent demise, and rapidly tracks down and kills the remainder of the Elm Street kids. However, Kristen (who can draw others into her dreams) wills her special ability to her friend Alice. Alice soon realizes that Freddy is taking advantage of that unknown power to pull a new group of children into his foul domain.

Kenji rating: TBA
Kenji comments: Some more great cover art!

Gohda rating: 2/5
Gohda comments: Bad acting? Check.
Bad Fashion? Check.
Bad Freddy one-liners? Check.
Corny late 80s teenager dialogue? Check.
Fantastic poster artwork? Check.

This is pretty bad. The meatball pizza scene is also quite gross. This one probably marked a step up in the special effects for the series, but who cares.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Picking up where the original Nightmare left off, Nancy has grown up and become a psychiatrist specializing in dream therapy. She meets a group of children at a local hospital facing Freddy Krueger, the same demon she once encountered in her sleep. One of them is Kristen, who has the power to draw other people into her dreams. Working with a male doctor assigned to the case, Nancy helps the kids realize their special abilities within the nightmare world. When Freddy captures one of her charges, she leads a rescue attempt into Krueger's domain, in hopes of putting his spirit to rest once and for all.

Kenji rating: 3.5/5 - Freddy still gives a satisfying performance - it aint his fault the rest of the cast is fucking useless!
Kenji comments: Sliding down the slippery slope of crap-ness, this one isn't my favourite.. drenched in the 80s..

Gohda rating: 3.5/5
Gohda comments: It's going on a good year or more since i watched the Elm Street series at time of this post, but i remember this being the last good sequel, at least until Freddy vs Jason anyway. Patricia Arquette takes over from Nancy as lead female Freddy fighter for this one, which she promptly and wisely terminates at the start of part 4 for sake of retaining a career in acting. Actually i think that happens more than once or twice in the series, the 'survivor' from the previous film is murdered by Freddy at the start of the next one... anyway this one is OK as it now sets in stone Freddys dream world theme that runs its course for the duration of the remaining series, and contains the back story of Freddys conception, the rape of a nun by a mental patient - fucking awesome. I wonder how long it took them to come up with that.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

/17-year old Jesse Walsh and his family have moved into Nancy Thompson's old house on Elm Street. No sooner are they moved in than Jesse begins to have horrific nightmares - ones that feature a burned man in a dirty red & green sweater, with knives on the fingers of his right hand. His neighbor & new sweetheart, Lisa, discovers the truth behind Fred Krueger and his horrible murder spree. Freddy vows to take over Jesse's body to continue his vile crimes against the Elm Street residents. Soon, people close to Jesse start dying violently - his ex-Marine coach, one of his classmates, many others at a pool party Lisa throws. Will Lisa's love for Jesse be enough to help him overpower the demonic presence inside him?

Kenji rating: 4/5
Kenji comments: Not directed by Wes Craven! Only 4 stars because the movie runs 70mins (or so) and Freddy is on screen for less than 15mins! Although its worthy to note this sequel had great party death sequence. its also worth making a point of the excellent poster art. The original was far more impressive. They artwork goes downhill after this one.

Gohda rating: 4/5
Gohda comments: This is a strange one. If they'd never made another Elm Street movie after this, it wouldn't be so bad. The reason is, in this movie, we assume Freddy was killed in part 1, and the dead spirit/soul of Freddy is possessing the main character while he sleeps, and making him carry out quite appropriately themed murders upon his classmates (and homosexual teacher). Of course, this goes totally against the rest of the series, where Freddy actually kills the kids in their own dreams/dreamworld, whereas here Freddy possesses the sleeping kid and makes him 'sleep-kill' his friends in reality/the real world. Apart from that continuity issue (that is only caused by the rest of the series ignoring this possession theme) - this is the darkest, most evil of all the Elm Street movies, probably for lack of cheesy Freddy one-liners and bad puns, which makes it a favorite of mine, and on top of that, the brilliant poster artwork. And that party scene is absolutely brutal... i think Freddy achieves his highest kill per second ratio there.