As I discussed a few entries back, Wes Craven wrote the concept of Freddy haunting the real life cast and crew of a new Nightmare on Elm Street film for the third film, which was rejected, but reused for this. Craven wanted a return to the darker, more surreal tone of the first one, as opposed to the increasingly absurd sequels (given the last two, this was probably the best move.) Heather Langenkamp returns, this time as herself, since the film was set in the real world, and part of the plot was based on a stalker she had dealt with following the cancellation of her sitcom Just the Ten of Us (a spin-off of Growing Pains). Craven himself, Robert Englund (both in and out of make-up), John Saxon, producers Robert Shaye and Sara Riser, and several of the actors also make appearances as themselves. Craven used many of the props from the original, including Freddy's original wardrobe. Given that the 1994 Earthquake had happened during production, that was incorporated into the script with shots of damage still being repaired in the film itself. Released on October 14th, 1994 (ten years after the first one), it would gross $19 million on an $8 million budget, and received mostly positive reviews from critics. This would be the penultimate performance of Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger (with Freddy vs. Jason being the last, but I already reviewed that, so it's the last film we're covering with him as Freddy.), and Wes Craven's last point of involvement for the franchise before his death in 2015.
Heather Langenkamp is an actress who garnered attention as Nancy Thompson in the original Nightmare on Elm Street, and lives in Hollywood with her husband Chase Porter (David Newsom. Langenkamp's real husband apparently declined to appear) and son Dylan (Miko Hughes). She starts the film with a nightmare, where Freddy's (Robert Englund) glove attacks a couple of effect guys ( Matt Winston and Rob LaBelle), and has been dealing with a mysterious stalker who keeps quoting Freddy. Not helping matters is her child exhibiting strange behaviors, and dealing with a mysterious figure seemingly like Freddy, despite him never seeing any of the films. She is approached by producer Robert Shaye to star as Nancy in the new Nightmare film that Wes Craven is making (despite Freddy dying in the last one), which her husband (a special effects artist, much like Langenkamp's real husband David Leroy Anderson) has been working on. Sure enough, her husband is attacked by Freddy's glove and dies in a car crash. Afterwards, Dylan begins to becomes more and more unhinged, seemingly influenced by Krueger. Now, Heather must solve that, and why she seems to be having nightmares much reminsicent of the series that made her famous. And her co-star Robert Englund and director Wes Craven might hold the key to the whole mystery.
Some see the metanarrative of this as a precursor to Craven's later franchise Scream. I've never seen any of those films, but I thought it worked well in this film. It forgoes in-jokes and subtle references in favor of exploring what happens when reality and fiction begin to overlap, and the power of symbols and representation (in this case, a single fictional character). There's a fantastic scene where Wes Craven shows an unfinished script, and the dialogue is what the previous scene had stated. It really has starts to get that way as the walls of reality begin to crumble, and what is a dream or fiction and what is real feels tenuous. It helps that Freddy returns to being more of an ever-present menace that he was in the first scene, which makes some of these scenes truly terrifying, especially towards the end with him chasing people. Heather Langenkamp gives a great performance, probably my favorite of hers in the series in fact, where she seems naturalistic, but manages to retain a sense of terror, especially as her son is put into danger. While it may lack the elaborate dream sequences of the previous films, the more grounded, very gory dreams in this more than make up for it, especially when it get towards the end. The effects are some of the finest in this series.
I complained about the short length of the some of the earlier films, but this actually has the opposite problem. At 112 minutes, it is a bit too long. A lot of the first half of this film could be shortened or removed entirely, and the general jist of it would be the same. It does drag in some scenes because of this length issue. Also, I feel that Robert Englund as himself should've been in it more, or done a bit more in the scenes he was in. Also, a description of the Nightmare film that they were developing in film would've been interesting.
I think this is probably the best one of these after the first (with the third a close second), and whether you are a horror fan or not, it is an interesting exercise in metanarrative, having a fictional character slowly invade the real world and the people making the films. It is really fascinating the way it integrates both elements. It seems like a practice run for when Craven did his next big franchise Scream, which would come to define slashers for the next decade. I highly recommend it, (though watch the first for some context)
Like I said, I already did Freddy vs. Jason, and even watching this, I really have nothing to say about it. This will be the last of the original continuity we'll cover, and tomorrow, we'll skip ahead to the 2010 reboot.
Heather Langenkamp is an actress who garnered attention as Nancy Thompson in the original Nightmare on Elm Street, and lives in Hollywood with her husband Chase Porter (David Newsom. Langenkamp's real husband apparently declined to appear) and son Dylan (Miko Hughes). She starts the film with a nightmare, where Freddy's (Robert Englund) glove attacks a couple of effect guys ( Matt Winston and Rob LaBelle), and has been dealing with a mysterious stalker who keeps quoting Freddy. Not helping matters is her child exhibiting strange behaviors, and dealing with a mysterious figure seemingly like Freddy, despite him never seeing any of the films. She is approached by producer Robert Shaye to star as Nancy in the new Nightmare film that Wes Craven is making (despite Freddy dying in the last one), which her husband (a special effects artist, much like Langenkamp's real husband David Leroy Anderson) has been working on. Sure enough, her husband is attacked by Freddy's glove and dies in a car crash. Afterwards, Dylan begins to becomes more and more unhinged, seemingly influenced by Krueger. Now, Heather must solve that, and why she seems to be having nightmares much reminsicent of the series that made her famous. And her co-star Robert Englund and director Wes Craven might hold the key to the whole mystery.
Some see the metanarrative of this as a precursor to Craven's later franchise Scream. I've never seen any of those films, but I thought it worked well in this film. It forgoes in-jokes and subtle references in favor of exploring what happens when reality and fiction begin to overlap, and the power of symbols and representation (in this case, a single fictional character). There's a fantastic scene where Wes Craven shows an unfinished script, and the dialogue is what the previous scene had stated. It really has starts to get that way as the walls of reality begin to crumble, and what is a dream or fiction and what is real feels tenuous. It helps that Freddy returns to being more of an ever-present menace that he was in the first scene, which makes some of these scenes truly terrifying, especially towards the end with him chasing people. Heather Langenkamp gives a great performance, probably my favorite of hers in the series in fact, where she seems naturalistic, but manages to retain a sense of terror, especially as her son is put into danger. While it may lack the elaborate dream sequences of the previous films, the more grounded, very gory dreams in this more than make up for it, especially when it get towards the end. The effects are some of the finest in this series.
I complained about the short length of the some of the earlier films, but this actually has the opposite problem. At 112 minutes, it is a bit too long. A lot of the first half of this film could be shortened or removed entirely, and the general jist of it would be the same. It does drag in some scenes because of this length issue. Also, I feel that Robert Englund as himself should've been in it more, or done a bit more in the scenes he was in. Also, a description of the Nightmare film that they were developing in film would've been interesting.
I think this is probably the best one of these after the first (with the third a close second), and whether you are a horror fan or not, it is an interesting exercise in metanarrative, having a fictional character slowly invade the real world and the people making the films. It is really fascinating the way it integrates both elements. It seems like a practice run for when Craven did his next big franchise Scream, which would come to define slashers for the next decade. I highly recommend it, (though watch the first for some context)
Like I said, I already did Freddy vs. Jason, and even watching this, I really have nothing to say about it. This will be the last of the original continuity we'll cover, and tomorrow, we'll skip ahead to the 2010 reboot.
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