Fun Fact- Wes Craven said in the commentary for this movie that he wanted Johnny Depp to return but didn't bother asking because he thought since he was such a big star at this point he'd say no. Then after the film was released Depp called him and told him he absolutely would have returned if Wes asked
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate Robert Englund’s performance in this movie. He played a fictional version of himself, a fictional version of himself playing a parody of Freddy Krueger, and a demon manifested as a darker version of Freddy Krueger.
Maybe the film is implying that it’s not just a demon taking on the appearance of Freddy. But maybe the movie can be interpreted as being more meta. Perhaps the dream world from the fictional universe accidentally ended up in real world and the actual Freddy is now aware he’s a fictional character and is so pissed that he was allowed to be defeated countless times that he wants revenge and now doesn’t give a shit. He even doesn’t care about the restraints that he needs to be in someone’s dream to kill them hence why he decides to teleport into the hospital room and murder the babysitter. He’s that mad. His new design probably reflects his anger as well as him wanting to make people more frightened by him. And the reason he gets defeated by the fireplace is because by making another movie but inside the real life world that it causes him and the Dream Dimension to be banished back to the film universe. But again that’s just my theory and just a interpretation. I like that horror movies can leave stuff up to interpretation like that. Not everything needs to be overexplained because it’s more fun to theorize.
It's fascinating how this was focused on making Freddy _actually_ scary, when my mom said the biggest appeal of Freddy back in the day was him being a goofy bastard and delivering those one-liners.
This is from 97, I think or at least that's when I first saw it. You can definitely tell, it's of that time, and I imagine audiences probably took it more seriously back then, and you'd still probably give it a watch now even for background noise if nothing else lol. Understandably if you're only seeing it now you're not gonna get it beyond thinking "oh this movie sucks" also I feel bad for those people. It's definitely not the best, but there are worse movies in the franchise which they will come to find lol. I think by the end of the series, they'll be left wondering how could it just keep getting worse
@Lava91point0 There's only Freddy vs Jason left in the main continuity. It's arguably the best one of the franchise. Meanwhile, the reboot will probably be received worse than New Nightmare I should think. There was a lot wrong with that one, and it's the reason there haven't been others since.
3 Biggest achievements that helped New Line Cinema became a big success: A Nightmare on Elm Street Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1990 The Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Man, that first turtle movie is so damn. The story, the freaking score and the cinematography are all so good and better than it has any right to be. Plus the arsehole standing in the hallway with medieval weaponry waiting to pass it out to the other foot clan members lol
And the arsehole with said medieval weapon lead to Ralph being hurt which lead to Leo reevaluating how he had been treating the team. Not just as a leader, but as the oldest brother. The shot of Leo watching over Ralph has he recovered is such an emotional shot. Ugh the whole movie is better than it has any right to be.
@@eba9121 It's crazy how the TMNT movie was the highest grossing indie movie until Blair Witch dethroned it. It holds up so well. Honestly a fantastic movie.
Not-So-Fun Fact: The whole Actress getting harassed over the telephone is based on the harassment the real life actress faced after the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.
@@Soyuz2578 And a beholder is some kinda demon creature from that Satanic dice game the kids are playin' these days... the Dungeons and the Dragons and so on. It's also the floatin' eyeball demon thing from The Doom and subsequent iterations of The Dooms. Are we havin' fun yet... bitch?!? 👿🔪
The fact that Rex didn't come alive and eat Freddy in the end was so disappointing. I thought they implied that Rex, as a real dinosaur, somehow protected Dylan by fighting Freddy off in his dreams.
No, you're right. Dylan's dialogue makes it pretty clear that Rex was protecting him from Freddy throughout the movie. When he showed that the stuffed toy was all cut up, Dylan says "Rex protected me". And later, when the dad dies, he says "Rex woke me up. He was fighting a mean man with claws". Also, I agree, Rex should have been in the finale.
As much as I hate AI, I wouldn't mind seeing a fan creating a crazier third act/climax in which Nancy-Heather goes through a more mind bending and twisty nightmare world that mixes the sets with reality while chasing Dylan (maybe even get Robert Englund showing on up set acting like "Huh? What's happening? Wes, is this part of the script?") and then in the finale the Freddy-demon-whatever villain survives the Hansel and Gretel stuff but then Rex shows up to finish him off
This movie came out a year after Jurassic Park, and I'm gobsmacked that you would write it so that a stuffed dinosaur saves the kid in his dream, but then you DON'T have the payoff in the third act where you see, in the kid's dream, it's like a "real"/animatronic dinosaur that's badass, and Freddy fights him again but for our viewing pleasure this time.
Did not expect this one to be as divisive as it was. It was one of the few Elm Streets I saw, and I thought that it had an interesting take on the genre despite its pretty goofy ending. Not as good as I remember it, but it's possible that some of the groaning and eye-rolling about the meta commentary due to it being a bit tropey (Alan Wake, Angel, Supernatural, etc.), but New Nightmare came out many years before those did their schtick.
Yeah I think the whole meta thing had been done so much to death that it kinda dated the movie, I actually expected them to hate this movies because they hate meta narratives overall from what I have seen.
@@emeritus5418 I’m aware but the fequency and how much it’s been botched has increased overall, it especially doesn’t work as well when you are also trying to make Freddy scary again, it doesn’t blend very well plot wise unfortunately, ironically him being more himself from the sequels would of helped a bit. I feel this was beta scream, and wes really nailed the tonal blend there.
While I like Nightmare 3: Dream Warriors...I never liked how they killed Nancy and made her look so naive...She literally already knew from the first one that Freddy likes to torment his victims with the appearance of their loved ones.
@@mr.battle20yes he did? He literally wrote the screenplay with 3 other writers, one of the 2 main story headers, produced it. What are you talking about bro? Wes just didn’t direct it. But he was quite involved with 3.
3 could've been so good if she was an active opposition to Freddy. They go into their group dreams and she's unaffected and Freddy is actively trying to separate them from her but he has to be creative since getting in contact with her, who can't be affected and has a grasp of dream mechanics, is dangerous to him. Meanwhile Nancy, from a position of strength, has to give ground to the others so they learn to dismiss his influence. Some fail and die, some do it and beat Freddy. Instead we got a waste. She was naive and incompetent, never really walked them through how she was able to dismiss his influence, didn't have a grasp of dream abilities and then died. They kinda last jedied her.
I think it'd be more interesting if the movie followed Robert England trying to clear his own name, after several homicides resemble the Kruger killings in the movies. You can say the real Freddy wasn't happy with Robert's rendition of him, and you can have the best/longest running actor in the franchise act play both the villian and hero.
Having him fight Freddy with his own hand claws would be interesting. A drawn out fight over various sets with the previous films. The house, the boiler factory, the asylum, being heloed by previous victims ftom the fictional world, cutting his ties each movie like with Vokdemorts horecruxes.
This was my first Nightmare film. Saw it when I was 6 and it ruined me mentally. Was terrified of the dark for over a year. Remembered it being a lot better, lol
No wonder Longman remembered the Julie actress. Tracy Middendorf was in pilot episode of Angel. Her character's ill-fated pursuit of movie career was what kick-started the whole Angel Investigations' journey into darkness. I have to rewatch Angel again.
I've been looking forward to this! Your reactions to the set dressing are hilarious. Guys, watch the Phantasm movies, the Tall Man is terrifying. And the silver balls that drilled all the blood out of people's heads! So good!
Freddy’s popularity comes from the design of the character, and Robert Englund being the whole of the entertainment. This one is the worst because they neutered Freddy for a serious tone.
Let's take a moment to remember falling asleep while driving is also a very real problem. I was shocked how many actually were reported to have fallen asleep and how many were in an accident were they caught themselves nearly falling asleep.
It's my biggest problem with driving. I related to Johnny Knoxville during their Gumball Rally special when the guy holding the camera went "I'm so scared that you're driving." And Knoxville said "I'm terrible at staying awake while driving, then I realized, Damn I'm driving. Don't let me nap."
That’s what I thought was kind of funny in the fourth(?) film with the motorcycle scene. Freddy doesn’t even need to kill you if you fall asleep at the wheel. He can just stall and wait until you drive into a guard rail.
Why is Freddy killing the husband (?) anyway? Wasn’t his rule “in elm street, and only the people involved with my demise”? Now he can just kill whoever, wherever, why-ever he wants.
@@nhagan001 Because it's not Freddy. It's an entity using his face. That was the whole point to the scene when Heather speaks to Wes, but they were talking throughout it.
Friend of mine worked in a hospital. Junkies chilled in the morgue at night, because it was just completely open. When you are getting a dead body down, sometimes you would have some unpleasant meetings
55:41 - Clouds begin to move Mauler: Oh no! Freddy's in the Sky! 😧 55:43 - 90s Goosebumps-tier effect of Freddy appears Mauler: Oh my God! Freddy's in the Sky! 😁
Yeah Wes definitely nailed the meta blend with actual horror better with scream, here it just doesn’t work aswell especially when you try to make Freddy more scary in a frankly “silly” concept.
@@righteousindifference3179 there are good contenders but this movie is just so damn boring it’s not shocking they’d say that. Movies are supposed to be entertaining after all and if you’re just rolling your eyes and begging the plot to move that’s a terrible sign.
This movie had John Saxon playing himself. That should have been amazing. He's such an amazing character actor. He shows up in so many B movies and Italian horror and giallo type stuff.
You could probably interpret the third act as being where it’s an incursion. 😏 lol Because the fictional version of our real world and the fictional Elm Street film universe are seemly colliding due to John Saxon becoming his character, and that incursion was undone when they “made” the movie within the dream dimension from the Elm Street franchise that invaded our real life, and so the two realities went back to being separate and the manifestation of Freddy was also banished back to the movie universe. Man, this film is so convoluted and confusing. 🤣
I think they missed that when this first released the Meta horror aspect was fairly original. Wes’s Scream movies normalized it by the time they were watching these movies
@@SC4RY_G4RRY while it's interesting to watch new nightmare as proto-scream, I don't think that context needs to be considered in a modern critique. It contextualizes the old reviews but in the scope of the actual movie as a movie? It's not that relevant.
Yeah had feeling they wouldn’t like this one with much modern stuff has ruined the term meta and they expressed there dislike of meta narratives in the past, if you aren’t a big fan you aren’t going to appreciate it and the meta aspect is kinda outdated and doesn’t mix well when you try to make Freddy scary again.
By the way, I find it fascinating how some people just don't have dreams or nightmares. It seems a bit odd but I kinda envy those people; going through the night without any disturbances and waking up more rested, at least relatively.
@@Kainvverd No idea, I personally couldn't imagine it with how much I need to drown out my own head. It does sound crazy, but if people can go without dreams naturally, maybe it's a thing. Maybe it's that they have to actually imagine talking whereas most of us can interlap our thoughts and voice.
@@EndThusIAm I have no idea, maybe those people just don't fully understand what an international monologue is? It's all very odd. I wonder how common it is to have internal monologues/thoughts in different voices or languages. I can do both but most of the time I use a "default" voice and language.
Comment in chat said they wished Julie was the protagonist. Feel that would actually be an interesting concept and maybe would help the audience digest the films concept a little more by having an almost audience self insert instead of heather playing a fictional version of herself as the main protagonist.
The biggest sin of this movie is that Freddy is barely in it and when he is it's totally lame. I like the meta commentary on the film industry and the series overall but it's like Wes forgot that Freddy is the star, not Nancy and not Wes himself.
This movie was Wes Craven's first attempt at meta-horror, but it was Scream that actually nailed it. Then it had a bunch of sequels. Anyway, imagine if Last House On The Left was the Wes Craven movie that wound up with ten sequels, each one adding more bullshit to the "lore". Or if Deadly Friend wound up with a bunch of sequels. The Hills Have Eyes did get a sequel where the survivors go back to the same place to go dirt biking.
It should come as no surprise that the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls this movie "intelligent" for being "meta" in its approach. I think that kinda attitude is a real problem, and only getting worse since... critics think everything is so smart for going meta. Nevermind that it's just supposed to be a horror movie about creepy dream person with knife hands.
TLJ Syndrome; "It's so clever because of deh themeeessssss and the way that it deconstructs the franchise and subverts expectations". A stupid person's idea of what intelligent writing is.
The whole plot is its the real world, the actors are playing themselves but Kreuger is haunting them. It is a really fun meta take on the concept of a "dream demon" by capitalizing on the popularity of Freddy at the time it released. The way they play with Heather Langenkamps relationships with John Saxon and Robert Englund makes it especially fun because as actors they all act in a way of actors who played roles and then the lines get blurred thanks to the dream demon the scripts were about
I'm just watching a channel that does retro TV commercials and up pops a TV ad for the Freddy Krueger hotline. You could call and talk to Freddie. US$2 for the first minute, 45c every minute after that. Freddie really was a popular villain.
I really remember liking this movie when i last watched it. Don't remember it being so boring as they found it, but i also hadn't just come off watching the most insane and funny one of the bunch beforehand so that might contribute. I find the meta plot pretentious but also pretty interesting as an idea, and other than a few weird character things I think they do it ok. Not a good movie by any means, but I like what it brings to the table.
This premise for a sequel should be mandatory for every horror franchise more than 3 films long. Can you imagine Toben Bell being his normal nice self, wandering around the set of Saw XI: The New Sawening, and the spirits of evil possess Billy the puppet? He starts making REAL traps on set?
Two things: Wes DID actually conceptualize Freddy from a nightmare and from a homeless man who stalked his apt window one night when he was a child, the name came from his high school bully and shows up first in Last House on the Left, something about Japanese kids dying of fright and he totes didn’t rip off Twilight Zone’s Perchance to Dream 2. As a diehard nightmare series fan this EFAP does bring a smile to my face. I’ve always hated this movie, I never understood how it’s a “fan favorite” and you guys take is VERY similar to my own…. But I also love Dream Master so what do I know? Rex is MVP. There’s an official unofficial fan sequel starring the grown up Dylan you can find on RU-vid called Dylan’s New Njghtmare. It’s a little better than this one but you guys won’t like it, you’re gonna LOVE Freddy vs Jason Oh and all the Eathquake devastation was real so they just worked it into the script
@@Right_Said_Brett Not really. The earthquakes were already in the script (Wes wanted it to be a sort of herald of the demon wearing Freddy's face awakening) and just before they wrapped up, the major earthquake happened. The crew then got a bunch of B-footage of the devastation which they'd never have been able to afford. Some of the crew jokingly asked if Wes really did capture a demon in his story, considering the coincidence of the earthquakes in the script and in real life.
I kinda like the idea that this movie was going for and the start but it just bleh'd out since the first death. The trouble is i dunno how much you can do with this while it still being the Freddy IP. Like i dunno if a slow burn would work for most people. Freddy's defeat was lame but it's almost expected at this point... i think it beats a mirror though. I'd still put this one above 4 and 5.
Yay! My favorite Nightmare movie because I’m a pretentious dork. I’m sure they don’t like it, but they’re free to think that and I’m sure the video will be entertaining regardless
@@ManHamOrigins It means plenty. Did you somehow miss that he's responding to a guy saying EFAP hated it and didn't pay attention to get more clicks? Them enjoying and paying full attention to Dream Warriors is a bit strange if that's the case, wouldn't you say?
@@ManHamOrigins they also seemed to enjoy 1 (until the ending happened) and 6 (where they fully give in to the silly and enjoyed the movie for its looney toons shenanigans).
51:17 The Police Academy films?? It's been a while since I watched them, but I kinda remember all of them being good for what they are. Except #7 Mission to Moscow. Haven't watched it and don't plan to. 🤘🤪🤘
I've pretty much been in line with the guys' impressions of each film up till now, but I really feel like they didn't appreciate this as much as they could have. I liked it, quite a bit actually, as doing something original and kind of thought provoking take on the whole idea of a horror franchise, the effect of it on the fans and creators, etc. To each his own, I guess.
RIP Rex 😢 also yeah this movie was bad, the remake is probably second worst in my opinion, but I’ll say my peace when you see it. Also Freddy vs Jason is incredible, can’t wait for your reaction
🦁. Honestly, remember this movie being a lot better, didn't expect it to age that poorly, there was literally stuff in this movie I've got no memory of, such as the babysitter going complete apeshit with the needle, & definitely don't remember it being that! goofy (talk about nostalgia goggles being lifted). Think this is a bit of the original Hellraiser vs the reboot scenario, which makes me think the remake is going to be better (remember liking it personally, but it too probably didn't age well either). Also, remember thinking the Scream movies were pretty bad (also made by Wes Craven), especially the IVth movie (that was painful), & they were pretty dam meta too. Tho think the Ist film was okay, & he did have a hand in creating Feast (which is a better version of Slither), so their's still hope for Wes yet,. Still, should have some respect for him, he is dead now, may he rest in peace.
This has to be the most disappointing because there's a great concept here that just got buried by weird decisions. Looking forward to Freddy Vs Jason because, while not a good movie in the traditional sense, it embraces what it is and has some fun with it.
They took a surprising amount of time to realize the protagonist was the actress who played Nancy, not the real Nancy, and the movie took place outside the previous ones, in the "real world". I watched this when I was 10 and had never saw the original movies, it is not hard to follow. Update: I had some lengthy discussions on this thread about the validity of this claim, that they took a long time to realize the basic premise of the movie, so here are some evidences supporting it: 30:00 "I don't even know what that means at this point cause I don't know if this world is real". 30:33 "Because this is so meta I think there's this underlying implication that all this made not be real". The implication is exactly the opposite, this movie takes place "in the real world" as opposite to the previous movies that are movies inside this world. They are clearly still lost at this point. "She is at a coma and something is trying to shake her out of it" "yeah, or something else dumb like that". In case there was any doubt from the last sentences. 31:41 "Dad, am I just coping? ..something something... honey". Not a strong evidence here, just some clues that suggest they still think he is her dad at this point. 31:56 "It's in my family you know?" Rags: "In OUR family, why does she say it's in MY family?" Then capital Opinions explains and both Rags and Mauler have a moment of realization and Rags tries to, dare I say, "cope" by blaming something else for the mistake.
It's especially annoying when people who constantly make shitty, forced snarky remarks that are not even funny or clever and that are downright inaccurate sometimes, who also act like they're so smart and smug when they didn't even get the basic premise lol. They're trying too hard to shit on the movie from the get go with false predictions etc, it just makes them look annoying and foolish. Whatever they're accusing this movie with, they are not above it in terms of intelligence.
@@enchantertim89 It feels like a specific jab at Rags, lol. But yeah, on this one they all make critiques based on false assumption. I made another post pointing out someone saying that they "never specified that they need to make a good movie to trap the demonic entity". The whole Wes Craven exposition was exactly about that, lol.
This latest reviewed installment certainly was lacking. That, "Freddy's Nightmares", tv series from the 80s would prove much more entertaining by comparison. Hopefully they'll take a look sooner or later.
