I love horror movies, and I feel
bad that there isn't much of a horror contingent representin' here on
my site. I find it difficult to write horror reviews - especially for
movies that I really like. You'd like to make the review entertaining
to try and entice the reader to go watch it, but you don't want to give
away who lives or dies, and sometimes that's integral to the plot.
Nightmare on Elm St 4 is definitely one of my favourites from the
series so I'm going to try and attempt this review. Just a warning
though, there will be slight spoilers. It's totally unavoidable. If you
haven't seen it and you are reading this, get the hell off the internet
and go rent/buy it. Right now. Stop reading! Go on! Shoo!
 Okay,
so I'm gathering that anyone still with me by this point has seen
the movie and doesn't mind if I discuss who bites the big one before
the end of the film. Lets begin.
This wonderful Freddy instalment (directed by Renny Harlin, best known
to me for being that guy married to Geena Davis) is known to Freddy
fans as Nightmare on Elm St filmed for MTV. Made in 1987, it certainly
stamps itself down as a teen flick as opposed to the horror flick that
the earlier movies (I am referring to 1 and 3) were. Tuesday Knight
(Kristen, replacing Patricia Arquette) sings the very catchy opening
track and we are instantly thrown into one of her nightmares. She seems
to sense that Freddy has returned even though his house (Nancy's house)
is empty and the boilers are cold. Kristen still has the talent to
bring anyone into her dreams and Joey and Kincaid don't seem too
thrilled when she keeps dragging them back to the boiler room and out
of their own dreams. But when Kincaids dog Jason bites Kristen in their
dream, and she wakes up bleeding, she knows it's about to start all
over again.
 Joey
and Kincaid don't seem convinced when they see Kristen at school
the next day, and even Kristen's boyfriend Rick thinks she's gone a
little crazy with all this Freddy stuff. Only Rick's sister Alice seems
to take Kristen seriously. Around this time we're introduced to other
characters (or fodder if you will) in typical 80's movie quick fire
fashion. Along with the three remaining Dream Warriors Kristen, Kincaid
& Joey, we have Kristen's boyfriend Rick who is somewhat of a
martial arts expert, his sister Alice who is a quiet and shy
daydreamer, tough chick Debbie who hates bugs and spends her life
working out, smart geek Sheila who believes that the best philosophy in
life is mind over matter and hunky jock Dan who doesn't really have a
quirk, but Alice seems to like him a whole lot. Did you get all that?
 That night, instead of going to his usual
dreamland, Kincaid finds
himself in the junkyard where Nancy's father buried Freddy in the
previous instalment. A bit of digging from Kincaid's dog and a blazing
pee, yes a blazing pee, and Freddy re-emerges to exact revenge on those
who sent him back to hell. After disposing of Kincaid rather easily, he
goes after Joey. Kristen freaks out when they aren't in class the next
morning and with good reason. Her fears are confirmed when later that
day she finds out that the pair did both die the night before. Kristen
knows she is left defenceless against Freddy and has to face him alone.
When her idiot mother drugs her with sleeping pills, she knows that she
won't be waking up again.
When Kristen finally meets Freddy he tries to convince her to bring in
more people so he can get to the new kids. She tries in vain not to,
but accidentally brings in Alice. When Kristen inevitably dies she
passes her gift on to Alice, saying she will need it to beat Freddy.
Alice wakes up knowing Kristen is dead, and tries to make it to her
house with her brother, but it is already too late.
Alice is left with a gift she doesn't know how to control and the
burden of giving her friends to Freddy. As the people she knows die
around her, she takes on an aspect of their personality or skill - and
she will need all of them to beat Freddy and make it out of the
nightmare alive.
 Alice
is an extremely likable character and I think that's part of why
this film was so successful. Freddy purists love to bag it, but it was
the franchises most financially successful Nightmare on Elm Street film
(not counting Freddy vs. Jason) grossing $49 million in the US. Tuesday
is great at Kristen, although a very different Kristen to Patricia
Arquette. Where Arquette's Kristen was more innocent, soft spoken and
frightened, Knight's portrayal was definitely more hardened, tough and
cynical. Quite understandable considering what her character had been
through.
It was disappointing to see the Dream Warriors die so quickly and
easily. They fought so hard in the last film, and seemed to die without
much effort at all from Freddy in this film. I know it was somewhat
essential for the development of Alice and the rest of the story, but I
just think they should have stuck around longer and gone out more
spectacularly.
Freddy himself takes a more comical turn in this movie, busting out the
one-liners and generally seeming to enjoy killing these kids rather
than just being pure evil. I honestly like *both* Freddy's and I think
he was just fine until it got to the point in part six that he never
actually killed anyone with his glove. A tad absurd. I wasn't a fan of
them stopping the visible wounds from Freddy either (I'd assume to get
a lower rating). I still think Tina is the greatest death ever.
Overall, I think this is a great movie, so don't be afraid to love it
and rate it as one of your faves.
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Year: 1988
