117) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

"Every town has an Elm Street."

Director

Rachel Talalay

Cast

Robert Englund - Freddy Krueger

Lisa Zane - Maggie Burroughs / Katherine Krueger

Shon Greenblatt - John Doe

Yaphet Kotto - Doc

Breckin Meyer - Spencer Lewis

Ricky Dean Logan - Carlos Rodriguez

Lezlie Deane - Tracy Swan

The "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies are a favorite horror series of mine, more so than the "Friday the 13th", "Hellraiser", and "Child's Play" films. 

I mention those titles specifically because their respective monsters and maniacs are often lumped together in a sort of rogue's gallery along with Freddy Krueger - the knife-glove wielding "son of 100 maniacs" from the Nightmare series. 

The "Halloween" films - the first one especially - are a close second as far as favorites go. Honestly, I haven't seen all the movies in the "Halloween" franchise. At least I've seen the first one. That's the one that really matters. 

Freddy is who gave me nightmares in my youth - no pun intended. So, here I am including an Elm Street movie after poster 116 reviews before this.
So, why am I skipping to the sixth part of "A Nightmare on Elm Street?" Part of it is nostalgia. "Freddy's Dead" was the first horror movie I saw in a theater. I was 10-years old and somehow managed to talk my mom into letting me see this, despite its R rating. Part of it, too, is that part six is a far cry from what the Nightmare series begins with in part one, released in 1984.

I've seen all "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movies, including the 2003 crossover "Freddy vs. Jason" as well as the 2010 "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake. I also own them all except for the 2010 remake.
I think I can quickly summarize my opinions of all nine movies in the franchise.
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), directed by horror icon Wes Craven, is a true classic that stands out above other often mindless slasher flicks. With slasher movies depict dumb teenagers who make incoherent decisions when their life is on the line. In "A Nightmare on Elm Street" the antagonist, Freddy Krueger (aka the Springwood Slasher), goes after the children of Elm Street in Springwood, Ohio, within their dreams. He pursues these kids in retaliation against their parents who chased him down and killed him in vigilante justice. He especially squares off against the strong and fearless teenage heroine Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) in this first movie. She's the Laurie Strode type of character from the movie "Halloween."
"A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" (1985) is a mediocre sequel. It puts Freddy up against a new teenager named Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) whose family has moved into the house on Elm Street from the first film. While part two is a weaker film overall, the story line has just enough strength to be a memorable movie in the series. Freddy is still a menacing and terrifying presence on screen. And the film has memorable, freaky scenes. 
"A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (1987) brings Nancy Thompson (played again by Heather Langenkamp) back from part one. It has some of the most memorable and truly nightmarish scenes out of all the movies. It's easily one of the best sequels in the series. Plus, we get some backstory into Freddy Krueger.
The nearly ridiculous "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (1988) is where the series begins to get campy and fail. It brings the franchise to a childish level. And Freddy Krueger starts coming across as a comedian than a terrifying entity.

The truly ridiculous "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child," (1989) is a hot mess. It has all the characteristics of a mere cash grab. Freddy the child killer certainly appeals to kids by this point. Thankfully, writers decided to end it all (at the time) with part six. They didn't bother putting the title "A Nightmare on Elm Street 6" on the poster and ads. Instead, they just slapped on the words "Freddy's Dead" in blocky red letters to let all the world know they were done.

Wes Craven, who directed the first Nightmare movie and none of the others, returns to the Elm Street director's chair with the 1994 film "Wes Craven's New Nightmare." It's a unique and creative horror movie thrown in the midst of an established franchise. It exists outside of the films yet is still a part of things. And it portrays Freddy (though it's not really him) as the dark, menacing and deadly threat he's supposed to be. I personally see this movie as a giant middle finger to what the sequels turned Freddy into - namely a sadistic looney tune. 

Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger in
"Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare."

"Freddy vs. Jason" (2003) is a movie loaded with crap. It was produced just to deliver the fight that fans of both the Nightmare and "Friday the 13th" movies waited years for. And in that regard, the movie truly delivers. It's really the kind of popcorn horror flick that helps make the genre a good time. It holds a place among titles like "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman" (1943), "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (1962), "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" (1971), or "Alien vs. Predator" (2004). 
And the 2010 remake, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" with Jackie Earle Haley in the role of Freddy rather than Englund, is...well...the less said, the better. I may need to revisit that movie. I don't remember much about it other than hating it when I saw it at the time of its theatrical release. 

In "Freddy's Dead," which is set "ten years from now" (so 2001, I guess) it turns out there's one child left from Elm Street. Freddy killed all the others.

The film opens with Elm Street's last teenager (Shon Greenblatt) confronting Freddy Krueger in his nightmare. 

Freddy doesn't kill him though. Rather, wants to use the kid to find other children he can kill. 

The boy wakes up just outside Springwood with amnesia thanks to a head injury. 

Since he doesn't remember who he is nor where he came from, he's called John Doe. 

The police find him in an alley and take him to a shelter for wayward youth. 

The psychologist at the shelter, Dr. Maggie Burroughs (Lisa Zane) questions John but can't get any information out of him. 

He tells her about his dreams, which she consults the shelter's sleep specialist, Doc, (Yaphet Kotto) about in order to better understand the meaning behind these dreams. She also has a few nightmares of her own which Doc is helping her through. 

Three other teens - a stoner named Spencer (Breckin Lewis) who has father issues, a runaway named Carlos (Ricky Dean Logan) who, thanks to being physically abused by his mother, is deaf in one ear, and a tough girl named Tracy (Lezlie Deane) who was sexually abused by her late father - reside at the shelter. The three of them are secretly plotting to run away to California.

Meanwhile, among the possessions John Doe has on him is a newspaper clipping from Springwood. In the clipping there's a picture of a woman with a water tower in the background, which Maggie seems to recognize. 

She believes that a trip to Springwood will help with John Doe's amnesia. 

So, the two of them drive over to the town. After nearly wrecking the van when John has a hallucination, Maggie finds Carlos, Tracy, and Spencer hiding in the back. Their goal was to take the van and drive to California.

Maggie tells them to get back to the shelter while she and John Doe explore the town. However, the three teenagers can't seem to find their way out of Springwood.

So, they decide to crash at a random abandoned house in an abandoned neighborhood. When they walk inside, they're oblivious to the fact that the house is actually 1428 Elm Street - Nancy's old house from part one. 

As Carlos finds a bed to get some sleep, and Spencer smokes some weed on the sofa and gets high, Freddy crashes in on their dreams. 

Tracy almost falls victim to Freddy but survives.

Maggie and John Doe search their way through the childless town, looking for answers and running into several adults who have some sort of psychosis. After a while, John begins to think he's the son of Freddy Krueger. 

They find Tracy who's freaking out because she can't find Carlos or Spencer.

While Maggie and Tracy take John back to the shelter, he falls asleep in the van and is killed by Freddy. Just before doing so, Freddy tells John, "Do you think I'm your daddy? Wrong!"

John wakes up, and just before he dies, he tells Maggie that Freddy has a daughter, not a son. 

Dumbfounded, Maggie goes to her mom's place and finds out she was adopted. Uhh oh!

Her birth name turns out to be Katherine Krueger. Katherine became Maggie Burroughs when her biological father was arrested, and later murdered. 

When Tracy and Maggie get back to the shelter, no one else remembers Carlos or Spencer...except Doc. 

After Maggie finds out she's adopted, Freddy appears to her in a dream and tells her he got his revenge after they took her away from him when she was little. So, he took their children away. Now that the children of Elm Street are dead. he has his eyes set on the kids in the shelter.

"Time to start all over again" Freddy says. 

Lisa Zane as Maggie with Robert Englund.

Doc intentionally puts himself into a dream state to confront Freddy. When they meet in his dream, Freddy reveals that some dream demons made him who he now is. In dreams, he lives forever. Doc and Freddy begin fighting it out. In the scuffle, Doc manages to pull a piece of Freddy's sweater out the dream. 

For Doc, this is proof that Freddy can also be brought out of the dream world and into reality the same way.

So, Maggie decides she'll be the one who will enter Freddy's mind and pull him out. Doc has her use special 3-D glasses to enter Freddy's mind.

Now, it's just a matter of pulling Freddy out, and then killing him once and for all.

There are a few things that make "The Final Nightmare" stand out above the other movies. It has a cameo from Rosanne and Tom Arnold, who were married at the time. That was a conversation piece back then. 

Alice Cooper also has a cameo. And Iggy Pop sings the title song.

Freddy has a child, too. Initially, I imagined sequels stemming from that plot point alone.

We also get more back story on Freddy's past, way back to his childhood.

But above all, when the movie was playing in theaters, the last act of the film was in 3-D which was referred to as "Freddy vision." 

Movie goers were given paper 3-D glasses with the red and blue filters, when they purchased their tickets. The inclusion of Freddy vision is laughably written in, but definitely was a major selling point for the film. 

When Maggie goes into Freddy's mind, that's when she puts on her 3-D glasses (the cue for audiences to put on their flimsy glasses) which Doc gives her, and the scenes switch to typical 3-D style. This isn't included in home video/ DVD releases.

While horror franchises often kill off their monsters, the monsters always find a way back in a later film. With Freddy, he somehow has remained dead so far.

In the following stand-alone movie "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," Freddy is actually an ancient supernatural entity that's freed after the Nightmare series ended with part six. It takes the form of Freddy Krueger. 

Freddy does return in "Freddy vs. Jason" after being in Hell since his defeat. But he needed to return if he was to fight Jason Voorhees. The movie doesn't sell itself as an official sequel. 

He also has a brief cameo at the end of the 1993 slasher "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday." It's a clear setup to their clash which wouldn't happen until 10-years later.

And the 2010 remake is exactly that. A remake.

Still, where other slasher maniacs return after dying, Freddy has pretty much remained dead for the most part. There really hasn't been a "Nightmare on Elm Street 7." 

Long spans of time don't seem to stop the production of sequels these days. Even this far into the game, I'm sure Hollywood will find a way. Talks have gone around about Englund returning to the role at least one more time.  

Even as I write this, screenrant.com posted an article regarding producer and Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum thinking he can get Englund to play Krueger again. You can read that article here: Will Robert Englund Play Freddy Krueger Again? Jason Blum Responds (screenrant.com)

Considering what kind of character Freddy Krueger is by part six, compared to the nightmare inducing demon-like man he is in part one, surely movie goers back in 1991 hoped Freddy would stay dead as his ability to induce fear wass pretty much gone at this point. He's become...dare I say...likeable. 

What's unique about writing stories around Freddy Krueger is that, when it comes to dreams, there's a lot more room for creativity. Dreams are surreal and can often be odd. They're a mesh of reality. 

And when a movie puts a slasher killer in the middle of that, some crazy scenes can come about as is the case with a lot of these Elm Street movies. 

As far as part six goes, from beginning to end, it feels like a rush job to just kill off Freddy. 

A lot of the dialogue sounds scripted. A bunch of scenes come across as early takes. especially when reactions and emotions don't seem to fit the scenario. 

Characters seem to figure out Freddy's plans, motives, and powers rather quickly based on...I don't know. John Doe figures out Freddy Krueger rather quickly when he can't even remember his own name. Characters make their claims about what's happening only because the audience is in on what's happening. 

Maggie enters the dream world in "Freddy's Dead."

The back story changes a bit. In the preceding films, Freddy seeks retaliation against the parents who killed him through vigilante justice. Now, it's that plus the fact they took his young daughter away from him. 

"The Final Nightmare" feels like a quick dress rehearsal for a community theater. Emphasis on the word "quick."

This film seems like producers wanted to end it all as quickly as possible. The title might as well be, "Freddy's Dead: Let's Finish This ASAP so We Can Get Home Early." 

Afterall, by this point, the franchise had really run its course. RIP, Freddy.