A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Year: 1988
Director: Renny Harlin
Writer: Wes Craven, William Kotzwinkle, Brian Helgeland, Scott Pierce
Genre: Horror: Slasher

The Dream Master is one of apparently the last movie in the series that retains the number in the title. There's nothing wrong with them taking it out for future iterations, but I prefer it. Without numbers all these "dream" subtitles tend to blend together.

So, 4 starts off where 3 left off. At the end of 3 some kids were left alive and so here they are in this next movie alive and older. Despite Freddy being gone for a while Kristin keeps bringing her old team back into her dreams, much to their dismay. Of course, as soon as they begin to yell at her for it is when they probably need it the most. Freddy predictably comes back and gets straight to killing off the remaining kids.

Before Kristin dies, she gives her dream-pulling power to her friend Alice. The story from continues on into 5 and since I watched them together it's difficult for me to discern which cast of teens is from which movie. Regardless, what I do remember is this film was pretty cool. The moment Freddy put on sunglasses at a beach I busted out laughing. The kids feel like they die off a little too fast and in to large an amount, but the story is still extremely entertaining.

While this isn't the best one storywise, it is pretty intense with special effects. This movie seems when they started really going crazy with Freddy. Not only Freddy, but there are some horrible effects forced upon the teens. One girl has her body break apart as cockroach limbs spurt out. Another girl is forcefed by Freddy until her face is grotesquely swollen like a psychotic chipmunk. These might be from the 5th movie, but I'm thinking they happened here. The effects are still done very well and they're all very creative.

I wish more horror movies would capitalize on being silly and cool. I also wish they wouldn't try to force computer graphics on everything. I'm glad that sometimes movies rely on real effects these days, even if it's just a few.