Dream Warriors come out and play.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors (1987): 7 out of 10: Eighties nostalgia was in full bloom as I recently watched this third installment of the Freddy Krueger series. Freddy was always a more creative and witty horror icon, and Dream Warriors is when he began to shine. (He is more fun than the grungy, torturing serial killers in today’s movies.)
The dream sequences are fresh and creative, and the kids fight back in fun ways. The two standout scenes are the deaf-mute who is tongue-tied and the sleepwalker who gets a little help from Freddie pulling his strings. (I also have a soft spot for the Harry Potter death scene) The movie reunites some of the original films cast and while Heather Lagenkamp isn’t that good an actress, B movie regular John Saxon, who plays her father, gives his usual solid performance.
As for new cast members before they were famous stars, Patricia Arquette and Laurence Fishburne handle themselves well. Other cast members (except for Robert Englund’s excellent portrayal of Freddie) are passable, the only exception being the milquetoast zero charisma performance of Craig Wasson as Lagenkamp’s love interest, who seems to drag the movie down in every scene he is in.
The special effects are excellent (Yes Snake Freddie and the skeleton were a bit off, but for 1987 they still outshine many large budget movies of today.) The hair, Diet Coke cans, and music are pure eighties (Dokken? What were they thinking?) I think as a result the film has gotten better over time. Never boring, often creative and definitely fun Dream Warriors (Yes, that is a dumb title) is a good time at the movies.
[…] Here he has a tool to enter people’s minds and change the way they think (Inception) and instead he is thinking all Freddy Kruger complete with claymation snake monster. Even if he succeeded one can see it would not work out the way he wanted it […]