A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is a 1988 horror-fantasy film, and the sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. The film is directed by Renny Harlin, starring Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox and Danny Hassel.
The film was a financial success, grossing over $49.9 million in domestic box office; and received mixed to positive reviews from the critics, and is regarded as one of the fan favorite Nightmare on Elm Street films of the series.
Plot
A year after the events of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Kristen, Joey and Kincaid have all been released from Westin Hills Asylum and are back in school. Kristen Parker has a dream where she visits Nancy Thompson's old home. She meets a little girl drawing a chalk version of the house on the sidewalk. Disturbed by what she sees in the boiler room, Kristen pulls Joey Crusel and Roland Kincaid into her dream. Both boys are annoyed and try to convince Kristen that Freddy is dead and not returning. Kincaid's dog flies up through a pipe and bites Kristen on the arm, waking them all up. Kristen has a terrible wound on her arm from the dog bite. When Kincaid wakes up, he sees blood dripping from his dog Jason's mouth.
Kristen has managed to make some new friends: Alice Johnson, a young, bright girl and a frequent daydreamer; Sheila Kopecky, a brainy, quiet girl with asthma; and Debbie Stevens, a tough girl who hates bugs. She has also found herself a boyfriend, Rick Johnson, a martial arts enthusiast who is also Alice's brother.
The day after the dream, Kristen goes to Alice and Rick's house before going to school. Their father, Dennis Johnson is an alcoholic that Alice has trouble asserting herself against. As her waking life is less than desirable, Alice instead daydreams about the way she wishes she was. Her dreams include standing up to her father and having the nerve to ask Dan Jordan out.
In school, Kincaid and Joey confront Kristen about pulling them into the dream. When Kristen insists that Freddy is coming back, Joey suggests that Kristen constantly going into Freddy's dream world may eventually bring him back.
That evening, Dennis Johnson comes home and berates Alice for the vegetable meal that she prepared for him. Alice turns on him, breaks his bowl and yells at him for drinking himself to death every day, but this turns out to be another of her daydreams. Later on, Rick tries to help his timid sister learn to stand up for herself.
Kincaid falls asleep and finds himself locked in the trunk of an old junked car. When he opens the hood, he realizes that he is in the same salvage yard that Freddy's body was buried in. Kincaid spies his dog, Jason, digging and urinating fire in the ground nearby. Freddy then resurrects from the ground after which Kincaid knocks a pile of junked cars down on him. Freddy quickly recoups and attacks Kincaid by stabbing him through his abdomen. Though Kincaid received four fatal wounds to his stomach, he defiantly utters "I'll see you in hell". Freddy stabs him in the abdomen much deeper for three more times to finish the job.
Later that night, Joey is attacked and killed by Freddy on his waterbed after being tricked into seeing a naked woman swimming within it. The following day at school, Kristen is concerned when her friends fail to show up for class. She confides to Alice about her nightmares. After she learns of the deaths of Kincaid and Joey, Kristen goes to the actual Elm Street house, with Rick, Dan, and Alice. Rick tells Dan the story of Freddy, and Alice reveals a part of a rhyme by the name of The Dream Master. Alice suggests to Kristen that she is in control of her own dreams. However, Alice also looks down at the ground and sees something, a sidewalk chalk drawing of the house, that only Kristen was able to see. Clearly, she senses something.
At Kristen's house, her mother puts sleeping pills into her drink so she will get some sleep. Angry, Kristen tells her mother that she just murdered her, runs upstairs and falls asleep. Remembering Alice's advice, she tries to convert nightmares into pleasant dreams. At first this works, and she proceeds to dream about a sandy beach. There she meets a child named Alice creating a sand castle. Freddy appears and ruins her dream, eventually taking Kristen to his boiler room. It is explained that Kristen is the last child from Elm Street, and Freddy needs her help to get more children. Freddy taunts her long enough to make her scream for Alice. Alice suddenly appears in the boiler room. Kristen tries to get her to wake up but to no avail and apologizes to her. Krueger attempts to kill Kristen's friend in front of her, but she jumps in front of Alice. Freddy throws Kristen into a furnace and collects her soul along with the other Dream Warriors. Before Kristen dies, she sends her power to pull people into her dreams to Alice but first it passes through Freddy. This allows him to imprint a part of himself onto Alice.
Alice awakens immediately and realizes that Kristen is in danger. She and Rick both quickly make their way to Kristen's house. Outside, they see flames coming from Kristen's room, and they are too late to save her. As Alice tries to understand what has happened, and who Freddy is, her friends begin to die.
The next day at school, Alice talks to Sheila in the bathroom. Sheila hadn't slept either, although her sleeplessness was caused by cramming for a physics test. When Sheila leaves, Alice puts a cigarette in her mouth and is about to light it when she realizes that she doesn't smoke. Kristen did, however.
While taking the test, Alice falls asleep in class and accidentally pulls Sheila into her dream where Freddy is waiting. He traps Alice in her desk chair so she cannot help her friend and taunts Sheila before sucking all the air out of her lungs through her mouth. Alice awakens, only to discover Sheila having an asthma attack. Sheila then dies after her inhaler fails to provide her with the air she needs. Rick begins to believe there might be some truth in the Freddy story.
Later, Rick falls asleep in a bathroom stall and finds himself fighting an invisible Freddy. Rick holds his own, even going as far as to knock Freddy's glove off his hand. The glove stirs and soon launches at Rick and stabs him in the chest. At Rick's funeral, Alice at first daydreams that Rick is still alive. However, she realizes that she can't daydream her way through life and she has to face reality. However, she finds that she has picked up traits from all of her friends when they died. She received Kristen's powers and part of her personality, Sheila's ingenuity and Rick's assertiveness and martial arts ability.
Together with Dan, Alice tries to get to Debbie, their last surviving friend, before Freddy finds her. Unbeknown to the two teens, Freddy is able to control their movements. Trapping Alice and Dan in a time loop, Freddy is able to reach Debbie and kill her by transforming her into a cockroach and trapping her inside a roach motel and then crushing her before Alice and Dan intervene. Following a car accident, where Dan is injured and rushed to the hospital, he is placed under sedation. Alice returns home to prepare for one final battle with Freddy and to help Dan before Freddy can kill him. As Alice and Dan search for Freddy, Dan is injured. Dan is awoken from sedation and pulled from the Dream World by the Doctors trying to help him in the real world. Alice, facing Freddy alone, attempts to use all of her newly absorbed abilities against him.
The fight is relatively equal, with Alice dealing blows that slow Freddy down. Ultimately, his immortality is an advantage that proves nearly too great to overcome. He declares that he has been guarding his gate for too long to be taken down by her. But just as he is preparing to kill her, she recalls the final verse of the Dream Master rhyme. For the first time, someone defeats Freddy by using the power to make him see the evil that is inside. Using her power as guardian of the gate of good dreams, Alice releases the tortured souls that Freddy imprisoned into the gates of good dreams where he can no longer harm them. Krueger's clothes fall lifelessly to the floor and Alice kicks his glove. The film ends with Dan and Alice at a fountain some time later. Dan tosses a coin into a fountain and before the coin falls into the water, she briefly sees the reflection of Freddy. Alice brushes this off and she and Dan continue to walk through the park.
Cast
- John Beckman as Coach
- Kisha Brackelas Friend
- Brooke Bundy as Elaine Parker
- Wanda Bursey as Friend in Mourning
- Hope Marie Carlton as Herself (Pin Up Girl)
- Kristen Clayton as Alice
- Duane Davis as Jock
- Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
- Richard Garrison as Doctor
- Danny Hassel as Daniel Jordan
- Andras Jones as Rick Johnson
- Tuesday Knight as Kristen Parker
- Jeff Levine as Paramedic
- Joanna Lipari as Nurse B. Troup
- Joie Magidow as Physics Teacher
- Jacquelyn Masche as Mrs. Crusel
- Nicholas Mele as Dennis Johnson
- Robert Shaye as Lecturer
- Jody Montana as Buddy in Diner
- Toy Newkirk as Sheila Kopecky
- Pat O'Neal as Student
- Linnea Quigley as Soul From Freddy's Chest
- Cheryl Richardson as Girl
- Ken Sagoes as Roland Kincaid
- Brooke Theiss as Debbie Stevens
- Lisa Wilcox as Alice Johnson
- Mickey Yablans as Buddy in Locker Room
Box Office Performance
The film was released on August 19th, 1988 on 1,765 theatres in North America. During its first weekend, the film grossed $12,883,403 and was the highest grossing film of that week. This is also the highest opening of the whole franchise until Freddy vs. Jason released in 2003. On the second weekend, the film still ranked No.1 with a box office of $6,989,359. It remained in first place on the third weekend, moving down the chart from No.2 to No.4 and finally No.6 spot over the next three weeks. The film finally dropped out from the Top 10 list as No.11 on the seventh weekend. The film ended up with a domestic total of $49,369,899. The film ranked No.19 of the 1988's Top 50 highest domestic grossing films and also the highest grossing horror-slasher film of that year. This made it the highest grossing Nightmare on Elm Street film until the release of Freddy vs. Jason in 2003. It is currently the third highest grossing film in the franchise.
Critical Response
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master received mixed to positive reviews from the critics, despite mostly positive comments by the audiences. Lisa Wilcox was praised for her performance of the new primary protagonist Alice Johnson and her inspiring character arc of which she transforms from a hopeless daydreamer to a strong and independent heroine. Robert Englund's portrayal of Freddy Krueger was critically acclaimed, and received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
In the book Hollywood Monster, Robert Englund considered the film is his personal favorite film of the franchise. Lisa Wilcox has spoken positively about the film in an interview: “…It had a great story, funny Freddy lines, not too gruesome and a cast that worked really well together.” Wes Craven, the creator of the franchise also give the film a positive comment in the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy: "...I think Renny Harlin is a gifted director, he did so much that the other directors cannot do..."
The film was criticized by critics for its comedic style. It finally holds an mixed to positive rating of 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 27 critical reviews. The film is regarded a fan favorite, and is considered by many to be the MTV film of the franchise.
Film Awards
- Saturn Awards Best Director – Renny Harlin (Nomination)
- Saturn Awards Best Horror Film (Nomination)
- Saturn Awards Best Supporting Actor – Robert Englund (Nomination)
- Fantasporto Awards International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film – Renny Harlin (Nomination)
- Razzie Award for Worst Original Song – Vigil for the song "Therapist" (Nomination)
- Catalonian International Film Festival Best Special Effects (Won)/Best Film (Nomination)
- Teenage Choice for Best Horror Motion Picture (Won)
- Best Young Actor in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture – Rodney Eastman (Nomination)
- Best Young Actor in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture – Andras Jones (Nomination)
- Best Young Actress in a Horror or Mystery Motion Picture – Brooke Theiss (Nomination)
Soundtrack
- "Nightmare" – Tuesday Knight
- "Love Kills" – Vinnie Vincent Invasion
- "Angel" – Love/Hate
- "Don't Be Afraid of Your Dreams" – Go West
- "Back to the Wall" – Divinyls
- "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" -Dramarama
- "Are You Ready for Freddy" – The Fat Boys
- "Fatal Charm" – Billy Idol
- "Pride and Joy" – Joe Lamont
- "Rebuilding the Big House" – Nick Gilder
- "Therapist" – Vigil
- "Under the Night Stars" – Sea Hags
- "Standing Over You" – The Angels
- "I Want Your (Hands on Me)" – Sinéad O'Connor
Music Videos
With the popularity of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, many songs on the soundtrack had music videos:
- The Fat Boys featuring Robert Englund performing "Are You Ready for Freddy" showing one of the Fat Boys inheriting the Elm Street house and staying the night in order to complete the inheritance, even including Freddy rapping and audio of Heather Langenkamp's famous line "don't fall asleep" from the original film. This video can be found on bonus disc, The Nightmare Series Encyclopedia, from the The Nightmare on Elm Street Collection, released by New Line Platinum Series, on September 21st, 1999.
- Vinnie Vincent Invasion performing "Love Kills", a music video featuring scenes from The Dream Master. It is not featured on any DVD release.
Trivia
- This was the highest grossest slasher film of the 1980s.
- Patricia Arquette was unable to reprise her role as Kristen Parker due to pregnancy.
- This was the first film in the series that was directed by a non-American (the first until the next film). Renny Harlin, the only European (as a Finn) who directed a film of the series.
- The writer, Scott Pearce, is really a pen name. No such author existed.
- This film had the most merchandise at the time.
- Until Freddy vs. Jason, this film had the highest box office.
Photo Gallery
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master has a Photo Gallery.
External Links
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master at Wikipedia
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master at the Internet Movie Database
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