Review and Haiku: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4

A master of dreams

Protecting souls from Freddy

Guiding them safely 

Freddy, he’s menacing once again with some great one liners that are sharp and funny and fit the moment perfectly. Robert Englund says this is his favorite portrayal of Freddy. Makes sense when you watch because you can see the joy in Englund’s performance. Freddy also looks great again too. The burn effects are better in earlier entries but he still looks like a menacing dream demon. Props to the effects department for making him look so grotesque and evil.  

Lisa Wilcox, when she gets the chance to be the final girl she’s solid in her role and very believable. I like how her character goes from frumpy and skittish and jumping at every shadow to this bad ass fighter taking on  Freddy with all these dream powers. Lisa handles this duel role solidly. Tuesday Knight, great singer, is solid as Kristen, but Patricia is severely missed. It’s jarring not having her in this movie. If you don’t watch Part 3 and Part 4 back to back then it’s not as noticeable, but watching 3 and 4 back to back shows the difference. Patricia is just a better actress and more convincing. Hope that doesn’t offend anyone when I say that but it’s the truth. Kincaid and Joey – solid again like they were in part 3, thankfully not recast, and the rest of the new cast is good too. No standouts other than Lisa but the new cast handle their roles effectively enough. 

Renny Harlin’s direction is on point. This feels like a Renny Harlin film with a lot of the tropes you get when you watch his movies and he keeps the film moving forward at a quick pace. It never lags or drags. 

The end battle inside the church. Like the way that set looks. Gore is minimal but there are plenty of kills to be had. I don’t like the fact that Freddy doesn’t use the glove as much, starting to drift towards Part 5 and 6 with the kills, and that’s a negative because his glove is a formidable weapon. He should have used it more, but in place of the glove, he finds clever ways of dispatching teens like the roach motel segment, which is a standout kill in any of these movies. Also, I like the soul food diner scene. Looked great and it gave me a chuckle.  

This movie also has a great score from start to finish. The music fits each scene and even the non lyrical music is spooky and intense. Always forget how good the score is for Part 4. 

All in all, this was a solid revisit, but it’s starting to show some rust as the years roll on. Parts of this movie don’t work at all, like the kung fu fight with invisible Freddy, and bringing Freddy back with dog pee, not the best the franchise has given us, but the resurrection did look awesome. Great practical stop motion effects. 

And those are my thoughts. What are your thoughts about A Nightmare on Elm Street 4? Love it, hate it, favorite sequel, let me know all that in the comments.

See the video here:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master: Movie Review and Haiku
https://youtu.be/DTS95z3cBF8