Wednesday, October 31, 2012

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors


Description from Netflix:
It's been many years since Freddy Kruger's first victim, Nancy, came face-to-face with Freddy and his sadistic, evil ways.  Now, Nancy's all grown up; she's put her frightening nightmares behind her and is helping teens cope with their dreams.  Too bad Freddy's decided to herald his return by invading the kids' dreams and scaring them into committing suicide.

Notable actors: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne, John Saxon

My thoughts:
This is where is starts to get cheesy.  Not full-fledged.  Not yet.  It goes full-fledged in the next film.  This isn't necessarily scary, but there are some good scenes in here.  The first dream sequence, in particular, is one of the better scenes in the series.


I also really like the idea that the kids can be whatever they want in their dreams.  Super powers, so to speak.  Sure, they're not great, but this is the first time where the kids realize they also have power in dreams, and try to use that against Freddy.
Of course, he also uses his powers against them.  And he knows what he's doing a little more than they do.


We also find out a little more about Freddy's backstory from a mysterious nun.

They don't really explain how he came back in this movie.  It seemed like they had finally put him to rest for good at the end of the second movie, and they make no attempt to explain how he's back in the world of dreams.  Part 2 came out in 1985, and this one came out in 1987.  Maybe they thought the audience wouldn't remember (or wouldn't care) how the last one ended.


The link between movies works fairly well: all the kids in this movie are "the last of the Elm Street kids".  That connection grows a bit more tenuous in the next movie, but there's still a strong connection here.


Overall, I really like this one.  The series is starting to go in a different direction, but that's okay.  The skeleton fight-scene at the end was a bit dated (to say the least), but it's still an enjoyable movie.

Rating: 4/5

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