Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

"Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" (1993, Adam Marcus, New Line Cinema) is the ninth film in the franchise, which, including "Freddy vs Jason" and the 2009 reboot, now contains twelve films in total. It is also not the first in the list to claim to be the "final" (see 1984's "The Final Chapter").


The oft resurrected, hockey-masked antagonist, Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder), is killed by an FBI operation. Once in the morgue, however, the wiley undead killer manages to possess the coroner and go on a rampage through the town, jumping from body to body in the process. Hunting him down is bounty hunter, Creighton Duke (Steven Williams), who believes that someone of Jason's bloodline can be the key to his final demise. If he's right, however, they could also be the key to Jason resurrecting himself in a brand new body....


A schlocky film that doesn't waste any time with a lot of character building and goes straight into the gore and killings. It's chock full of hints to other franchises too with an Evil Dead Necronomicon at Camp Crystal Lake which has since been explained as an Easter Egg justification for Jason's strength and longevity, and, of course, a small cameo from Freddy Krueger... well, part of him, anyway, as a lead-in towards the 2003 film.


It's a definite B-movie sequel with lots of cheesy dialog, some scenes that drag on and a meandering plot that does not always navigate plot holes well. We also, obviously, miss our physical Jason-stalking as he possesses others throughout the film. While the gore is fun and the characters ridiculous enough to be entertaining, the film as a whole is definitely not one of the better Friday entries.

[Image: New Line Cinema]

Hani

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

"Wes Craven's New Nightmare" aka "New Nightmare" (1994, Wes Craven, New Line Cinema) is the 7th Freddy film in the series and is the finale by Wes Craven which aims to put Freddy to bed for good and reclaim the series after some truly abysmal sequels. Of course, we all know that "Freddy vs Jason" happened 9 years later, but that's a different story...

This film enjoys an invisible fourth wall and acts as a nice wink and a nudge to the fans as we follow, instead of Nancy from the first film, Heather Langenkamp (who played Nancy in the first film) as she begins to suffer Freddy nightmares.  This quickly escalates into a much darker story when it becomes apparent that Heather is not the only one.

To make matters worse, she's been asked to appear as Nancy again on Wes Craven's new Freddy film and is surprised on air by an appearance of Robert "Freddy" Englund during an interview.

With 'cameos' from Wes Craven and John Saxon as well as hefty screen time of Robert Englund in both his forms, this film brings the franchise back from the dead while also giving a satisfactory 'out'.

The effects are fun and fit in with the series perfectly and Freddy's stalking is actually more frightening again and less cartoony. There are also question-marks over Englund's disappearance mid-film which has the spooky connotations of him actually transforming into the nightmare man!

The explanation as to how Freddy can get into the real world is good and ties in well, separating this film from the mythos of the previous ones nicely.

More scary but not without the laughs we've come to expect from Mr. Krueger and a wholly fun film. Recommended!

[Image: New Line Cinema]

Hani

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

"Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" aka "A Nightmare on Elm Street 6" (1991, Rachel Talalay, New Line Cinema) was intended to be the last Freddy film...

Continuing to butcher their own legend, the series decides it's time to explain how Freddy (Robert Englund) got to be a dream-walking killer in the first place (not just how and why he died, which at least they maintained to!).

Freddy's unhappy to remain in Elm Street now that he has successfully disposed of all the children, so he decides to break into another 'playground' using his long-lost daughter, Maggie (Lisa Zane), and several disposable teens to do so...

An empty plot and hammy acting ruin a film which otherwise enjoys some fun effects. Although I do like Breckin Meyer, he wasn't hamming it up as much as the other teens were and I had a bit of a crush on him when I was a teenager..., although he did go on to become Garfield's owner...

The kill scenes are unimaginative and this is only emphasized further by the rather enjoyable end credits which showcase some of the better and more memorable kills from the previous films.

Some high points include cameos from Roseanne Barr, Alice Cooper who plays Freddy's abusive father and Johnny Depp who gets assaulted by Freddy whilst on dream TV (Depp was in the first film as a doomed teen).

There is also scene which pays a tiny bit of homage to Evil Dead 2 with a "Give me back my hearing!" moment in place of "hand" and a misguided Wizard of Oz visual gag...

All in, it's not the best of the franchise, and that's saying something after sitting through number 5! A film you only own if you're a completist!

 Here's Freddy Lollygagging

[Image: New Line Cinema]

Hani

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" (1989, Stephen Hopkins, Heron Communications, Smart Egg Pictures, New Line Cinema) is the fifth in the series and follows on from number 4 with characters Alice (Lisa Wilcox) and Dan (Danny Hassel).

It's Graduation, but things aren't looking up for Alice now that Freddy (Robert Englund) has found a way to crawl back into the world... using demon baby power...!

One of the, dare I say it, crazier of the Freddy films, "Dream Child" can boast a lot of fun effects but on the whole over-stretched villain, Krueger, is starting to wear a little thin. The plot is predictable and it seems that Hopkins is just paying lip-service to the legend behind Freddy.

The acting is good and the effects are up to their usual fun, gory, zany cartoon standard. While it's hardly a scary film, it's a good bit of fun but isn't anything innovative and doesn't add much to the franchise.

However, it's only 89mins long and has good pacing, so at least it's short and snappy!

[Image: New Line Cinema]

 

Hani

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (1988, Renny Harlin, New Line Cinema) is the Fourth in the Slasher series about the child-killer-turned-monstrous-teen-dream-killer, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund).

Kristen (Tuesday Knight - a  perfect Burleqsue performer name, if you ask me! But turns out she's an actress and a singer), Joey (Rodney Eastman) and Kincaid (Ken Sagoes) are released from the mental asylum from the previous film. They are now at school and are seemingly normal.

Kristen has some new buddies, too: quiet, daydreaming Alice (Lisa Wilcox), nerdy, asthmatic Sheila (Toy Newkirk) and tough chick Debbie (Brooke Theiss). She's also found herself a boyfriend called Rick (Andras Jones), who's Alice's brother.

Yep, all is going seemingly well until Kristen begins to have nightmares again! And then all the usual Elm Street funzies begin. Turns out Freddy's still not completely dead yet, despite all their dream warrior efforts, and is now back for more.

This film is quite a lot of fun; very cheesy, very Freddy-filled and keeping in with the outrageous and flamboyant death scenes of the previous 3 films. I'd say this film outshines all the other sequels quite comfortably for visuals and has a nice shift in main characters which stopped the plot getting stale.

Does anyone else think Freddy is like a murderous Bugs Bunny? He dresses up as women a lot! Especially in the third and fourth films!

It is by far the most simplistic plot from the first 4 films and is really the start of Freddy being less of a horror icon and more a goofy weirdo, especially if you wait for the Freddy Rap Song during the end credits!

However, fun and loud with some good old nightmarish transformations, this film is far from scary, but is worth your time if you are so inclined to follow the full series, just so long as you're not expecting anything too clever!

[Image: New Line Cinema]

Hani

The Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

"The Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (1987, Chuck Russell, New Line Cinema) is the return to form sequel with the worst name. Craven returned to take over the screenplay to this one, and you can tell. However, like most cult geniuses in the film and TV industry (see Joss Whedon), Craven's original and far superior plot, was stomped all over to make it more 'commercial'... Ah, Hollywood, where dreams are... whatever.

Realising that taking Freddy out of the dream 'verse was a major error, and a no-go with fans, they took him back to his original domain: the nightmare.

But, where in the first film he's killing kids in their sleep and in the second he's framing kids for murder, in this third film Freddy's turning his hand to framing kids for suicide. We also see the return of Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) from the first film... who I'd thought was dead, but once the film got rolling, I'm glad she wasn't.

Set in a psychiatric ward for young teens, Freddy (Robert Englund) is terrorising a group of kids whom have been sectioned for their strange sleeping (or lack thereof) behaviour - caused by Mr. Krueger, also.

Nancy enters as a 'dream expert' and we also have Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson) and  Dr. Simms (Priscilla Pointer), who are 'looking after' the group.

Also spot a young Laurence Fishburne, whom you may recognise as Morpheus from 'The Matrix'.

Realising that Krueger has returned, Nancy joins forces with the kids to defeat him, with initially sceptical help from Dr. Gordon.

A relatively engaging plot, with actors who can actually act and some very enjoyably 80s gore scenes (the 'puppet' suicide is a particular favourite of mine). There are also a lot of dream-related scenes. Some are good, especially the Freddy snake and the roast pig scenes, but some are just laughable - the wheelchair attack scene for example...

There are quite a few nods to the first film: the house comes up a lot for instance. But they decide to investigate Freddy's early life and his burial ground in order to end his reign. Sadly, it doesn't end here because this film isn't too bad, and is what most people feel to be the true sequel.

[Picture: New Line Cinema]

Hani

The Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

"The Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" (1985, Jack Sholder, Smart Egg Pictures, New Line Cinema) is the second Freddy Krueger slasher film.

Freddy (Robert Englund) is tired of being limited to only killing hapless and lusty teenagers in their dreams, and decides to resolve this issue by slowly possessing and taking over a dude called Jesse (Mark Patton), happily framing poor Jesse for all the murders.

I can draw a lot of parallels between this film and "Candyman":

• Ghostly bad guy who can affect the dream 'verse
• Possession of the protagonist, who then kills people without knowing it (at first)
• Protagonist waking up in strange places or being covered in blood...
• Questions as to whether Freddy is real or a figment of our friend Jesse's imagination!

Unlike "Candyman" though, the plot's not clever. It's just a Freddy Krueger story!

80s gore to the max, with a lot of sub-par teen actors, slightly uncomfortable possessed sex scenes and some questionable parenting, this film doesn't exactly exceed the expectations of its viewer.

Englund's return to the stripy jumper and glove is once again gleefully portrayed as the nightmarish fiend, and his evil determination to take over Jesse and kill everyone nearby keeps the story moving. But unlike the first film, there's just no oomph.

The rampantly peadophilic-goth-club-patron-gym-teacher is an odd addition... But his death scene is quite hilarious, with reference to Rod's death scene in the first film.

The ending of the film is a lot faster paced than the rest of it, with quite a good round-off and classic Krueger cliffhanger ending.

This film is sans Craven, and it shows. He didn't like the idea of a franchise (apparently. He is the king of franchises, if you ask me!) and didn't like them taking Freddy out of dream land. I can agree with him here, Freddy's no fun in the real world!

[Picture: Smart Egg Pictures & New Line Cinemas]

Pucker up...

 

Hani

The Nightmare on Elm Street

"The Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984, Wes Craven, New Line Cinema) is the first and, in my opinion, best of the series of  the "Nightmare...." saga.. This film introduces us to famously unkillable and unavoidable, Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Freddy's the stuff of nightmares. Not only are they his domain, but they are also his hunting ground. And his favourite kind of victim is? Oh, teenage cannon fodder, of course!

As Halloween approaches, I like to lace my usual random horror viewing with some real classics, because frankly, I like to be scared and sometimes the classics are the only way to do that. So I'm starting with some base fears (via yesterday's 'IT' and today's Freddy); the nightmare.

When a group of friends all have similar nightmares about getting hunted down and murdered by a mysterious and severely disfigured man with a glove which has knives for fingers, you'd think they'd be a little worried. But you know horror movie teens; they love sex... And to hell with everything else!

When Tina (Amanda Wyss) is then murdered in her sleep by said man, the teens begin to realise that there is someone stalking them in their dreams... A someone who can kill you, and whom you can't avoid, because... well... Everyone sleeps.

Poor Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), Glen (a very young Johnny Depp in his first big screen film role) and Rod (Nick Corri) try to avoid ol' murderous Freddy as best they can, but can you just fathom it? None of the grown ups believe them! And instead think that they are all either crazy or mad killers!

The special effects are still admiral to this day (for instance the much copied bath scene), although often a little kitsch and corny (the mildly hilarious phone-tongue scene for example). The bit with the stairs was always my favourite, though! Really gave me the shivers as a kid.

The scary thing about Freddy is that he has utter control in the dream realm, and an uncanny knack of convincing you that you're actually awake and safe! The false-start dream sequence is overplayed these days, but "Nigtmare..." still brings it with the best of them.

Englund clearly relishes his role as psychotic child-murderer-turned-murderous-dream-ghost, bringing an edge of manic glee to the role. His iconic jumper, hat and glove is still a common sight on Halloween to this day on both males and females alike.

A real classic that suffers from the 'too-many-sequels-spoils-the-broth' mentality which threatens many of the greats (see 'Halloween', 'Friday the 13th', 'Poltergeist', 'Alien' and 'Predator' for evidence...) and not so greats (see 'Puppet Master'...). Craven is one of the few masters of the 'too-many-sequels' craft, however, and has enjoyed much success with his 'Scream' films.

The plot is actually pretty dark (as most horrors obviously are), and the adults in the film are way too busy trying to ignore their own dark secrets to admit that Freddy is killing again. This level can easily be ignored by the gorehounds looking for boobs and blood, but for those seeking something more, it can add another dimension.

A film everyone should see at least once, and one which manages to remain funny and jumpy despite it's rapidly ageing look.

[Picture: New Line Cinema]

Hani