The last of
the Elm Street kids are now at a psychiatric ward where Freddy haunts their
dreams with unspeakable horrors. Their only hope is dream researcher and
fellow survivor Nancy Thompson, who helps them battle the supernatural
psycho on his own hellish turf.
A Nightmare
on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge was an interesting film that took
viewers down a dead end street, but A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream
Warriors basically saved the movie franchise by not only putting it
back on its proper footing but also building upon and improving the impressive
strengths of the original film. The storyline is strong, putting Freddy
back where he belongs - inside the nightmares of the remaining children
of the Elm Street vigilantes responsible for his fiery death. Heather Langenkamp's
return in the role of Nancy Thompson provides a crucial link between the
original and this, its true sequel. Freddy's character is expanded not
only in terms of his history but also in terms of his character and engaging
personality. The acerbically witty Freddy we all know and love truly comes
to the fore for the first time, and he now takes more time with his victims
in order to truly enjoy his work. The blessings of a larger budget also
pay huge dividends here, making Freddy's little hobby especially fun to
watch. A little camp comes along in the process here and there, but Freddy
himself is truly on top of his game.
Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) is now a graduate student pursuing
research on nightmare therapy, and she returns to Springwood in order to
join the staff at the local mental health institution. Some half dozen
teenagers from Elm Street are being treated at the facility, each of them
suffering from nightmares that are all too familiar to Nancy. One young
lady in particular (Kristen, played by Patricia Arquette) has the remarkable
ability to pull someone else into her dreams, and this ultimately becomes
the basis of Nancy's plan to stop Freddy from killing the surviving kids.
Convincing her superiors at the hospital that the dreams they scoff at
are actually real is about as hard as fighting Freddy himself, so of course
a few souls are bound to die (in some truly delightful ways) before the
action plays out. On top of all this, we also come to learn the tragic
story of Freddy's birth and get a close-up look at the source of his amazing
strength.
Freddy has some great scenes and some great lines in this film. The big
sleepwalking death scene is probably my favorite Freddy kill of all-time;
Freddy first takes the form of a gnarly little puppet before doing some
mighty impressive "string" pulling of his own. You also have the gigantic
Freddy snake trying to swallow a victim in one gulp, some impressive claw
work, a really cool ten "finger" goodbye for one special victim, and many
other great Freddy moments. Some of the kids are rather annoying, and the
"dream powers" they discover in themselves can be rather silly (especially
those of the "wizard master"), but one tough guy in particular has some
of the best anti-Freddy lines in the whole Nightmare series. The big shovel
fight toward the end, featuring a skeletal version of Freddy, is also a
joy to watch. While the special effects may not look perfectly convincing
to modern viewers, this fantastic scene was quite impressive for its time.
A
Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is arguably the best film
in the series, and it really sets the tone for the cinematic future of
the unparalleled, thoroughly enjoyable Mr. Krueger. Killing isn't just
a business or hobby for Fred by this point in his career; it's something
he really enjoys, and it is truly a delight to watch him do his thing.
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- When
the clay puppet face turns into Freddy's, special-effects man Doug Beswick
used stop-motion animation. Filming began with a clay Freddy face that
was made plainer in each frame. The result was then run backwards, and
that is what appears in the final cut of the film.
- Freddy
Krueger's famous line, "Welcome to prime time, bitch!" was actually an
improvised line by Robert Englund. The original line was, "You're on TV
now, girl!"
- The
scene in which Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson) is thrown into the grave and
partially buried by the skeleton of Freddy is a tribute to Body Double,
in which Wasson's character is similarly buried alive.
- Patricia Arquette's first movie.
- The bar where Nancy and Dr. Gordon meet Nancy's Father is called "Little Nemo's". "Little Nemo in Slumberland" is the name of a comic strip by Winsor McCay about the adventures of a child in the land of dreams.
- The
movie on TV that Jennifer watches before she dies is Critters.
- Dick
Cavett's fan base soared after appearing in Dream Warriors. His
only line was, "I don't give a fuck what you think!" His fan-mail tripled.
- When Taryn is first seen in the hallway she's wearing a Dokken shirt. Dokken wrote and performed "Dream Warriors" for this film.
- The
barking pig seen on the dining room table is actually a real dead carcass
of a pig. New Line threatened to cut that scene because of budget costs
so they bought a dead pig, hollowed out the head, and used it as the puppet.
- The
Freddy snake was actually made to look like a giant penis. But when it
showed up on the set for filming the producers weren't very happy with
the phallic look of it. So right before shooting the scene they covered
it with a gooey green substance to make it look more worm like.
     
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