A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Director: Renny Harlin

Starring: Robert England, , Lisa Wilcox, Brooke Bundy

Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.

The Best in the industry (at the time) were responsible for the stunning special effects. The special and practical effects together with the incredible make-up never disappoints in this series.

Several characters from ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3’ including Kirsten, Joey and Kincaid return. Joey and Kincaid are once again portrayed by Rodney Eastman and Ken Sagoes, but Kirsten is now played by Tuesday Knight, and unfortunately she wasn’t as good as Patricia Arquette.

With Nancy gone and Kirsten not lasting very long, Alice (Lisa Wilcox) becomes the new heroin, having received Kirsten’s powers of bringing people into dreams. Alice has a dream-like presence, which works so well for the movie. She has a crush on hunky Dan (Danny Hassel). This film brings an end to the last of the Elm Street children, and having tricked Kirsten, Freddy now has new victims to torment.

The film blends humour and horror amazingly well, without the humour getting in the way of the action or suspense. Ha-ha, and there’s a dog named Jason in a Freddy movie!! Classic!

With ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master’ having nice characters, a good story, fantastic effects, and being atmospheric, this almost felt like it ought to have been the start of a franchise, and not the fourth film in a franchise. The effects are hands down the best since the original and some of the best yet for an 80’s horror movie in general. Made almost four decades ago, the effects are stillincredible. This was also the best in the series since the original. This was awesome!

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master’ was a big box office success, earning nearly $50 million on a budget of $6.5 million. Deservedly, it won an award for Best Special Effects. It also received nominations for Best Horror Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Young Actor in a Horror, and Best Young Actress in a Horror.

Would I watch it again? Yes, definitely.