"A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (8/10)

[Brock Landers]

The Third "Nightmare" - "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" A Brock Landers Overview…

All right…I'm going to try and forget "Freddy's Revenge" (Part 2 of the series). Aside from reinventing Freddy's make-up and giving him a more fun-loving spirit, part 2 was pretty much a wasted effort. But part 3 ("Dream Warriors") was written by four big names in genre films…Chuck Russell (who also directed), Frank Darabont (the man behind a slew of "Young Indy" episodes, "The Shawshank Redemption" & "The Green Mile"), Bruce Wagner (novelist, creator of "Wild Palms", and actor in "Savage" Steve Holland films), and of course, Wes Craven. They worked as two teams, with Wagner and Craven writing the first draft, and Russell and Darabont doing enough Round 2 tweaking to garner screen credit…

"Get ready for primetime, bitch!"…I mean, "Dream Warriors" is more a direct sequel to part 1, than it is a follow up to part 2. In fact, this film pretends the second one never existed. The story follows a group of teens locked up in a psychiatric hospital, who all experience the same nightmare. Or at least, they experience the same nightmare host…Freddy Krueger. The newest member into this group of teens is Kristen (Patricia Arquette), a young woman so afraid of sleep she eats spoonfuls of instant coffee with a Tab chaser. (Didn't they have NoDoz or Vivarin back then…I mean, damn…) Anyway, Kristen is sent to the hospital to undergo some tests, and it's there she meets her new friends. There's the street-tough/ex-drug addict girl, a smart-ass artist-type who sleepwalks, a fat actress wannabe, the standard "geek-confined-to-a-wheelchair" dude (a horror standard), a "tired-of-the-man" black kid and a preppy kid who can't or won't talk. The cast of characters is pretty cliched, covers all the bases, and you can pretty much pick out from the beginning who the "victims" are and who the "heroes" are. Thrown into this mix for good measure is Heather Langenkamp (Nancy from the original), who is now a psychologist specializing in dreams…go figure, I wonder what credentials she has? She doesn't know it in the beginning, but she is about to face Freddy one more time…

"Dream Warrior" kicks the "Nightmare" series up a level, and also goes back to the dream basis that "Freddy's Revenge" missed out on. In the kids' dreams, they each have different powers that they can use to fight Freddy. Their mission is to learn how to use them against evil, and even though sometimes the powers seem a bit far-fetched (ex: Joey's sonic voice…considering he used to talk, why would this be his dream power?), most of the film is justified and works. The greatest power among the crew, is Kristen's ability to bring other dreamers into her own dream world. It's an interesting twist that really works well for the series. The cast is rounded out by Craig Wasson ("Body Double", "Ghost Story"), John Saxon (reprising his role as Nancy's pop), and Laurence Fishburne as Max the orderly. It's a solid cast, that lends the film a bit of credibility some of the other films just didn't have. "Dream Warriors" is an entertaining flick, a worthy follow-up to the original and one of the best in the series…in my opinion. I mean, it even takes the time to expand on the origins of Freddy…the bastard son of 100 maniacs…

[Horror whore]

AHHH!!! You beat me to it brock...I was just about to post the same movie....Anywho...I'd give it a 7/10

[Mike]

Very nice review Brock!!!

[pennywise46]

I saw it like 2 years ago so I don't remember it too well but it was ok. I think this one had the nurse tit shot? that part was fuckin cool. 5/10

[The Dude]

At the very best, 6/10. Anything above that is really pushing it.

[Zed]

Excellent review Broke.

I ignored until today that Frank Darabont was in this film. I have almost forget this, but you are right, is the "real" secuel to the first Freddy flick.

In my opinion, the movie was actually better than the second one but just a 6/10 in my scale.

[gennarino]

I was skimming thru the archives and found this, excellent film, one of my favorites, I knew every line to this film at one point. The part where Freddy replaces Zja Zja Gavore is hilarious,something to the effect of,"who gives a fuck what you think bitch?" I can't remember the exact line, and I don't have the movie right now, damn. Anyway, I love this film, good choice, part four was good too, I can always get into both of these films, great fantasy horror flicks, i always love the spiritual undertones too.

[Cyclonus]

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Director: Chuck Russell.

Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Craig Wasson, Patricia Arquette, John Saxon, Robert Englund.

Screenwriters: Wes Craven, Bruce Wagner, Chuck Russell, Frank Darabont.

Producer: Robert Shaye.

A New Line Cinema release.


http://www.joblo.com/arrow/arrowimages/arrowelmstreet3.jpg


After the disappointing Freddy's Revenge, the third Nightmare film offers a much-needed shot in the arm to the series. It's one of these rare sequels that actually match the original. Indeed, it could be argued which one is better. Part 2 is ignored in favor of directly tieing in to the original. Nancy, the heroine from Part 1, returns as a psychology student attempting to aid traumatized teenagers, who are all being stalked by the infamous Freddy Krueger.

Freddy himself is beginning to emerge as a wisecracking antihero, with the one-liners that would become his trademark in later entries. Nonetheless, there are several startling nightmare scenes. Each is imaginatively conceived, with ghoulishly clever special effects.

Dream Master's most glaring flaw is Heather Langenkamp herself. Her performance is surprisingly wooden, given the spunk she displayed in the original. However, Craig Watson, as the sympathetic doctor, is quite good. And of course, Robert Englund steals every scene he's in. John Saxon makes a welcome return as Nancy's alcoholic father, and Laurence Fishburne is solid in one of his early film roles, although he's a bit underused.

This is the only sequel Wes Craven was involved with. Taking on dual writer-producer roles, it's obvious he was trying to put the series to rest before it could become another Friday the 13th franchise. Alas, he failed. Nonetheless, NOES 3 deserves credit for actually providing a sense of closure at the end. For once the door is not left open for a sequel.

7/10.



[This message has been edited by Cyclonus (edited 01-11-2002).]

[Bub]

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 should have been Nightmare 2 and then the movies should have stopped until Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Nightmare 3 creeped me out like the first one, although not as much. After the third one, Freddy seemed much more like a comical character. Overall, inventive deaths, creepy dream sequences, entertaining sequel. 8/10

[This message has been edited by Bub (edited 01-13-2002).]

[Cyclonus]

I'd also like to add that I might have made a little mistake in my review. I said the door isn't left open for a sequel, but I forgot the very last part: the dollhouse with the light in the window. Well it's ambiguous enough to make us wonder, but at least it's not blatant like it was in the first two entries.

[Lindsey]

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 7.5/10

I just watched this for the first time last night on DVD. I first watched the trailor and it was pretty freaky. The freaky thing about it, is when the little girls sing "One,two,Freddy's coming to get you" in an eerie voice. That sends shivers down your back as it is. Okay, it starts off pretty good with Patricia Arquette trying to stay awake by eating coffee grounds. (yum) It then starts off a little slow, but once it get's to the hospital it get's good. I was very supised to see the very young Lawrence Fishborne in there, he did good job with his character.

The only thing that really sucked was we didn't see enough of Freddy. But when we did see him, he was kicking major ass. I liked the "Vein Killing" that he did, that was my favorite. I also didn't care for the fact that everyone has their own special powere in their dreams. I thought it was corny how Patricia Arquette's power was doing flips. Oh whoopie. But besides all that, I thought this was a great Freddy movie! My 3rd favorite at that.

[Irene Manor]

This was my second fav. in the series next to the original - Hey, the original had Johnny Depp actually playing a teenager!

This one was great, and I think it was the hopital setting that added so much. The scene where they are watching the "jumping suicide" is awesome in the way they can't get through the barred windows.

The ending was creepy too.

[Cronos]

Dream Warriors was a very entertaining film, not the best of the Elm Street films though. the main problem with ti is the acting which is mostly very bad, i got pissed of a lot because of the actors. Englund as usual is excellent as Freddy and delivers all the one liners very well. the gore is there although its more of a comical gore withought the serious ness of the first film (something parts 2-6 all lack). the script was pretty poor as well with some dumb dialogue coming from the kids. the effects were also nicely done

overall a fun flick but far from the excellence of the original

7/10

[ilovemovies]

I'm a sucker for the Nightmare franchise and this is one of the better ones. I'm surprised to see how many known actors are in this movie that maybe back then they weren't. Patricia Arquette for one. Laurence Fishburne is also in this movie as the janitor of the pych ward that Freddy is terrorizing the kids at. Some fun moments especially when the kids get their own "powers" in their dreams. And the ending is surprising and unexpected. All in all this one is a lot of fun.

7/10

[sdsskater23]

This is way better than Freddy's Revenge. I give it a 7/10 since it had some pretty good kills in it. The only thing i hated was that Arquette's scream was so loud and annoying.