Cyclonus
05-21-2002, 07:48 PM
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Director: Rachel Talalay
Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Shon Greenblatt, Lezlie Deane, Ricky Dean Logan, Yaphet Kotto
Screenwriter: Michael De Luca
Producers: Robert Shaye, Aron Warner
A New Line Cinema release
http://www.joblo.com/arrow/arrowimages/arrowelmstreet6.jpg
Well, we never thought it would happen. After endless sequels of Freddy Krueger terrorizing teenagers in the dream world, New Line finally decided that the series had run its course. However, this decision seems to have been made a sequel or so late, since the sixth Nightmare is the worst of the series. Previous films had been guilty of making Freddy into a comic antihero, but this one takes it to absurd extremes. Rarely is there a scare to be found in Freddy's Dead; not only are the kills few and far in-between, but they're so farcical, so broadly played, that they elicit howls of laugher. At times, the nightmares are so cartoonish, one is reminded of the exploits of Wile E. Coyote. The video game sequence, for example, is absolutely priceless...but wasn't the Wes Craven original a semiserious suburban horror movie? And what the hell is Roseanne doing here? It's only a cameo, yes, but an awfully distracting one at that.
Does anything in the movie work? Yes, the flashbacks to Freddy's past are actually pretty interesting, although these "dream worms" or whatever they are never very convincing, the concept being sorely underdeveloped. The whole long-lost daughter/relative think is a bit of a cliché. Remember Michael's niece? Jason's sister? Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Freddy's demise? The climax is little more than a display of cheap violence, and the part about the 3-D glasses must be seen to be believed. Wasn't that just a passing fad that came and left in 1983? No matter, it's just a desperate gimmick to make a few ticket/video sales.
The performances are adequate, given the circumstances, although most of the teenage characters rarely generate sympathy for their fate; they're just fodder for Freddy's ghoulish bag of trick-and-treats. Yaphet Kotto is wooden; he must have taken the job just because he needed the money. And it goes without saying that at this point, Robert Englund can play Freddy in his sleep. First time director Rachel Talalay gives it her best, making it look as good as it probably could be under the circumstances, but the poor script dooms her valiant efforts. But at the end...Freddy really is dead. No joke.
4/10.
[This message has been edited by Cyclonus (edited 05-26-2002).]
Director: Rachel Talalay
Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Shon Greenblatt, Lezlie Deane, Ricky Dean Logan, Yaphet Kotto
Screenwriter: Michael De Luca
Producers: Robert Shaye, Aron Warner
A New Line Cinema release
http://www.joblo.com/arrow/arrowimages/arrowelmstreet6.jpg
Well, we never thought it would happen. After endless sequels of Freddy Krueger terrorizing teenagers in the dream world, New Line finally decided that the series had run its course. However, this decision seems to have been made a sequel or so late, since the sixth Nightmare is the worst of the series. Previous films had been guilty of making Freddy into a comic antihero, but this one takes it to absurd extremes. Rarely is there a scare to be found in Freddy's Dead; not only are the kills few and far in-between, but they're so farcical, so broadly played, that they elicit howls of laugher. At times, the nightmares are so cartoonish, one is reminded of the exploits of Wile E. Coyote. The video game sequence, for example, is absolutely priceless...but wasn't the Wes Craven original a semiserious suburban horror movie? And what the hell is Roseanne doing here? It's only a cameo, yes, but an awfully distracting one at that.
Does anything in the movie work? Yes, the flashbacks to Freddy's past are actually pretty interesting, although these "dream worms" or whatever they are never very convincing, the concept being sorely underdeveloped. The whole long-lost daughter/relative think is a bit of a cliché. Remember Michael's niece? Jason's sister? Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Freddy's demise? The climax is little more than a display of cheap violence, and the part about the 3-D glasses must be seen to be believed. Wasn't that just a passing fad that came and left in 1983? No matter, it's just a desperate gimmick to make a few ticket/video sales.
The performances are adequate, given the circumstances, although most of the teenage characters rarely generate sympathy for their fate; they're just fodder for Freddy's ghoulish bag of trick-and-treats. Yaphet Kotto is wooden; he must have taken the job just because he needed the money. And it goes without saying that at this point, Robert Englund can play Freddy in his sleep. First time director Rachel Talalay gives it her best, making it look as good as it probably could be under the circumstances, but the poor script dooms her valiant efforts. But at the end...Freddy really is dead. No joke.
4/10.
[This message has been edited by Cyclonus (edited 05-26-2002).]