Nightmare on Elm Street 4 The Dream Master (1988) #
This is the first NOES that I actually remember. Not that I ever watched it. Rather, I remember seeing the cover of the movie at Movie Gallery or some other movie rental place and being mesmerized by the image of Freddy combing through the strings of his ground beef face, and his one big disembodied eye. I was six years old and had never seen a horror movie, or anything like this.
So here we go!
First of all, everybody from the first movie dies. Kincaid’s up first. Wait why did his dog piss fire on Freddy’s grave in the junk yard? Now Joey. Wait isn’t this the second time that Freddy tricked him by pretending to be a hot naked lady? C'mon Joey. Then Kristen. Sad!
Now all of the new kids die.
So here are some things that are interesting about this movie.
Alice being set up early on in a very subtle way to be the Dream Master because she often gets trapped in DAY dreams of her own making.
The mirror motif feels cool, but also like something somebody made up when they were like, Let’s have Freddy be killed by looking in a mirror and being destroyed by a reflection of his own evil. And then trying to weave mirror symbolism back throughout the film. Alice refuses to look in the mirror but eventually gains strength by doing so. And when Freddy looks in the mirror he dies. Also strong Alice Through The Looking Glass vibes.
Alice slowly absorbing the powers of her friends is also a direct mirror to Freddy absorbing their souls. She is really meant to be a mirror image of him.
Debbie’s transformation into a cockroach is probably the most gruesome death in the entire series to date. Big yikes.
I also think this is a turning point for Freddy’s character. Early on, his motivation can be explained as killing the original Elm Street kids, the children of the adults who murdered him. But in this film, he finally kills them all, and presumably cannot enter anybody’s dreams any more. Hence needing Alice to pull people into her dreams for him to kill. So there is no longer any justification for his kills other than that he loves killing. There’s no more revenge to be had.
Also, good job incorporating a time loop. Love that.
Soundtrack: