Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: The Nightmare on Elm Street films are merely movies, but the actors are now coming face to face with Freddy clawing his way out of the films.
Review: This is an extremely bizarre movie and perhaps the most oddball entry in the Nightmare franchise. We have the return of Wes Craven, the director of the original Nightmare, returning to rectify the pitiful ending that was "Freddy's Dead." Instead of picking up where six left off, we are now in the "real world" where Freddy is fictional and the actors, crew, etc. are just themselves; for example, Robert Englund plays himself, and Nancy from parts 1 and 3 is Heather Langenkamp the actress. Having lots of cameos from the actors and crew that worked on the previous six films was a wonderful touch which is half the reason I rated this film as high as I did. There is a certain surreal aspect to the approach, but, for the most part, it works okay. However, this is far from any kind of documentary as we quickly learn Freddy is trying to escape the movies and come into the real world. Basically, Wes tells us that some kind of evil force has enjoyed living vicariously through the Freddy films, and now that the films have ended and it has spent so much time as Freddy, it is trying to break free while in the form of Freddy. Freddy's appearance has been changed to reflect a more demonic persona, but I don't think it was a good idea or works all that well. The vast majority of the thrills and chills come from Freddy warping reality and killing some people as Heather dreams. There are a lot of good ideas here and quite a bit of originality, but it just doesn't work out in the long run. There is an annoying storyline about Heather's son seeing Freddy and fighting him with his stupid stuffed doll, Rex; yeah, get used to Rex because you'll be hearing a lot with that fucking doll! I am still baffled by the inclusion of this plotline as it is beyond stupid. There's a deadend plot point with Heather being sent letters from a stalker; allegedly the babysitter was meant to be the stalker, but since that was left out, it is just left ambiguous and feels like padding. Most annoying of all is this whole Hansel and Gretel theme that really does not fit in with Freddy, and this connects to how they actually defeat him; they seriously lock him in an oven and he just blows up with shoddy effects! Why must Freddy always die in the dumbest way imaginable in this franchise?! In the end, I suppose this film will leave a better taste in your mouth than that sad excuse for a film, "Freddy's Dead," but it still doesn't bring any satisfaction or further closure to the first six films. Finally, this is it people. Nothing else Freddy related connects to the primary franchise as I hardly count "Freddy vs. Jason" as canon and obviously the remake is useless. What a miserable way to conclude such an iconic franchise.
Notable Moment: When Heather is on a talk show discussing Freddy and the Nightmare franchise.
Final Rating: 6/10
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