• Director: Chuck Russell
• With: Robert Englund, Patricia Arquette, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Craig Wasson, Ken Sagoes, Rodney Eastman, Jennifer Rubin, Ira Heiden, Bradley Gregg, Zsa Zsa Gabor
• Duration: 1h37
• Music by: Angelo Badalamenti
• My rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

Picking up where the original Nightmare left off, Nancy has grown up and become a psychiatrist specializing in dream therapy. She meets a group of children at a local hospital facing Freddy Krueger, the same demon she once encountered in her sleep. One of them is Kristen, who has the power to draw other people into her dreams. Working with a male doctor assigned to the case, Nancy helps the kids realize their special abilities within the nightmare world. When Freddy captures one of her charges, she leads a rescue attempt into Krueger’s domain, in hopes of putting his spirit to rest once and for all.

Review:

Wes Craven, who never thought a Freddy Krueger series was ever possible, is back with Dream Warriors, the third A Nightmare on Elmstreet movie. This time he’s given the directorial seat to Chuck Russell who debuts as a director with this movie. And übervillain Krueger is played again by Robert Englund!

And a few more characters from the original return for this movie, Saxon and of course Langenkamp as Nancy!

This movie expands on the lore about Krueger, introducing his mother, the nun Amanda. Her part will be expanded in future instalments of the movie series. Here she is only a guide to fight Freddy.

We see another debut in Patricia Arquette’s acting. She portrays Freddy’s new prey, Kristen. And the scene this time is a psychiatric asylum, where all kids dreaming of Freddy are patients. None of them ready to go back to sleep. But when they do, Freddy’s on the prowl. And this leads to some of the best death scenes in the series (also one of the worst: Wizard Master) and it wouldn’t be Freddy without the spooky oneliners: ‘Welcome to prime time, bitch!’

It’s not that the movie stands the test of time very well, the special effects are ‘meh’ and the acting is not at its top level, but these movies have such a cult status that I love them and watching them is one and a half hour of ‘clear your head’ fun! And Englund as Krueger is still one of thé best bad guys in movie history!

To end with Freddy’s words (and awaiting part 4): ‘What a rush!’