If 1988 was Freddy at his peak, 1989 was the beginning of the end for Freddy. With 1989 saw the release of “The Dream Child”, the fifth installment of the Freddy franchise. Audiences were not impressed. The film grossed a little under half of what its immediate predecessor earned ($22 million vs. $49 million). Audiences seemed to have their fill of Freddy. Was “The Dream Child” just an underrated classic released at the wrong time or did this film deserve to be gutted at the box office?
Well, let’s start at the beginning. The film starts with Alice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finding the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger returning once again. This time, the finger-knifed murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice’s unborn child. His intention is to be “born again” into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son?
The biggest problem with “Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child” is the same problem that exists in “Freddy’s Revenge”: it breaks the rules of the series. Why would Freddy want to live on in the real world when the real world is the only thing that can kill him? Add in some hokey mother moments and an “in the womb” Krueger and you get a pretty dreadful sequel. The cinematography is top notch and the actors do what they can but, by this point in the series, who really cares? This isn’t a terrible entry but just a middle-of-the-road one. By this point the series is starting to show its age. Can Freddy’s Dead turn it all around?
Buy It Here: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 – The Dream Child
