Wes Craven had no intentions of 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street becoming the booming horror franchise it became in the 80’s. His 1984 effort, revered by critics and horror fans alike, was simply a one-off exercise in terror that blurred the lines between dreams and reality. Freddy Krueger, the film’s resident boogeyman, was shown mostly in shadow and played more of a background role in the film, thus making him a much more frightening presence than when he did appear onscreen.
A Nightmare on Elm Street became an instant horror classic and was hugely successful. By the end of its run, the $1.8 million film went on to gross $25 million. New Line Cinema, which was struggling to make a true name for itself at the time, had their first real hit and they weren’t about to let it be the one-off that Wes Craven imagined. Craven wanted no part of a sequel but the head of New Line, Robert Shaye, had different ideas and went ahead with 1985’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The film was a stark departure from the tone set in the first film. While Freddy still maintained his horror mystique, the film broke the rules about dreams and reality by having Freddy appear in the real world and kill his victims when they weren’t dreaming (the infamous pool party scene) and the film’s homoerotic subtext would make it an interesting film to dissect, but not one that achieved the iconic status of the original film. Despite the mixed reception, the $3 million film actually outgrossed the original with a final take of $29.9 million but it was clear that a different path needed to be taken if the franchise was to move forward.
With A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Wes Craven was back in a minimal capacity. He did provide an initial script for the film but a lot of the final product was changed when writer Frank Darabont was brought on board and director Chuck Russell also helped make revisions to the script. Even though a lot of Craven’s script wasn’t used, he received a story credit on the film and his DNA is definitely felt in the final product as this film feels like a true sequel to the first film and not such a glaring departure like Freddy’s Revenge.
What A Nightmare on Elm Steet 3: Dream Warriors achieved in 1987 was bringing Freddy to the forefront. The first two entries made him the looming presence in the background. By the time the third film was released Freddy was clearly the star and Robert Englund got to take true ownership of the franchise. Freddy is still dark here but a gallows humor is introduced in this film that would shape the franchise moving forward, for better or worse.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors definitely broke down the pop culture walls for the franchise in a big way. The film spoke to the emerging MTV-generation in the 80’s and tapped into the horror teen market in a way that its counterparts such as Halloween and Friday the 13th, had not quite achieved by that point. The third film opened at number one with $8.9 million and went on to gross $44.7 million on a $4.5 million budget. It was New Line’s highest grossing film of 1987 and the 24th highest grossing film of that year.
It’s interesting to see where Freddy went from hidden figure to iconic pop culture status. On August 19, 1988, this was fully realized when A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master was released. If they were tiptoeing into it with Dream Warriors, they kicked down all the walls with this entry. Freddy was now such a presence that he was likely to crack a joke before killing you in your dreams and he was given much more personality, which I’m sure was a blast for Englund but it was a far cry from the guy we met back in 1984. Freddy is larger than life here and it’s no surprise that this is the first Nightmare film where Robert Englund gets top-billing. This is Freddy’s film, make no mistake about that but the fourth film begins a compelling conundrum. I no doubt believe that The Dream Master is fun from start to finish but it’s also the sequel that once and for all derails Freddy from eliciting any fear. The wisecracks and heavy use of dark comedy would continue with worse results in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. It would take Wes Craven taking the reigns once again with New Nightmare for Freddy to be scary again but by that point, I don’t think that was the Freddy audiences were used to. The Freddy they got, beginning with The Dream Master, is who became a pop culture icon and that is how he is mostly remembered (unless you’re a true horror aficionado).
That’s not to say that pop culture status wasn’t the way to go. Many call The Dream Master the MTV generation’s Freddy Kreuger movie and in 1988, the youth culture that consumed that channel like candy was also the audience that would be most interested in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Director Renny Harlin, to his credit, essentially makes a visual music video for 90 minutes and while that is sometimes seen as a criticism, I find it to be the film’s biggest attribute. Yes, things are less dark and a bit more vibrant (especially compared to its predecessor), but the film really pops on screen and it’s always visually arresting. Harlin knows that visuals play a key role, especially for an audience seeking flash and dazzle, and on that front, he really doesn’t disappoint.
The perception of Freddy Kreuger is where the film gets some of its criticism. Robert Englund turns Freddy into a full-on movie star here and that has its ups and downs. On the upside, it allows Englund to show a lot of layers with the character. He has a wicked sense of humor and impeccable timing and he gets to utilize all that to the fullest. I’d argue that The Dream Master is when he fully embraced all aspects of the character and really took ownership over the role. It’s a great showcase for him, even it comes at the cost of sacrificing the fear.
Due to the fact that the film plays more for jokes, the horror quotient is reduced. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of horrific visual moments due the over the top nature of some of the kills (“Wanna Suck Face” comes to mind) but Freddy is no longer scary. He’s fun and is a joy to watch but we are a far cry from the child murderer that was introduced in 1984. A lot of this is due to the mass market appeal of the franchise by that point. This was hinted at with Dream Warriors and since that film did so well, I think New Line doubled down on the humor because that seemed to play a part in that film’s success. These changes lead to go box office but I also think it shuts out the audience that is truly looking for something that actually scares them.
Having to top Nany Thompson, who is arguably one of the best final girls, was likely no easy task. She is the emotional center of the first film and her sacrifice in the third, is probably one of the franchises’ strongest moments. That being said, Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox), is probably just as a defining figure for this series as well. In many ways, she follows the same trajectory as Nancy, going from victim to someone owning her power, but seeing the physical transformation of the character is what makes the transition compelling. Wilcox has to go from meek and mild to independent and kickass without missing a beat and she makes the change completely believable. One of the best narrative choices the film makes is that after each one of her friends dies, she takes on an aspect of their personality or strengths. Wilcox has to adopt all of these changes on screen as well and she does an effective job doing so. It also gives the film a bit of an emotional core amongst all the chaos and it raises the stakes a bit during her final confrontation with Freddy.
Speaking of the final battle, The Dream Master also boasts the most ambitious finale of all too. While Freddy has been collecting the souls of Alice’s friends, she’s been collecting their dream powers to harness in the final battle. When Alice forces Freddy to look at his own reflection in a mirror, the souls break free and literally tear Freddy apart. It’s an epic 3-4 minute death sequence comprised of around 20 special effects. This finale sequence was headed by special makeup effects artist Steve Johnson (Blade II, Night of the Demons). For the close-ups of the souls bursting forth from Freddy’s chest, Johnson and his team built a 20-foot-tall Freddy with an open chest cavity covered with a thin layer of material for performers to burst through. When Freddy is pinned to the wall by the little arms of the souls breaking free, it’s a prop wall and fake lower body with a hole for Englund’s upper body. When the arms then rip his skull open, that’s puppetry and animatronics. It’s yet another brilliant display of the visual risks that Renny Harlin was willing to take as a director and it paid off.
Harlin had a lot of ideas for the visual and practical effects. Harlin wanted special makeup effects artist John Carl Buechler, whom he’d just worked with on Prison, involved with effects for The Dream Master. Buechler’s contribution? The fully articulated, radio-controlled Nightmare Pizza, with moving human face meatballs. Buechler was just one of many extremely talented artists working on this sequel. Howard Berger handled Freddy Krueger’s makeup application, and a team of notable names like Brian Wade, Bart Mixon, and Screaming Mad George worked on the special makeup effects team. Screaming Mad George, who has long since built up a reputation for the surreal, fits right at home in this entry with some of the weirdest effects of the franchise. If you were to list the most memorable deaths of the series, Debbie Stevens’ (Brooke Theiss) being turned into a cockroach and squashed in a roach motel by Freddy should make the cut.
New Line seemed to make the right decisions with The Dream Master because when it was released on August 19, 1988, the film became an instant hit right out of the gate. The film opened at number one with $12.8 million, topping the opening of Dream Warriors, and it maintained the number one position for three straight weeks. By the end of its run, the film grossed $49.3 million on a $13 million budget and became the highest grossing Nightmare film until the release of Freddy Vs. Jason in 2003. This was the height of Freddy popularity and it definitely capitalized on that fact.
Despite its popularity, the film did receive mixed reviews (it currently sits rotten at 56% on Rotten Tomatoes) and there was a general feeling that, even though the film made money, the horror genre was starting to begin its decline. We had three horror movie heavyweights at the time (Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween) and they were each cranking out sequels, plus there were a lot of one-off horror films that saturated the market. It began to feel like maybe this is all a bit much and the audience was near the point of saying enough is enough. Just a year after the success of this film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, was released and it failed to come close to duplicating the success of The Dream Master and it was ripped apart by fans and critics alike. It’s interesting to look back on The Dream Master and realize it came out at the right time because Freddy was truly popular but it was also right before the horror genre was about to take a hit.
Despite the issues with tone and the full-on transition of Freddy from feared boogeyman to comedian, there’s a determined charm to A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. It’s weird and it doesn’t always make the most sense (uh..flaming dog pee resurrects Freddy), but it’s a stunning showcase of practical effects. I’ll also forever go to bat for Alice Johnson as an underappreciated final girl, the only to fight Krueger twice and live, but it’s also an interesting moment in the history of the series as the film was released at the peak of Freddy Krueger’s popularity. Love it or hate it, it’s an important film in the franchise’s history.
