A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

Director: Stephen Hopkins Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, Kelly Jo Minter

I don’t know if it’s because by this time, after the dreadful part 4, I was so deflated and bamboozled by how bad it was that my expectations were set very very low, but I think I’ve somehow managed to enjoy part 5 a little bit more than the previous instalment… Well, OK… “Enjoy” is a bit too strong as a term, let’s just say that I was awake, at least. There was a little bit more of a story (albeit very convoluted and a bit stupid) and a mystery around Freddy using the dreams of an unborn child in the womb to haunt his victims was at least original. There were also a few interesting visuals (the stairs sequence towards the end, ripped off from Labyrinth was nicely done), some good gross-out special effects which considering how low the budget was, were actually quite effective and a couple of fun jump-scare moments. But let me be clear, this is a TERRIBLE film nonetheless, veering more towards the 1-star pit of doom than anything worth recommending to anyone.

By now Freddy is so exposed and so clownish (here dressed like a chef overfeeding one of the girls, or even skateboarding) that his presence has stopped being scary altogether, so it’s now just about reverting back to the old slasher B-movies formula waiting for the next kill of the whatever the disposable actor/actress is while enjoying the design of the nightmares around the kill.

The film today is most famous (or infamous) for its “It’s a boy” line.