a nightmare on elm street - part 6 : freddy's dead - the final nightmare (1991)

not only is this entry into the franchise so dire that its put me off of watching the rest of the elm street movies, but its actually put me off of watching the other two franchises i intended on taking on next, the "friday the 13th" series and "scream" trilogy.

what offends me the most is the lack of credit it gives its own backstory. i mean, how many times does the fucking character have to die before hes finally boody dead? its just sloppy, lazy and downright immoral filmmaking (immoral in the respect that its purely for financial gain, not in the cartoon violence on show). there is a point where rosanne barr and tom arnold inexplicebly show up too, surely a sign that things have gone too far.

so there we have it, im officially abandoning the project. its just too damn depressing, especially when you consider all of the great cinema out there.

a nightmare on elm street - part 5 : the dream child (1989)

the fifth film in the "elm street" series was released at the time when freddy krueger was a genuine pop culture icon, as shown by the inclusion of two absolutely freddy-starring music videos; one of which stars a group of overweight rappers (clad in stripes) faced with the enticing premise of spending the night in freddy's house (one of them is his nephew who stands to inherit the house - christ, i cant believe im explaining this in so much detail...). anyway the point of this explanation has more to do with the fact that it shows just how popular character freddy was at the time, and how this had a hugely negative effect on the film series. to take a horror character and actively promote him as a comedic or likeable character damages the credibility hugely. the second of the videos is another rap song (rap tie ins were de-rigeur towards the late eighties, when vanilla ice made it acceptable for middle class white kids to actively enjoy the genre).

to be fair to it, the fifth film does open with the first genuinely subversive moment in the entire series. and perhaps that is what the problem with the series is, theyre just so blatent and predictable and lazy.

a nightmare on elm street - part 4 : the dream master (1988)

perhaps a more apt subtitle would be "freddy becomes an obvious metaphor for aids", in what is basically a retread of the first film (girl discovers freddy, attempts to stop him killing her friends). one thing i will say, is that at least the camerawork is improving, with uber-hack renny harlin behind the camera. i also like the way that 80's fad aplenty, karate is shoehorned in, in as offensive and patronising a manner as i would expect. what i find most inexplicable about these films, is that despite the evidence proving otherwise, the authorities do nothing to at least attempt to control what is happening on and around elm street, despite the years and years of trouble.

to be fair to it, the last thirty minutes or so, in where one girl is transformed into a cockroach, much in the same manner as cronenbergs "the fly", and where the first genuinely disturbing death of freddy takes place are the highlight of thseries so far.

a nightmare on elm street - part 3 : dream warriors (1987)

woe is me, im quickly tiring of the task at hand.

the third in the "nightmare on elm street series" comes equiped with a bigger budget, more gruesome death sequences and an arquette (patricia). alas it lacks one thing above all else - dignity. while the effects are much better the soul of the original film seems lost. what really annoys me is that the subtitle; dream warriors, suggests that this entry into the series could have been what james cameron's ''aliens'' was to the original "alien", in the sense that i expected more. i wanted to see a group of "dream warriors" step into freddy's world and cause all manner of excitement, alas i was left with a more depressing "breakfast club"-band of ragtag misfits. theres also lots of patronising hugging and screeching idiots, its like a john hughes directed episode of scooby doo.

a nightmare on elm street - part 2 : freddy's revenge (1985)

part two of the franchise see's freddy krueger inhabiting the body of the teenage son belonging to the new family occupying 1428 elm street. with the exception of a genuinely disturbing opening nightmare, involving a schoolbus seeing the ground beneath it literally disappear, the film is fairly run of the mill in terms of the slasher genre. the brief running time meant that the film wasnt as arduous as its predecessor, but to be honest thats pretty much the only saving grace.

i really cannot wait to be through with the bloody (pun intended) slasher genre.

a nightmare on elm street (1984)

as a child i was always fascinated with the concept of fred krueger, the paedophile janitor and former resident of elm street. im not sure why exactly, but in retrospect thats a tad concerning. my upcoming masters in film theory dictates that i need to know the slasher genre thoroughly, and as i have very little knowledge of the genre, aside from a slight childhood obsession amounting to no more than a film poster on my bedroom wall and the overactive imagination of a ten year old, i decided to check out a few of the key titles. with that in mind i picked up the entire 7 film elm street series, with a view to check out the friday the 13th series and the scream series when finished.

having never sat through an entire "a nightmare on elm street" film in its entirety i entered the first film with the following preconception; the first film is genuinely good, while the rest are pretty awful. post-screening, and taking that in mind i am absolutely dreading the remainder of the series. while wes craven's film wasnt particularly bad it was just deathly dull. there was a point around half way through where i suddenly regretted the task of watching all seven films that i had undertaken. alas for the sake of my studies i will endeaver onwards.

despite climaxing with the most ridiculous ending to a film iv seen in a long time, taking the minute budget at hand into account the film really isnt that bad, especially when compared to the rest of the post-"halloween" slasher counterfitting that was going on at the time.