Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: The last of the Elm Street kids are haunted by Freddy at a mental hospital and aided by Nancy and a doctor.
Review: Not only is this film a much more faithful continuation of the original than part two was, it is superior in virtually every regard. For me, this is probably the second best in the whole franchise nearly rivaling the original in quality and imagination. Instead of all the stupid nonsense that was going on in part two, this film goes back to Freddy trying to kill the children of the parent's who helped burn him; we discover these characters are in fact the last kids Freddy has left to kill. The finality is emphasized by the fact that Nancy has returned to help the kids fight Freddy by gaining better control of their dreams; it was definitely a bonus to bring back familiar characters. Although a bunch of the kids are forgettable fodder for Freddy, we do a get a sense of who the others are through their dream powers; I always liked the geeky kid, Will, with his Dungeons and Dragons wizard powers. This plot element changes things up a bit as we have more elaborate dream scenarios and more imaginative encounters with Freddy. In fact, Freddy is doing much more here with his dream abilities which is the best part to it all. They even make note that Freddy has become more powerful which is why he can do these things now; this attempt to explain away continuity errors garners extra points for me. The thing that is so great about this film is that they saw what one and two had done with the material and tried to take things to a new and higher level, think bigger, and get outside the box of what the audience's expectations would be. However, there are some flaws obviously. This was the beginning of the Freddy we all imagine as a wise-cracking joker giving the audience a one-liner before each kill; for some they prefer this incarnation of Freddy, but I still appreciate the original concept better. There are also quite a few contrivances, and, for better or worse, we learn more about Freddy's origin. Again, it breaks down to preference as I like Freddy just being an evil child molester rather than "the bastard son of a thousand maniacs." Overall, the dialogue is witty and memorable, the acting is mostly good, the effects were imaginative despite some flaws, the story provides a wonderful expansion on the mythos while never taking away from the original, and the ending is satisfying and could easily serve as absolute closure to the franchise if need be.
Notable Moment: When each of the kids reveal their dream power during therapy.
Final Rating: 7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment