A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD (1989) ***
Dan (Danny Hassel) gets Alice (Lisa Wilcox) knocked up which allows Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) to return in the dreams of her unborn son. Freddy murders Dan as well as some of
Director Stephen (Predator 2)
The Dream Child has a much more adult approach, which is appropriate given the fact that the film revolves around the fears and anxieties surrounding an expectant mother. Even though
Englund’s Freddy as previously mentioned is a bit meaner in this one. I liked that. Even though he made some bad puns, he still had an undeniable sense of menace about him. Too bad his Freddy make-up is godawful. (He looks like a pudgy grandmother or something.)
Wilcox gives another great performance as
That said; there’s a lot in this movie that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Like Freddy’s rebirth. In the beginning, Freddy gets reborn after Alice dreams that his nun mother gets raped. (That’s right; we’ve got to deal with more Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs shit again.) No attempt is made to make the baby look anywhere near human. The baby looks utterly stupid and the greasy, bobble-headed Freddy Baby puppet is some of the worst effects in the entire series.
I could deal with that. The scene that got the biggest HUH?!?! from me though came during the part in the church when Freddy has almost fully grown to adult size. Freddy’s kinda just standing there and for some reason, there’s a giant explosion from a stained glass window that propels him forward. What the Hell was that about? Where did that explosion come from? You’d think that dream demon Freddy would be powerful enough to be reborn on his own accord and not have to worry about getting hit by random ass exploding windows. (The filmmakers were trying to say that birth can be unexpected and painful, I guess.) Then to top it all off, when Freddy says, “It’s a boy!”, one of his arms is all stretched out like Mr. Fantastic. What’s up with that?
Where’s the flaming dog piss when you need it?
The climax is a bit of a letdown too and isn’t a patch on the stellar conclusion to Part 4. The effects for Freddy’s demise also pale in comparison to the previous flick and the lame M.C. Esher chase in the end was ripped off big time from Labyrinth. The beginning and end may be weak; but The Dream Child still has enough cool shit in it to make it worthwhile.
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