Short Attention Span Review - A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
Oye. This movie had so much potential, but it just couldn't connect the dots. While director Renny Harlin did manage to drop some cool imagery on us, and there were some rather solid action bits, a lack of character development and a jokey script undermined his efforts. Robert Englund was surely invested in the material, and seemed to be having a ball with his part, but it was just a little too much. I enjoyed some of Freddy's wisecracks, but I didn't really want to see him portrayed as a murderous clown. And that was apparently the goal in The Dream Master, which also suffered from a number of cringeworthy gags that missed the mark entirely. There were some zingers that landed, and some of the creativity that made Dream Warriors a winner made it onto the screen. However, while it was servicable for this type of flick, the effects work wasn't quite as good as what we saw in the prior entry. The script dispensed with several pivotal characters with minimal fanfare, and failed to develop their succesors enough to inspire me to root for them. Aside from the roach kill and a rousing finale, I nearly lost interest. To be fair, the roach kill was totally f'n gnarly, but by the time I got to that part. it was a genuine "too little, too late" scenario. Then we got the parting shot, an obligatory "Freddy's still out there" gimmick--and it was really, really weak. In fact, that would be an adequate summary of this late 80s slasher sequel: really, really weak. If not for that one wild moment when The Dream Master totally bugged out, I would give this one an "F."
Final Grade: D-
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| Robert Englund has a great time with The Dream Master. I did not. |
