Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) New Line/Horror RT: 89 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, frightening images, sexual innuendo, drug use) Director: Rachel Talalay Screenplay: Michael DeLuca Music: Brian May Cinematography: Declan Quinn Release date: September 13, 1991 (US) Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Shon Greenblatt, Lezlie Deane, Breckin Meyer, Ricky Dean Logan, Yaphet Kotto, Tobe Sexton, Johnny Depp, Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr, Alice Cooper, Elinor Donahue. Box Office: $34.8 million (US)
Rating: **
There’s that word again in the title Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. You know which one, it begins with f and rhymes with spinal. Yep, that’s the one! DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT!
That being said, it’s a shame that Freddy Krueger has to go out on such a weak note. Freddy’s Dead is the sixth and supposedly final chapter of the series that got off to a great start with Wes Craven’s now-classic 1984 fright flick. Seven years later, Freddy has gone from evil child killer to boogeyman beloved by children everywhere. A guy I once spoke to in passing told me his 3YO daughter loved Freddy and giggled every time she saw him. I doubt that was Craven’s intention when he created the character, but he might have had it in the back of his mind that there are some weird little kids out there.
While I don’t exactly hate Freddy’s Dead, it’s a big step down from the original terrifying movie. Its main problem is that it isn’t scary. It’s bizarre and weird, but never scary. For this last outing, the producers wanted the Gloved One to go out in a memorable fashion, so they released it in 3D. It wasn’t until I got to the theater that I learned that the 3D didn’t kick in until the last 13 minutes. In addition, it was the cheap kind of 3D (one red lens, one blue). The term “rip-off” definitely applies to this situation. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much seeing that the manager let me and my friend in for free that Friday night. In fact, I ended up seeing it again the next day at the behest of another friend. My eyes weren’t too happy about it, that’s for sure. Setting aside its technical shortcomings for a moment, Freddy’s Dead is just lame. It’s like a watered-down drink at a bar.
Like I said, this one gets really weird starting with the fact that it’s set ten years in the future. Freddy has killed all but one of the children in Springwood. The surviving teen (Greenblatt) awakens from a nightmare and tries to escape the town, but Freddy catches up with him and sends him through a hidden border to bring him something. The kid, known as “John Doe”, wakes up on the road with total amnesia. The cops find him wandering around an unnamed city and take him to a youth shelter for troubled teens.
He’s placed under the care of Maggie (Zane, Bad Influence), a case worker plagued by terrifying nightmares. She finds on his person a newspaper clipping of a missing woman named Loretta Krueger. When she sees Springwood listed as the byline, she suggests they take a trip there to jog his memory. Three teens- rich, rebellious stoner Spencer (Meyer, 54), sexual abuse victim Tracy (Deane, 976-EVIL) and Carlos (Logan), hearing-impaired due to abuse by his mother- looking to escape the shelter stow away on the van.
Upon arriving in Springwood, they learn that all of the adults suffer from a mass psychosis because their children were murdered. Furthermore, Maggie and John find out that Freddy had a child that was taken away from him after the disappearance of his wife. John believes that he is that child. Meanwhile, the other three teens try to leave town only to find they cannot because some unseen force is sending them in circles. They give up and decide to stay in an abandoned house for the night. Guess which house? It doesn’t end well for two of them.
In the end, it’s Maggie that goes up against Freddy. Doc (Kotto, Alien), the resident dream specialist, helps Maggie by giving her a pair of special glasses to see her way around the dream world inhabited by Freddy. Her putting on the glasses signals the audience to do the same with their 3D glasses. It’s an interesting sequence in that it gives viewers some insight about Freddy’s past and how he became the monster that he is. In it, we also learn how he gained his supernatural powers. It seems like a reasonable explanation, but the question remains as to whether we really wanted to know. Some things are better left a mystery such as the secret to Jason Voorhees’ immortality (Jason Goes to Hell, remember?).
One of my biggest problems with Freddy’s Dead is that it changes something pretty major. Originally, Freddy murdering the teens of Elm Street was out of revenge for what their parents did to him. In this movie, it’s explained that the reason for Freddy’s revenge is his child being taken from him. Why change things this late in the game? It’s a mistake that almost proves fatal.
The visuals in Freddy’s Dead are decent but not outstanding. There isn’t anything all that memorable. Director Rachel Talalay fails to bring the visual flair she would later bring to Tank Girl. She has a pretty good handle on narrative in that she never lets it become convoluted even at its most bizarre. The characters aren’t all that memorable either. Kotto and Zane turn in good performances, but the teens (except for Deane) are forgettable.
Johnny Depp, one of the stars of the first movie, contributes an amusing cameo as do Mr. & Mrs. Roseanne Barr (as they’re listed in the closing credits). Rocker Alice Cooper appears briefly as Freddy’s abusive foster dad. Elinor Donahue (Princess from Father Knows Best) shows up as a delusional orphanage house mother.
What makes Freddy’s Dead truly disappointing is that it doesn’t make the most of its premise. His demise should have been something to remember, something awesome. It’s really not. It’s okay, but doesn’t quite make the grade. It leaves a great deal to be desired. That’s not the reaction the makers hoped for, you can bet on it.