A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master

Starring:Englund, Eastman, Hassel, Jones, K
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Description

Freddy returns to rid the world of more adolescents. Bigger effects made this sequel the most successful of the Nightmare series.

Customer Reviews:

My all time favorite one........2007-03-20

i love this one it is the best one i can watch it over and over again the only one thats better then this one is the original one.

really fun and an awesome transition.......2007-03-14

this film is really really cool the whole thing reeks of the late 80's vibe and the story is really engaging. the death scenes are awesome (as always) and freddy is still hilarious. also there's a dog that urinates fire. seriously homie, how is that not crucial braw?

ok so kristen is out of the mental institution and so are jimmy and kincaid. the threat of freddy is gone (or so it seems), and all is well with kristen she has new friends who are introduced in this movie (most importantly alice and her new boyfriend doug). but for some reason kristen is drawn to freddy's dream lair much to the dismay of joey and kincaid who are constantly being pulled into kristen's dreams because she is scared, and so it seems with good reason. that reason being freddy's back and hungry for more teenage souls (awwww poop). in this installment of the nightmare on elm street seriese the torch is passed, for kristen joey and kincaid all fall victim to freddy[totally destroying nightmare on elm street 3's legacy :*( ]. but not before kristen can pull her new friend alice into her dream, and give her the gift of being able to pull people into her dreams with a little added bonus. will alice be able to find a way to vanquish freddy once and for all?

this is my favorite in the series if not simply because it has the only good dramarama song on the soundtrack(i'll give you candy, give you diamonds, give you pills, i'll give you anything you want hundred dollar bills. you know you wanna sing along everytime you hear it) then because i wanted to be just like alice's big brother up until like a few weeks ago(he's such a macho hunk with awesome hair). there's kung fu, girls lifting weights and turning into bugs, and a nerdy girl with asthma that gets totally destroyed in the face(who doesn't wanted to see that?). it's got all the dialogue you thought was the bees knees when you where a kid, a killer soundtrack, and some pretty good special effects that still hold decently strong even today. for any fan of the series this is a must have because seriously this movie owns you when you buy not the other way around.

What is god doing in this nightmare?.......2007-02-15

This film brings little semantically. It is the direct sequel of the previous episode, with the same surviving characters who lead to a few new ones. The pattern is the same : Freddy kills a few teenagers and is finally stopped by one of them, a girl again. Yet this film is original in two ways. First its director is extremely experienced in that kind of frightening films. He is an expert in stringing together, one after another frightening elements and effects, and when fear is not used then it is grossness and we move to some level of disgust. Yet we are never terrorized, just horrified and disgusted. Why is that ? Because the audience targeted by the film bans the idea of terrorizing them. The film director doesn't want the film to be restricted. So the film is very careful not to show any unnecessary or just alluring flesh or skin. We are targeting teenagers, so please no sex. Yet in that line of extreme ability at interweaving frightening elements one into the other, the director reflects his time with a few elements that may be surprising for a 1988 film. The characters definitely smoke too much and quite very conspicuously, and yet this gesture of lighting a cigarette is systematically associated with a bad turn in the action. In 1988 we were starting to take measures against tobacco. This film is reflecting this anti-smoking discourse directed at teenagers. This element along with the sexless vision of these young people shows how the American society had changed within ten years and had become very puritanical, though it was going to go a lot further later on. This change, of course brought up by the director, is totally in phase with the second element I want to note here as a new development in the saga. It is the religious dimension of the film. The end takes place in a church. Freddy is destroyed by his own reflection in a piece of color stained glass from a broken color-stained window in that church. Freddy is destroyed by his own reflection and by the rebellion of the souls he had captured and he was holding prisoners in his own body. They tear him apart and finally rip his jaw off and so open the evading door they need to escape. And they do and go directly into heaven. This religious theme is in many ways surprising, and yet not so much. The American society in this 1988 period is slowly moving towards some kind of self-resourcing in christianity. The Christians born again were starting to call in the wings, and even to walk in the streets. That was the end of Reagan's presidency and the beginning of George Bush Sr's four years. The theme of religious purity was obviously growing, to the point of using a horror film as the medium to bring the message to teenagers. We then understand why they avoided any theme, element or detail that could have restricted the audience in the name of the protection against sex or even violence that is curbed to a symbolical minimum in this episode.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Deserves 2 1/2 stars really.......2006-12-28

Kristian Parker (Tuesday Knight, replaceing Patricia Arquette) is dreaming about Freddy, even though other survivers from Westin Hills warn her to try to forget him. Finally Freddy dose manage to return from the dead (again) and finish off the last of the Elm Street Children, in rather quick order. Now it is up to shy Alice to stand up against Freddy, the Dream Master, and stop his latest (and most pointless) reign of terror.

This is the point in the series when things went wrong, and most fans agree. I saw how 'Elm Street 4' was hampered by a diretor and writers strike at the time, and it shows in a silly plot that makes little since (Freddy resurrected by flaming dog urin?). I will give it this though, Renny Harlin ("Cliffhanger" and "Die Hard 2") did as good a job as I think could have been done. At least visually looks like something, even if it is a neon light music video set; Freddy's boiler room looks like a Disney Land ride! The actors are just there, and not really very interesting. The exception is Lisa Wilcox's Alice, the real Dream Master as it turns out. Wilcox really brought a fresh faced innocents and toughness that was believable, much like Heather Langenkamp did in the original. Then there is Freddy. Robert Englund plays his once feared boogyman like Bozo the Clown. His jokes, puns and one liners killed me, and not in a good way. The special effects were OK, even of they were not logical to the over all plot (again, citing the dog peeing).

I guess it's worth seeing for completeness sake, just remember it's one of those 'it's so bad it's good' movie. Wes Craven was probably crying all the way to the bank with this one.

It might be called THE DREAM MASTER but it's far from MASTERING it's own problems........2006-11-03

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4 - THE DREAM MASTER is the most popular in the series. Sure, the first one will always be thought of as a "classic" but THE DREAM MASTER still holds it's own in the opinions of the fans. Coming out during a time when MTV was popular and the teenage Slasher scene was just hitting it's peak, Nightmare On Elm Street 4 is a prime example of how Horror movies were done in the 80's. Bright sets with neon colors everywhere, popular clothing (at the time) being acid wash jeans and Bon Jovi hair styles. All of this is quite enjoyable for the whole "retro" factor and in some Horror movie cases, actually add's to the brooding atmosphere of doom. Any Horror fan (especially those of the 1980's) will tell you that retro factor can only hold up a movie so far. Eventually you need something else to make it enjoyable. Personally speaking, I enjoy 1980's Horror movies for alot of reasons. The retro factor is of course there but I also look for other things to make a Horror movie truely great. First and most of all, the story has to be well written. This detail might not matter to most people (especially gore hounds and slasher fans) but for me, it matters the most. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy a pointless "slash 'em up" flick just like any other fan of the scene. I just hold the story side of a Horror movie higher on my list of enjoyable elements than others. Another thing I look for in a Horror movie is the fear and gore factor. I like it when a Horror movie can make you feel a primal emotion such as terror. Such classic movies as THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACARE and DAY OF THE DEAD are really good examples of what I'm talking about. Well told stories and nicely crafted scenes of hardcore terror.

Now that I've said my bit about the 1980's Horror scene as a whole, lets talk a bit about NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4 - THE DREAM MASTER. When I was a little kid in the 80's, nobody scared me more than Freddy Krueger! He was the master of pure terror because of his dark nature and wicked style of grim humor. Freddy wasn't above making a wise crack right after doing the dark deed of killing a random teenager. Freddy is a horrible dream demon that haunts your nightmares like a ghost and then sucks out your soul. His burnt skin and rusty razor claws are truely the work of a mad man. Without a doubt, Freddy Krueger is the king of the 1980's Horror scene. He ranks up there with such classics as the Friday the 13th and Halloween series. Still, with all this priase twords Freddy we haven't talked too much about THE DREAM MASTER as a movie. There is a simple reason behind that, it's just not a great (let alone best in the series) movie. The main problem I have with Nightmare part 4 is the lack of details. Normally, Freddy Krueger is a psychopath full of rich story telling (it's no Shakespeare) and interesting plot turns. That isn't the case with THR DREAM MASTER. The movie starts off a couple of months after the terror that happend in the third sequal. Actually we can only guess because the movie never really tells us that small detail. Anyways, to make long movie short Freddy comes back from the grave without any real logic or reason behind it. In a dream a dog takes a pee on his grave and suddenly *POOF!* Freddy's back! It dosn't make sense and if you ask me, it's a cheap excuse to get him killing again. After THE DREAM MASTER, they made a fifth sequal (THE DREAM CHILD) which has a much better reason for Freddy to come back. I'm not sure why they decided to rush the forth sequal considering the fifth one has a logical reason for Freddy's return. Anyways, most of the Horror is spent in a Highschool which also takes something away from the dark emotions of the past sequals. We're treated to scenes of teenagers hanging out and wearing bad clothing. Like I said before, normally this isn't a problem but with the lack of details and story it really takes the movie down over all.

By no means is NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4 - THE DREAM MASTER a bad Horror movie. I've seen much worse in my time and compared to those, Nightmare part 4 actually does seem like Shakespeare! It's not the worst Horror movie, yet it isn't the best. That being said, you could easily skip the forth sequal and it wouldn't take anything away from the whole series over all. Personally speaking, I'm a huge Horror fan and I collect movies as a hobbie. I enjoy THE DREAM MASTER for what it is, dispite some small probelms here and there in terms of plot. THE DREAM MASTER however does have wonderful special effects (especially the ending) and Freddy himself is enjoyable as usual. The cast of teenagers are attractive enough and in some cases, they can actually act! It just makes you wish the film director would have thought of a better idea behind the story. Freddy Krueger is still the best Horror movie slasher of my time and his series will always be #1 in my book! If your new to the world of Freddy, start with the first movie. Although I normally don't suggest the first Horror movie of a series (sometimes sequals can be good, I don't want people to think the first is always the best), I think it's important for people to see where he started and how he's changed over the years. The Nightmare On Elm Street series is one of the best things from the Horror scene. Pearsonally speaking, the forth movie is the worst of the series. My favorite would have to be the third sequal.

I can only suggest THE DREAM MASTER for gore hounds and special effect junkies. Everyone else, start with part one and move on from there.

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