Review #49: A Nightmare on Elm St. 5: The Dream Child (1989)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Stephen Hopkins (Director): Predator 2 (1990), The Ghost & the Darkness (1996), Lost in Space (1998), The Reaping

Robert Englund (Freddy): Urban Legend

Lisa Wilcox (Alice Johnson): ANOES Pt 4

Danny Hassel (Dan Jordan): ANOES Pt 4

Nicholas Mele (Mr. Johnson): ANOES Pt 4

Kelly Jo Minter (Yvonne): Mask (1985), The Lost Boys (1987), House Party (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991)

Beth DePatie (Anne): Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, Tank Girl (1995)

Marnette Patterson (little girl): Sliver (1993), Starship Troopers 3 (2008), Charmed T.V. series (pictured right)

Trailer:




Plot:

What were they thinking? Freddy died last movie…right? No. Now who am I kidding? That's just a dumb question. ANOES 5: The Dream Child is just another way for Hollywood to reap the benefits from a legendary horror icon.

The last movie wrapped up with all of the children’s souls that Freddy had taken and consumed were finally released by the “Dream Master”...whatever that was. With no more souls, Freddy was left powerless and dead; no more fear to fuel his power. Okay, that "theory of death" didn’t last long because they found another way to bring Freddy back.

Alice returns (& boyfriend, Dan) to this movie...but she is pregnant. In a clever move, Freddy is able to use the dreams of the “sleeping” unborn child in Alice to reestablish his presence and regain his power.

Now remember...Alice still has the ability to “pull” people into her dreams so this makes it a little easier for Freddy to prey on them. Except somehow, she kind of…well not kind of…she lost all the abilities that her dead friends gave her in the last movie. She kept one, but lost the others...oh well...a little plot hole.

For the first third of the movie she is trying to figure out how Freddy has come back to life. Not that Freddy has dropped a few hints at her, but it takes her a while to figure it out that it is her unborn child being a "tool" to Freddy.

Just like all other “minor” returning and surviving cast members from the last film, Dan gets picked off by Freddy early on. Of course this puts Alice through an emotional roller coaster.

Once Alice learns of Freddy’s new “trick” to kill people, she becomes more vocal about the whole “Freddy thing” to the world. Many people just play it off as emotional distress from her boyfriend’s death. A couple of her friends believe her and others don’t. The one’s who do believe her end up dying…and the one who doesn’t lives. Go figure.

So how does Freddy “die” this time? That’s the only real question any more. Along the course of the movie, Alice/baby dreams and:

1. Amanda Krueger visits her during the dreams. She explains that her spirit prevents her from guarding Freddy’s victims…so “find my body and it will stop”.

2. A mysterious kid named…ready for this one Shark...Jacob, visits Alice during the dreams. Jacob ends up being the “futuristic” unborn child she is currently bearing. Freddy has been luring Jacob to the “darkside”, giving him some “powers” and strength of the “dream world”. Alice is unaware of what’s going on with her baby.

With the help of Freddy's mom, Alice and her friend finds the remains of Freddy’s mommy’s. This frees the spirit and Jacob uses the “powers” Freddy’s been feeding him to kill Freddy. Freddy’s dead…yet again…for now.

Dream Sequence Time:

Approximately 43 minutes 48 seconds (Series total: 2 hr 41 minutes 43 seconds out of 424 minutes)

Freddy Puns:

24 (Running Total: 59)

Villain:

Freddy is resurrected again from the dead by a weak storyline. Freddy plays the role of “Darth Vader” as he tries to lure “Luke/Jacob” over to the dark side with power and greed. I think Star Wars played that angle better.

Most of the dialogue Freddy says are words that are appealing to someone with a mentality of a six grader. What was once a cool villain has turned out to be a fast-lipped talker. His kills are dumb and over the top disgusting…and match his puns. But he’s still Freddy.

Cast:

The Dream Child featured a few repeat customers from last movie...another reoccuring thing in horror movies with three plus sequels...and a bunch of “new” people that are disposable characters for Freddy to kill off. Right now, it’s pretty clear of the franchise’s formula: a couple returning folks…die early on…and kill a few new ones…and end with new batch of survivors for next film. They don’t even up the ante on hot chicks. What’s up with that?

The Alice character is the new Kristen...who was the new Nancy. Basically she's a third generation rip off of Nancy Thompson. It's funny how the copy of the copy isn't as sharp as the original.

SFX/Gore:

After the highest body count (6) in Part 4: The Dream Master, what should we expect in this one…perhaps a “higher” count? No. Less. Three. WTF? Do the directors of these movies not get the point? Not only are there less victims, the deaths become more disgustingly stupid and over the top. It seems like they spend the whole special effects budget on three deaths. And they aren’t that good. Let’s recap the deaths:

*** Spoilers Ahead ***
(Highlight to read)

The drunk driver death: Dan learns the hard way that Freddy’s back. While on his way to pick up Alice from work from the pool party, he doses off while driving. Freddy takes control of driving his truck and wrecks the truck. Oh big deal...but he’s not dead.

The film uses the “loop” sequence trick they came up with in Part 4 and Dan reappears leaving the pool party. This time Dan can’t find his truck keys and decides to hop on a motorcycle. A key is conveniently left in the ignition. Isn’t that the first sign of: DO NOT RIDE THIS BIKE? Not to mention the fact…you just STOLE A FUCKIN’ BIKE!

Back to Dan’s demise…Dan’s driving the bike down the road and it speeds up on it’s own. Wow...I didn’t see that one coming. Dan tries to slow the bike down, but wires and shit start coming out of the bike and attach themselves to Dan. The bike slowly turns into a motorized “Freddy” machine and transforms Dan into a metal monster. Bike crashes…Dan wakes up a last second to hit an on coming truck…truck explodes…Dan dies. Crash blamed on alcohol. DON'T DRINK & DRIVE!

The stuff your face death: The hot chick, Greta, is sitting at the dinner table with her mother and guests. Greta’s mom has been pressuring her into becoming a model. Stay thin and it will all work out...so we have that bulimic thing going on here.

Greta falls asleep at the dinner table and Freddy takes over from here. Freddy "locks" her into the chair like a child’s highchair. Freddy starts feeding Greta her own intestines until she can’t fit anything else in her mouth. She dies. Death blamed on choking. This picture isn't the same model...but who cares?

Comic book death: Greta’s wannabe geek boyfriend, Mark is a comic book artist. He’s created a comic book hero named, The Phantom Prowler. Yes, the Phantom Prowler. I'm just glad that George Lucas didn't call Episode I, The Phantom Prowler.

Mark eventually falls asleep while at the drawing table. He’s drawn into the dream world where he confronts Freddy. Only this time…Mark actually uses the powers of the dream world and he becomes The Phantom Prowler. The Phantom Prowler takes on Freddy and defeats him. The Phantom Prowler's awesome!

But we know that won’t last long as Freddy quickly comes back to life and turns into a super hero of his own…Super Freddy…and Super Freddy defeats the Phantom. Super Freddy starts slicin’ and dicin’ Mark and Mark turns into a paper doll comic book character. When Mark dies, the color “drains” out of the paper doll and leaks over the floor like blood. Death blamed on...the director.

TNA:

They had to ‘oft’ Joey last film which was bad news for TNA lovers. That little horn-ball is accountable for the only tit shots in the franchise...at least until Jason steps onto the big screen with Freddy.

Nightmare 5 continues the dumb tradition of no nudity in the film. The shower scene at the beginning of the movie teases us and gives us high hopes but it fails to deliver. We get to see an outline of breasts through the shower glass door, but no peeks at the flesh goodies themselves. If you're wondering there were four hot chicks (Shark Factor) and a pool-side party with bathing suits. Not the two piece skimpy suits that we love.

T.Gun's Take:

The Dream Child came up with another weird way to bring Freddy back to life and then an even bizarrer way to kill him. Personally I still like the dog pissing on his bones to bring him back (Part 4) and dragging him into the real world to kill him.

Outside of the rebirth and death things, The Dream Child produced the same “winning” formula as the other crappy sequels before it. The fourth, fifth and sixth installments of ANOES are really just a blur to me. One bleeds into the next.

One little side note that I would like to bring into the spotlight…the creepy bell ringing that plays during key parts of the movie…I swear is the same bell ringing that the Undertaker plays when he’s introduced to the audience. Dong! Dong!

This movie had a lot of bad ideas attached to it. For instance…Super Freddy vs. The Phantom Prowler. But to top them all, here’s a treat video for y’all…remember the Dancing Freddy Video

Dancing Freddy Video:


Amanda Krueger pops back up in the storyline to finally finish Freddy off. Not really...but just prolong the deaths for another movie. I did love how the past three movies has filled some of the history void of Freddy’s younger years and upbringing.

The movie does show the birth of Freddy in a re-enactment scene. It turns out that Freddy’s a mutant baby. WTF? Why? Why can’t killers just come out somewhat normal for once?

The Dream Child did have a nice tribute to Escher’s “Crazy Stairs” painting which it used in the ending dream world sequence. That was actually a little clever and tasteful.

While I’m watching this movie, I start to do some thinking about the time line. Alice and friends are graduating from high school. She’s made four new friends between last movie and this movie. In the previous movie, Alice was friends/classmates with Shiela, Debbie, dead brother Rick and Part 3 survivors Joey, Kincaid and Kristen. Kristen, Joey and Kincaid date back to Part 3 where Phil, Taryn, Jennifer and Will die.

What I'm getting at is...by my count…13 people from that senior class die over the three movies. Wow…that’s pretty harsh for a senior class.

Staying with those "magical" mathematical equations that relate to reality...Part 3 takes place six years after the events in Part 1. That’s is actually mentioned in the movie. If we take a year per movie…

6 yrs (between 1-3)

+ 1 yr (Part 4)

+ 1 yr (Part 5)

= 8 yrs total

Part 1 takes place in 1983, add eight years on and we have…1991. Remember that year for the next film...Freddy’s Dead.

Overall A Nightmare on Elm St. Pt 5: The Dream Child is a big waste of time if you have the maturity level beyond a 14 yr old. Despite all the crappiness it brought us, it did play pivital in the history of the Freddy character. So if you're intrigued with that story...or love the ANOES's, then check the flick out. Other than that...stay away.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened August 13, 1989 and made $22.1 million at the box office ($8.1 million opening weekend)
-Freddy’s Nursery Rhyme song changed from:

♫ 9...10...Never Sleep Again ♫

to

♫ 9…10…He’s Back Again ♫

-Film ends on Vincent Price’s “Thriller” laugh