swannyswan Reviews

New Nightmare (1994)

WOW!!!

[7 May 2003]

this is an amazing film, saves the nightmare series, truly original and pays homage to the original, realistically scary and fantasy wonderfully woven together, no wonder it won awards. saw this in the theater and jumped, freddy, or the evil that has taken the persona of freddy, is freaky, i mean freaky... great plot, wonderfully acted, returning cast members - such an amazing idea, an evil took a liking to freddy, and when the films stop the evil tries to escape through his embodiment, without doubt the best sequel, if you can even call it that, and on par with the original... i really cannot not say enough good about this film.

like the exoricist III it comes in to wipe away the shame of the middle by the original creator... only thing keeping it from being a 10 is that it is based on another idea, but dang is it good...

series rating 9.5/10

fantasy/horror rating 9/10

SEE THIS FILM (and the original)

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Guilty Pleasure

[7 May 2003]

freddy's dead, jason goes to hell, mikey gets a razor in his candy?

this is the ultimate WTF? film. the beginning alone, with the map, and the computer stuff across the country, WTF?!? no returning characters, WTF? freddy riding a broomstick from wizard of oz, WTF?

some redeeming qualities: i don't like to know too much in horror stories, it's part of what makes them spooky, we learn too much of freddy here, though the flashbacks are well done, like the razor/pain thing

freddy has a daughter and that's why he went nuts, but we haven't heard of it until now, WTF? tom and rosey, WTF? that town is supposed to be where the last 5 films took place? WTF? demon ghost skulls? WTF? 3D (and i still have my 3D glasses from the theater), WTF? cheap excuses to amaze us in 3D??? WTF???

but... alas, it is fun to watch, and ultimately degrades the original and cheapens the franchise, but it is entertaining, a true guilty pleasure flick... though, why does it kill him here and not when nancy does it???

series rating: 2/10 guilty pleasure rating: 7/10

A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)

BETTER

[7 May 2003]

dream child is better than dream master, at least this film has a dark tone to it, the freddy mythology is back into play, however, it flies against series establishments, what we learn of amanda in part III, the local, but hey, it is darker than 4, which is good, i am more afraid of freddy in this one than the previous, but yeah i laugh at him a lot too. the film tries to have a plot, which it doesn't completely fail at, super freddy is more gay than anything thrown at us in the 2nd, for the "2nd half" of the series the strongest entry, opening rocks - opening with alice, very nice... the thing in the tower with amanda is freaky, very dark, nicely shot and lit, well acted, as always can't hold a candle to the original or new nightmare, but fun, and kinda freaky

series rating 6/10

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

QUICK, FREDDY IS AFTER JAMIE LLOYD!!!

[6 May 2003]

oh wait, like halloween 4 this film finds the weakest thread to continue the series with a flat and slow paced plot.

if it were not for freddy's dead this would be the low point in the series, however, freddy's dead is entertaining, dream master isn't a lot of the time - do not get me wrong, it isn't a crime against humanity that this film was made, but it is obviously a "lets recreate the series so we make more money" film.

i have few major problems with sequels, when they throw all the previous films aside (halloween 3), change lead characters (nightmare 4), and/or do not respect series establishments (the myers house in halloween 4-6)... in this light nightmare 4 only violates one of these standards, and overall i can live with that

some good death scenes, freddy's is one of the series best, weak on the mythology of the series (i know the "gate keeper" thing, but nothing personal to the characters) basically a transition entry to set up more films to make more money, and you feel it.. and, like the halloween series, 5 is better than 4

for the series 4/10, it is entertaining, however an insult to the original

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

EH, FUN!

[6 May 2003]

not a bad flick, as a pre-teen my fave, grown up, still fun. freddy takes on his comic character a little here, the film is a little too "comic-book", but still has a little of the dark edge of the the first two... designed to end the series in a flashy "hollywood" way and is successful in that... brings back nancy, with a surprise ending, good effects for 1987, i suppose (c'mon, star wars was 10 years earlier)and nacy's father, explains freddy a little, as much, if not more, than we needed to know, but again in a design to end to series, very good. the first two have a dark reality to them that makes them scary, that is painfully missing from films 4-6, but like i said, at least it maintains it's dark edge... for the series an 8/10 - you can't beat the brutality of the "suprise" near the end, fall offs are the happy "let's go get 'em gang" of the group and the wizard, if you're 12 it's awesome...

of course, 1 is the best with new nightmare on it's heels

"welcome to prime time..."

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

like FREDDY'S DEAD is any better

[6 May 2003]

c'mon people! at least freddy is, without question, scary and evil in this film that tries to be slightly original and remain true to the spirit of the original. this was the first nightmare film i saw at age 8 when it was new to video, scared the bejesus out of me, hooked me on the series, naturally the original and new nightmare rule the series, but 2 is decent, different, scary freddy... part 3 ain't bad, scary/funny freddy... the homo thing? didn't catch on to that as a kid, but yeah, i see it now, always equated it to jesse going crazy as freddy takes him over... let us not fool ourselves, their all entertaining, but at least this one is still scary without totally relying on eye-candy it could've been worse, like exorcist II

i'll give this a 7.5 out of 10 for the series, not films or horror films over all, but for the nightmare series...

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

ONE OF THE GREAT AMERICAN HORROR FILMS!

[6 May 2003]

up-front, 10/10,, creepy, scary, at the age of 24 still have trouble watching it alone in the dark (like the original halloween)...

i don't know how anybody couldn't have some kind of understanding of the nightmare series, so i won't waste my time or yours, but this is the first, and it's brilliance is in the simplicity, what the later sequels lack and the only one to recapture is new nightmare (amazing wes craven did both, Hmmmm)... truly creepy, holds up against the test of time. IMO better special effects than 3-6... if you like scary movies see this and new nightmare, if you like freddy see 1-3 (a trilogy unto itself, and new nightmare