A Nightmare On Elm Street 6: Freddy's Dead (1991)

By the time Freddy's Dead was released some seven years after the first venture down Elm Street, it truly is amazing to see how things have changed in Kruegerland through the years. You take a truly scary, original film and after several years of slick marketing and entering the series into mainstream pop culture, you end up with a laughable, embarrassing mess such as this, the supposed "grand finale" to the Nightmare On Elm Street films. However, as bad as the end product really is, and it really is bad, to it's credit, Freddy's Dead does have a unique feel to it, much different than the previous entries, and I think they really tried to be original with the story and give Freddy a decent send off. Too bad all the best intentions in the world don't mean squat, and the movie speaks for itself. It says, "I tried really hard guys, you know, to do something different, but jeez...I guess I fucking suck, huh?" Yes. Yes you do.

Essentially abandoning all the previous story lines in the series, Freddy's Dead finds Freddy fat and sassy and reigning King of Springwood. He's apparently slaughtered every possible teenager in town, yet he's faced with a bit of a dilemma. Due to some "rules" in dreamland, Krueger can't leave Springwood, and what's a dream demon to do if he can't do what he does best? So, Freddy sends the last remaining teen (his son?) out to fetch some more meat to bring back to Springwood. After arriving at a halfway house for teens (how convenient) our little runaway, now suffering from amnesia, brings back more teens and adult councilor Maggie (his daughter?), who seems mysteriously to be having the same dreams as our possible Son of Freddy. You can figure out the rest, right?

From the films opening dream sequence, in which Freddy proclaims during a "Wizard of Oz" dream/parody that "I'll get you my pretty, and your little soul to!", you'll see that any attempt to maintain the darker vibe of part 5's Dream Child is thrown right out the window. Freddy is played essentially for laughs and my is it ever wearing thin by now. While Robert Englund still seems to be enjoying the role and does what he can, it's really not his fault the character is played out at this point. When you have Freddy controlling a character in the film via a Nintendo power glove as his victim bops around like Mario you know things have gotten pretty bad. Oh, and Freddy's make-up looks like complete shit here...easily the worst of the series in that department.

However, amidst all the really dumb shit on display, from the crap ass "acting" and the even crappier "story", Freddy's Dead does have one positive going for it. The film's dream sequence's, though played mostly for laughs, are all very well done and elaborate as all get out. They sometimes went a little over the top (the "Nintendo" scene) but for the most part were fun to watch...to a point. The special effects are, as usual, fairly good though the 3-D stuff at the end was pretty weak and seemed like a desperate attempt to sell tickets at the box office, especially after part five's disappointing haul in that department.

However, I think the aspect that really bugged me the most about Freddy's Dead was the "re-interpreting" of the series previous concepts. The idea of Freddy having a kid just seems lame, and, even worse, the concept that Freddy was actually married at some point while being some sort of closet serial killer just never really worked for me. They even show Freddy getting burned alive in his fucking house, not the boiler room...changes like that I just can't go for my friends. The big end sequence is also a let down, and as for the idea of pulling Freddy into reality to kill him...didn't they do that in part one? Jeez...at least put an effort into it, you know? In summary a disappointing end to a true horror icon. I guess at this point this was the best they could do, which is all the more reason to end things here.