Monster
Crap Inductee: Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare
Evil
Has To Finally Go To The Toilet
1991
Well,
it is the end of the Summer of Bob Part 2 and we end it where we began with
Freddy Krueger. Last time we talked about Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2:
Freddy’s Revenge, where they completely went against the formula of the first
film and it isn’t surprising that it didn’t work so when 3 came around,
everyone in 2 was completely forgotten about and 3 had people from the first
film back as well as new characters. Then, 4 happened which killed all the
survivors off in 3 so they can bring in a new character to be Freddy’s ultimate
foil. Now 3 was liked and plenty of people liked 4. Now 5 comes and yeah, it
wasn’t good and normally, we would go to that film, but Bob specifically wanted
me to skip that film and go to the 6th film with the title that
basically tells you this is the last Nightmare On Elm Street film with Freddy
Krueger getting killed off.
Yeah,
After They Falsehood Of Friday The 13th The Final Chapter Saying
They Would Kill Jason And There Were 4 Films Afterwards At This Point, Everyone
Is Rolling Their Eyes.
And
for director, they had to get someone who knew all the Freddy lure and if you
are thinking they would get Robert Englund to direct.
Instead,
let’s get the producer who produced most of the films in the series Rachel
Talalay to have her directorial debut doing this and she had a ton of ideas
going into this. The original idea would be that the son in Nightmare On Elm
Street 5 would grow up and get revenge on Freddy for the death of his mother
with the help of the Dream Warriors. This script didn’t happen for a few
reasons with one being that the Dream Warriors were killed off in 4 and the
other being that the actress who played the Dream Master from 4 and 5 who would
be the mother that gets killed, hated the idea she would be killed off so early
so she was out. The next script was by Peter Jackson which kids don’t see
Freddy as a threat so they would purposefully take sleeping pills so they could
fight him, but because Peter Jackson wasn’t a big name yet, they didn’t use
that one. In the end, they went with the script you are going to see in this
film.
Now
for acting, they would hire Lisa Zane to be the lead and if you think that last
name sounds familiar, you would be correct in assuming.
Yep….She
Is The Sister Of Billy Zane, Who You Might Remember Here From Bloodrayne.
After
that, of course we are getting Robert Englund back and if you want what
previous Monster Crap inductions he was in, fine…
Get
some random kids thrown in and of course, we will need some veteran actors to
play adults like Yaphet Kotto, who got his big break as the main villain in
Live Or Let Die, but most horror fans may know him from Alien.
He
Was Parker In Alien
Others
would be Elinor Donahue (who was the eldest daughter in Father Knows Best) and
cameos that I will highlight when they come up because trust me, they will an
interesting surprise.
Now
I know I’ve mentioned some Monster Crap alumni already, but there is more
because someone else who was in 976-EVIL also happened to be in this film.
With
that out of the way, let’s get to this induction and you will see why Bob
wanted me to skip over 5 to induct this crap.
We
begin this with a quote.
And
then another quote.
From
Freddy Krueger In Nightmare On Elm Street Part 3: The Dream Warriors
And
then we get the opening title card.
Then
we go to a computer screen that talks about the town of Springwood and that all
the kids got killed by Freddy.
So
Much For Any Surviving Character You Liked From Previous Films, They’re All
Dead
So
let’s go to this one surviving kid who is NOT anyone from a previous film.
His
Name Is Basically John Doe As He Doesn’t Know His Real Name
He
is on a plane that is dealing with some turbulence and it’s a shitty full
flight on what seems like a rundown plane where even the windows are leaking
rainwater.
So
A Boeing Plane…..Hi-yoh!!!
Then
a little girl in the seat in front of him tells John here that “he’s going to
make you help him because you are the last”.
He
tries to change seats except the plane is full and tells the passenger next to
him that he is afraid of heights and her response is for him not to be a pussy.
And
immediately the plane starts breaking down and the terrible passenger next to
him gets sucked into the sky. His seat then sinks and is falling out of the
plane.
That’s
A Lawsuit That Boeing Will Just Settle Out Of Court And Then Do Nothing About
John
Doe crashes into a house and then wakes up.
He
thinks it is all over except that was a dream within another dream as he opens
a window and it turns out his room is falling in the sky.
His
room starts rumbling and he looks out a window and Freddy is on a broomstick
telling John, “I’ll get you my pretty and your little soul too”
Okay….I
Guess We Have To Talk About The Biggest Difference Between Part 2 And Now.
That
is the fact that Freddy gets a lot more one liners and he isn’t as scary as he
used to be. This started in 3 (which was great) and started to wane in 4, but then you get to 5 where it was not good
and now here, it is ridiculous. Sadly that happens with these film series where
if something becomes cool in a series and the studios response will be to milk
that thing for everything it is worth. This whole thing where they rips off The
Wizard Of Oz scene is just a tiny example of this film going way too far in
milking the Freddy Krueger one liners that it seems the filmmakers forgot that
Freddy Krueger is supposed to be a child murderer and not your dad doing
terrible dad jokes.
Anyway,
his room crashes to the ground and he falls out the window. He looks around and
sees that he is in front of a rundown house and yeah, it is very run down.
John
runs away over a fence and rolls down a hill. He then finds a ticket taker and…
It’s
Producer Bob Shaye Who Had A Brief Role In A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 As Well
As A Brief Role Here
He
then gets hit by a bus which is driven by Freddy Krueger.
Hey,
Robert England Is Back To Being A Bus Driver
John
flies off the bus and lands on a rock elsewhere.
Freddy
looks on from outside the John sized hole John made and says that John should
be a good little doggy and fetch. John wakes up on the side of the road and
walks with no shoes as we cut to a recovery home and youth shelter. We see a
dad telling his son he wants him to change in his behavior and his son is
really not listening to him while instead playing a Ninja Gaiden Tiger
Electronic game.
Hey
Breckin Meyer…
Yes,
that is a young Breckin Meyer who was at the time in some TV series and TV
movies before getting this gig. Anyway, his character name is Spencer and he
really doesn’t care what his dad says and his dad just leaves defeated. The dad
chastises a therapist of this place named Maggie Burroughs because he expected
his son to be better. Maggie then chastises him for treating his son like he is
a car and not a human being.
She
then talks to Spencer and says he has to grow up at some point after Spencer
complains about his dad not caring about him and just wanting him to be another
version of himself. Maggie’s boss then found a bong in Spencer’s room and
Spencer runs off. He says that he has been confiscating stuff like this all
week and is wondering where these kids are getting this stuff. Then we get
another kid named Tracy who is running away from a cop.
Apparently,
Tracy was spitting on one of the kids and Tracy says that kid was hitting on
him. Maggie calmly says that Tracy doesn’t like to be touched. Maggie tries to
remind Tracy of the session they have and Tracy says she has another class. She
tells Maggie to work around her schedule before leaving in a huff. Elsewhere,
two other cops see John and think he is a junkie that needs to go to the
shelter.
We
then see Tracy boxing at a punching bag while another kid is trying to pump her
up.
His
name is Carlos and he also tries to hit on her, which Tracy says he isn’t
getting any from her. We also find out that Carlos has a hearing impairment,
but Tracy wants to spar with him. Spencer comes in tries to calm the situation
down. All three of them are planning to run away and we see that Tracy may have
had a sexually abusive deadbeat father. We then meet another therapist at the
shelter named Doc.
Doc
thinks he can fix these kids via their dreams. Maggie sees a new picture of a
statue that shows some dream demons.
Obviously
The Dream Demons Will Be Back In This Movie
The
boss comes in and tells them that there is a new kid who has arrived so he
needs the two therapists evaluation of him. Oh and Doc has a pair of 3D glasses, which will come back later in the film.
They
look over John and see that he obviously has issues sleeping and amnesia. He
says that all he knows is that wherever he is from, he is the last survivor
from. He says that he is trying to stay awake because if he falls asleep again,
he will die.
At
night, Maggie goes through what belongings John had on him and one of them is a
newspaper clipping that says a woman named Loretta Krueger from Springfield is
missing. The troubled teens are trying to get some sleep and are annoyed by
John who is trying to keep his ass awake by singing the beer on the wall song. Back
with Maggie, she dreams that Loretta comes out of the newspaper and says “I
wont tell”. Maggie also dreams when she was a kid and going to her unseen
father’s arms.
She
wakes up after the mother in the dream screams. John actually ends up asleep and
water is dripping on him from a leaky pipe. Unfortunately, that water turns
into blood so you know John is back in dream land. He then is transported to a
house where a little girl with a doll shows up next to him.
The
little girl wants John to play with her and John wants to know who he is, which
the little girl says she won’t tell. John follows her in dream world while in
the real world, a security guard sees John sleep walking and going up invisible
stairs.
John
screams at seeing himself and bumps into the security guard who falls out a
window.
Thankfully,
It Was A First Story Window So The Guard Isn’t Dead.
John
is now with Maggie to talk about what happened last night and he says he was
dreaming about a room and a house with a little girl. He also remembers a water
tower and Maggie asks about the article and where he got it, which he has no
idea about. Maggie then goes to Doc and he says there is some connection to her
dreams and John’s dreams, which normally means bad news. Maggie is sick and
tired of hearing about dreams and she is very defiant that she has a puzzle
about her own past. Maggie then decides that she and John are going to go on a
trip to Springwood to see if they can find anything to help with his memory
(and secretly Maggie’s past as well).
In
an extremely crappy van, John falls asleep and sees the little girl in the road
telling him to go back. John tries to take the wheel and they do a 180 drift on
the road before stopping. That also makes them realize that Carlos, Tracy, and
Spencer have also stowed away for the ride because they wanted to escape the
place.
They
all head to Springwood and the town has a fair going on, which is definitely
like a weird place where all the adults have gone crazy and there are no kids.
Maggie
wants Tracy, Spencer, and Carlos to find a phone and call to get themselves
back home. Spencer tries to call, but the pay phone is out of order. They then
meet a strange woman and her husband and while the woman is happy to see kids,
the husband is not happy because he fears that “he” will cause more horror on
this town. And this is where we see the first two of four cameos as those two
individuals are…
Tom
Arnold And Rosanne Barr.
The
two were married at the time and were huge Nightmare On Elm Street fans so when
people who were making the film asked if they wanted to have a small cameo, the
two jumped at the chance for it and this cameo was a perfect chance for them to
do something that was different than their usual comedy gigs. Unfortunately,
the two regret this decision to be in this film since it took a whole freaking
day to do this one few minute scene and eventually, they had an ugly divorce. It
gets even weirder on how the two were ever together considering that now a
days, Rosanne Barr is an insane Trump supporter and Tom Arnold fucking hates
Donald Trump so much.
Maggie
tell Spencer, Carlos, and Tracy to take the van back to the center as she and
John decide to go to the school since the school bell rang. The van drives by a
town and pass a statue that says “The Children Shall Endure”.
Considering
This Town Has No Kids, That Is Rather Ironic
Tracy
says she doesn’t need a map, but in a shock to no one, they get lost. Back with
Maggie and John, they are going to the school when they stop to see a street
drawing of Freddy Krueger.
After
a few more minutes, Tracy finally wants the map as she can’t figure her way
around this town. Carlos then has a dream where the map is too freaking huge
and tells him “You’re Fucked”.
Eventually,
Spencer takes control of the driving. Back to Maggie and John, they finally
enter the school to see a teacher teaching no one.
During
this, they find out that Freddy had a kid that the police took away. Back with
the van, they are still lost and decide to crash at an abandoned house.
Which
So Happens To Be On Elm Street
It
also happens to be the rundown house from earlier which was disguised as a
different house before it changed for some reason even though the kids are not
asleep. Carlos then decides to go to sleep and wakes up when he hears Tracy’s
voice. He walks and runs into what looks like the a crappy apartment building.
He
tries to turn around, but there is a brick wall in his path. He turns around
and sees his mother.
He
goes to talk to his mother, but his mother is abusive and slaps him. She then
decides that Carlos needs a cleaning of his ears with a long ass cotton swab.
Oh
and his mom turns into Freddy, who forces it in Carlos ear and it comes out of
his other ear for maximum pain, making you see why he may have need of hearing
aids.
Freddy
rips out Carlos hearing aid so Carlos is now deaf. Freddy then throws him
through a brick wall which causes him to fall down some stairs and lands on a
catwalk. He goes to a boiler room and as he is investigating, Freddy is just
screwing with him yelling from behind, but Carlos can’t hear him.
Carlos
then yells that he wants his hearing back. Freddy obliges, but it is a hearing
aid that Freddy has tampered with and now if any sound comes from it, it hurts
Carlos a lot.
Carlos
has to turn off a water faucet as its water drips hurt. Freddy then drops a pin
which Carlos catches.
Unfortunately
for him, Freddy then drops a bunch of pins and Carlos cant catch them all, but
he can cover his ears so he cant hear them badly.
Freddy
then decides for his worst trick, he will reveal a chalkboard.
With
Freddy’s glove, you know exactly where this is going as Freddy scratches the chalkboard
so long that the demonic hearing aid cause Carlos’ head to explode.
No
Idea Why Freddy Was Rubbing On That Chalkboard With That Look, But
Whatever….Carlos Is Dead And Freddy Says That It Was Nice Hearing From Him.
Oh
and somehow new to Freddy’s lure is after he kills the people, their bodies
just are never seen again as Tracy finds Carlos’ hearing aid, but not Carlos.
She goes downstairs and sees that Spencer has decided to get high while
watching a TV that is broken. Tracy decides to leave Spencer there as she is
going to look for Carlos in the van. Spencer sees people wanting out of the TV
and one of them is Carlos telling him not to fall asleep, but he does.
Maggie
and John go to the orphanage and find the head of the place talking to no one
until they arrive.
John
starts to believe that he somehow might be Freddy’s kid and asks her if she
knows him. The woman says she does and especially knows Maggie, which confuses
Maggie. John wants to know who the real Krueger child is and the woman says
they are not allowed to disclose a child’s real identity. Maggie then finds a
drawing from someone named K. Krueger.
John
is now convinced he is Freddy’s kid and thinks that is why Freddy has kept him
alive. Maggie then reminds John that Freddy is dead and when John says the
orphanage woman remembered him, Maggie says she remembered her too and other
imaginary kids so don’t take this crazy woman’s word for it. They leave and run
into Tracy in the van, who says she can’t find Carlos anywhere and that Spencer
is at the house she left him at. John says they need to go back and get them
before Freddy does, which Tracy has no idea who that is.
And
now we get to the part in this film that is the most memorable with what
happens with Spencer. Spencer thinks he has woken up to the dreaded TV stripes.
Then it goes to Johnny Depp doing a anti-drug PSA with the eggs in a pan saying
this is your brain on drugs bit.
After
he asks “Any questions?”, he gets a frying pan to the face by Freddy.
This
Cameo Was Made More Sense Since Johnny Depp Was In The First Nightmare On Elm
Street (His Character Was Killed). But It Might Have Been More Difficult As Johnny Depp Was Already A
Mainstream Name As He Had Already Done Cry Baby, 21 Jump Street, And Edward
Scissorhands. For A Bit Of Fun, I Chose To Be Credited As Oprah Noodlemantra.
Freddy
has some fun at Depp’s expense and then tells Spencer that they should trip out
which brings Spencer into the TV.
Someone
Obviously Saw Videodrome
Tracy,
Maggie, and John come back to see that Spencer is gone. Inside the TV during
his dream, Spencer is now in a video game which Freddy is playing.
Spencer
jumps into a pipe to avoid some rats and now sees his dad in video game form
with a racket.
Video
game dad hits Spencer with the racket, but Spencer eventually grabs the racket
and kills his dad. Unfortunately a bigger video game version of his dad shows
up to kick his ass.
And
Freddy says this line.
Freddy: Now
I’m Playing With Power.
But
Obviously Not Nintendo Power
Spencer
gets an apple and gets power to shoot down his video game dad with Freddy
talking about it being great graphics. John finds Spencer after the latter
crashes through a wall and obviously knows he is in dream world. Spencer is
getting his ass kicked in dream world by video game Freddy.
John
decides he is going to go into Spencer’s dream to get Spencer is out and he
believes that Freddy won’t harm him since he is Freddy’s kid. They think its
crazy and then Spencer hits his head on the ceiling and walks around like he is
in a video game so John asks if any of that is normal. John asks for Tracy to
knock him out and to get her to do so, he slaps Tracy….who proceeds to knock
him out for that.
K.O.!!!!!!
John
is now in dream world and eventually Tracy joins him, saying that Maggie taught
her an easier way to enter via meditation. They immediately find Freddy in a
booth playing the video game and now Spencer is getting beaten by Freddy with a
towel.
Tracy
takes the controller away from Freddy Kruger and think they have saved Spencer,
but they have not because Freddy has an alternative and tells them this before
locking them out.
Freddy: Hey….You
Forgot The Power Glove!!!
Spencer
is sadly killed as he falls down the stairs into a huge hole.
And
Thus Ends The Most Interesting Part Of This Movie.
And
Freddy Beats His High Score
The
TV turns blood red and the soul gets sucked into Freddy. Tracy tries to fight
Freddy and kicks him in the nuts. Maggie is able to wake Tracy up before Freddy
gets to slash her. But John is definitely out cold so they need to try and save
him. They take John into the van and try to drive away. John thinks he wakes up
back in his room, but he is still stuck in the dream as his house gets sucked
into space which wakes up John again in his room. But like before, this is also
a dream and John says nothing is going to get him off this bed, and well….
How
Will He Stay If The Bed Is Burning???
John
says that he hates this house and dives out the window, but he should have
looked before he leaped as the house is not on the ground and now John is
falling.
John
is given a parachute and he activates it, which in the real world causes him to
fly out of the van and leave a hole through it, which causes Maggie to hit the
brakes.\
John
is now floating in the sky and in dream world, Freddy shows up.
John
says that he is Freddy’s son which is why Freddy let him live and Freddy laughs
at this. He reveals that is false and Freddy says he used him to get to his
daughter. Freddy says that now that John has fulfilled his purpose, he can die
now. Freddy cuts John’s parachute straps which causes John to fall. Freddy
teleports onto the ground and pushes a bed of nails into position for John to
land on.
John
falls on them and is killed while never knowing his real name. In the real
world, it looks like this.
Before
dying, John reveals that Freddy had a daughter, not a son. John’s body
disappears which Maggie can see which makes no damn sense, but in this movie,
bodies just disappear after they are dead. Freddy then enters the mind of
Maggie as they drive away.
They
arrive back at the shelter and Tracy tells Maggie that whatever happened, it
wasn’t her fault. Maggie tries to explain all of this with saying that John,
Spencer, and Carlos all running away. The boss makes the shocking reveal that
they were never here which means the Freddy erased their entire existence,
something Freddy CANNOT DO!!!! Tracy is explaining how no one remembers them to
Doc and Doc says that somehow he remembers the kids, which he explains that he
can control his dreams. I can’t believe I have to use this.
That’s
Not How It Works. That’s Not How Any Of This Works.
While
Freddy can kill people in the dream world, their bodies still exist and they
are just dead with explanations like a woman getting her breath sucked out
dying of an asthma attack or a kid falling off a building because his strings
were cut off dying via suicide because he fell off a building. So Freddy can
suck their souls, but he cannot make their entire bodies disappear and he
definitely cannot erase their existence. You also can have dream powers, but
that power does not involve remembering people because there is no need for
that. You would think for someone who has been so involved with the Nightmare
On Elm Street franchise to remember very important things like how this dream
killing stuff works, but no….Rachel Talalay doesn’t know how this works.
Anyway,
Doc says that this Freddy is fucking with the line between dreams and reality.
Maggie then cries at her desk and then remembers what John says as well as what
the orphanage head said in remembering her. She goes to see the person she
always believed was her mother and she finds her adoption papers.
As
this is going on, we also see Tracy working out in a gym with Doc watching and
laughing. Doc immediately warns Tracy that it is her mind and fear that Freddy
will go for so she better be ready.
Maggie
confronts her mother about this and her mother reveals that yes, she was
adopted, but she has no idea about her parents because the adoption agency
would not give out that information, basically confirming her suspicions that
she is Freddy’s daughter.
While
walking in the rain, we see a newspaper that basically tells us that Maggie is
in a dream now.
We
also see Tracy and Doc going to bed. Back in Maggie’s dream, Maggie now goes
back to her past and we see the father who she was going to the arms of as a
kid was Freddy Krueger and her mother screams after coming out of the basement
saying she will never tell about finding out that Freddy being the Springwood
Slasher. Freddy tells the little girl to go inside and she instead goes in the
basement. She is about to up the stairs when a door opens and she goes to check
it out. She sees Freddy’s dungeon room.
That
same little girl turns into Maggie in the same outfit and she is face to face
with burned up Freddy Krueger, who reveals her real name is Katherine Krueger.
Freddy
reveals that they took her away from him and he made Springwood pay by taking
away all their children, which was never Freddy’s original goal as in he was
going after the kids of the parents who killed him, but that plan has long
since evolved so I don’t put much anger into that one as I did the whole dream
thing and being able to erase people’s existence. Freddy’s plan has evolved to
go after all children since in his words, “Every town has an Elm Street”.
Which
Is Definitely False
Maggie
then wakes up and we go to Tracy as she is cleaning her face in the bathroom
before the bathroom turns into her old messed up childhood home and there we
meet the reason why Tracy is very defensive and easily angered.
It’s
Very Much Implied Her Dad Is An Incestuous Child Molester
Her
father wants some “honey” and she pushes him away, saying he isn’t her dad. She
hits him over the head with a tea kettle and continues beating him with it,
saying her father is dead. In a sad bit of reality, the actress who played Tracy
was molested by her own father as a kid so I am sure this either was some
catharsis or not much fun to do. Back to the movie, shitty dad wakes up and looks
like this.
A
True Work Of Art
Then
her father turns into Freddy Krueger.
He
then taunts her with Carlos’ ear.
Then
Tracy starts kicking Freddy’s ass. Freddy is about to get the upper hand when
Tracy does a smart thing and burns her own hands in the dream to wake herself
up.
It
works and Maggie comes in to see if she is okay.
Well,
Besides The Burn Marks, Tracy Is Fine.
They
go to talk to Doc, but Doc is in his own dream and in his dream, he is in the
gym. He hears a voice in the lockers asking him to get her out, but of course
it is just Freddy instead, who just pops up. They have a fight and Doc is
mostly winning because he has a baseball bat.
Freddy
gets up and says this line.
Freddy: Sticks
And Stones May Break My Bones, But Nothing Will Ever Kill Me.
He
then keeps cutting off his own fingers describing the way people have tried to
kill him.
Freddy’s
fingers regrow how he says that he keeps coming back. We then find out that
Freddy comes back because of the dream people. Freddy is about to kill Doc, but
Doc’s watch goes off which means Doc’s electrodes to his head go off, waking
him up.
Doc
also found out that he has a piece of Freddy’s sweater which means you can
bring him into the real world. Doc’s plan is to get Freddy in the real world
and then kill him there because he can die only in the real world. Um….they did
that in the first film and burning him there didn’t kill him (Freddy only lost
and disappeared after Nancy said she no longer feared him) so this plan should
already be a failure to us as fans.
Anyway,
Doc has Maggie put on the electrodes and makes her fall asleep with the idea
that he will eventually wake her up, but she needs to grab Freddy by the time
this happens. Oh and Doc gives her 3D glasses because while they mean nothing
here, but they can mean anything she wants in the dream world. She goes to
sleep and in the dream world, she puts on the 3D glasses.
Now
you might be wondering what was the point of this and unfortunately, the answer
is very stupid. You see, while the 3D craze of the 80s had long died off,
Freddy’s Dead decided to try and bring it back. But it wouldn’t come back in
the usual sense and instead, only this last part of the film would be shot in
3D so when she puts the 3D glasses on, the people in the theaters were supposed
to do the same thing. While we will talk about how well this film did in the
aftermath, I can easily spoil that this 3D stunt did not work in the slightest
and was a huge criticism of this film. Now imagine doing this now as it was
re-shot back into 2D, but still had this stupid ass moment in the movie.
Dumb
Instead, My Good Lizard
The
3D glasses magically disappear and we see the painting with the three dream
spirits open its door for her to enter.
And
You Get To See The Fish Headed Snake-Like Spirits
She
enters and she enters into Freddy’s head, which he screams.
We
then enter see inside Freddy’s head which looks like nasty coral.
We
then see the dream spirts basically like fish.
Remember,
All Of This Shit Is Supposed To Be In 3D
Maggie
goes into Freddy’s brain which is like a hallway and she opens doors to see
memories of his past.
Like
When She Sees Child Freddy Kill A Hamster With A Mallet While The Kids Chant
That He Is The Son Of A Hundred Maniacs
And
The Kids Turn Into Adults
Then
we go to Freddy when he is a teenager when he is a teenager and his adoptive
father shows up to hit him with the belt.
Hi,
Alice Cooper
While
this cameo doesn’t make as much sense as Johnny Depp does as Alice Cooper has
not been in any of the Nightmare films beforehand, he’s a rock icon of the
horror scene who did a song a few songs for Friday The 13th Part 6
and appeared in a few horror films like Prince Of Darkness and Monster Dog so
his inclusion here is just fine. Back to the movie and much to the drunken
father’s chagrin, Freddy likes being hit with the belt.
Teen
Freddy then tells his drunken adoptive father that the secret to pain is that
you need to stop feeling it and start using it. He then stabs his adoptive
father.
Although
We Don’t See It As All We See Is This And The Dad Screaming Off-Screen. Lame
We
then go to the next memory where the parents of the murdered kids burn Freddy. And
here we see Freddy make a deal with the dream spirits to live forever as a
nightmare to get his revenge.
Maggie
then is back in the basement and when she goes outside, she sees Freddy
strangling his wife and her mother because of what she saw.
Yeah,
That’s The Fate Of The Missing Mrs. Krueger
He
tells his little girl that Mommy had to take her medicine for snooping around
Daddy’s work and he makes her promise to never tell. Burnt Freddy is back and
confronts Maggie that she did tell and it is time for her to take her medicine.
Maggie grabs a pipe and hits him with it. She holds onto Freddy and yells for
Doc to wake her up. Doc does so and despite Freddy’s attempts to not enter the
real world, it seems like he is there, but he doesn’t appear. Maggie reveals
that because she is still seeing things from her dream, it is not over.
They
go into the basement and grab weapons for the upcoming battle. Maggie has a bat
with nails and finds Freddy in human form.
Freddy
begs for his life and says that the world turned him into a monster. He also
says that he loved Katherine and her mother and he tried so hard to be good. Of
course, Freddy is just stalling as he has his bladed glove behind his back, but
she isn’t falling for it and hits him with the bat. She then knocks the glove
out of his hand.
When
Doc and Tracy show up, Freddy goes back to burnt form and uses this momentary
distraction to lock Doc and Tracy out of the room. He then grabs Maggie by the
neck as he didn’t need a glove to kill her mother.
Maggie
headbutts Freddy and slashes him with the glove. Eventually Freddy grabs her
arm to stop her from doing that and tells her to give him the glove back. They
tumble around until Maggie bits Freddy’s nose.
Danny
Devito’s Penguin Is Somewhere Taking Notes
She
then breaks Freddy’s hand.
Freddy
says that he forgot how much it hurts to be human and we see Doc still trying
to get in. Freddy gets the glove and tries to put on the glove, but it is
difficult with a broken hand. Tracy then slides in some daggers and some shurikens,
which Maggie grabs it. Afterwards, she throws a dagger at Freddy’s arm, pinning
it.
She
then throws the shurikens into Freddy’s legs and more daggers so Freddy is like
this.
A
crossbow is also slid in and Maggie uses that it hit Freddy in his other leg.
Maggie
then uses a crowbar to pin Freddy’s other hand into his own abdomen.
Maggie
grabs the glove and Freddy tells her to put it on. She does so as Freddy
escapes his pinning situation, but Maggie uses the glove to stab him.
Tracy
then throws Maggie a lit stick of dynamite which Maggie stabs in Freddy’s
chest. She tells him “Happy Father’s Day” and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Doc
breaks the door down and the three run away as Freddy’s last word before
blowing up is.
Freddy: Kids…
Then
Freddy blows up and his head screams.
Then
that disintegrates, leaving the three dream spirits to go away.
The
three survivors laugh and Maggie says .“Freddy’s Dead”. Then we go to credits
with the song “Why Was I Born (Freddy’s Dead)?” by Iggy Pop. The credits play (which
show all of Freddy Krueger’s highlights from past films) and midway through the
credits, we see this final bit.
I
guess it is time to talk about how this film did and it did better than
Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Master, as with a $9-11 million budget, it
did $34 million in the box office. Until Freddy vs. Jason, this had the highest
grossing weekend of the series. But unfortunately word of mouth was anything
but good and as of now, it is only the fifth highest grossing film of the
series which is 8 films so not too much to brag about there. Like I said, this
film was panned and has a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes and is the second lowest rated
Elm Street film of the series, ranking only above the terrible remake which I
have already covered. A comic book version continued the story, but never got
to the third issue before the publisher followed bankruptcy. And then…..there
was the continuation of the Maggie character in Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash Part
2, and trust me, the less said about what they did to her in that trash, the
better. But this was the film that finally got Wes Craven to do another Freddy
Krueger film because this film was such a departure from his idea that he had
to right the ship and due Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.
Which
While It Was The Lowest Grossing Elm Street Film (Due To The Damage Freddy’s
Dead Did To The Character And The 1990s Not Being Kind To Freddy Or Jason), It
Was A Better Film And Was Not Hated By Critics
For
actually a few, this film did not stop their careers. Robert Englund (who
played Freddy Krueger) continued with his horror career and still does plenty
of conventions with expensive autographs.
Rachel
Talalay would continue directing and is still directing today. Unfortunately
for her, her next two films would confirm to anyone that she was not getting
any theatrical film directing work as her next film was Ghost In The Machine,
which while it did terribly, was not the bomb her next film would be.
Oh
Yeah….She Did Tank Girl
Yaphet
Kotto (who played Doc) found more success in a little show called Homicide:
Life On The Streets. Peter Spellos (who played Tracy’s dad) had a hell of a
career as a voice actor doing tons of video game and anime dubs. Johnny Depp
continued to be a bigger main stream star and has stuff like Pirates of the
Caribbean series to his resume where he was Captain Jack Sparrow. Tom Arnold
tried to be a big star, but after having two bombs in The Stupids and Big Bully
(a film so bad Rick Moranis quit acting), that didn’t happen although Tom
Arnold is still a name. Rosanne Barr had the big hit Rosanne and it was brought
back before she got herself cancelled for being saying racist and
conspiratorial nonsense. But the one who isn’t a cameo and probably succeeded
the most after this is Breckin Meyer, who would have a string of hit films he
was in like Clueless, Road Trip, and Rat Race and is still a pretty decent name
in the business.
Sadly,
a few people have passed away since this film came out. Virginia Peters (who
played the woman on the plane next to John Doe) passed away in 1998 at the age
of 74. Angelina Estrada (who played Carlos’ mom) left this mortal coil in 2005
at the age of 73 from heart failure. Yaphet Kotto (who played Doc) died in 2021
at the age of 81. Peter Spellos (who played Tracy’s dad) died in 2023 at the
age of 69 from pancreatic cancer.
Now
for my final thoughts on this movie and I can’t lie. Barring the remake, this
is my least favorite Nightmare On Elm Street film to go back to. The acting in
most parts is not that good, the script has all kinds of holes in it (some you
can fit a train through), the effects are most of the times and yet can find
their goofy points, the one liners are not that great, and it just is a mess.
Good things are that whole Spencer nightmare scene is definitely memorable,
Yaphet Kotto and Robert England are good, Breckin Meyer showed potential of
what he would become, and I hope it brought some catharsis to Leszlie Dean (who
played Tracy) to beat the shit out of her character’s molesting father. I’m
just glad to be done with this one and I can finally say this year, I’ve done
two Robert Englund Freddy Krueger films.
Now
for next time as the Summer Of Bob is over, I gave my fans choices of films
that had the late James Earl Jones in them and this was my most voted upon
poll, which is great because people actually care. And the winner by a wide
margin is another sequel to a classic film although this one is not as far from
the first as Freddy’s Dead is.
Unfortunately, If I
Thought Freddy’s Dead Was A Mess, It Has Nothing On This Crap.
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