A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Dir. Renny Harlin 93 Minutes

USA 1988

Starring: Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, Danny Hassel, Tuesday Knight, Ken Sagoes, Rodney Eastman

**/***** Continuing the thread of the "Dream Warriors" narrative from the previous film, the fourth entry in the Elm Street series takes an already mediocre plot line and continues to bury the lead by expanding on its mythology. After killing the surviving Warriors, the film shifts to its new protagonist Alice (Lisa Wilcox, who returns in the following installment) who has some kind of power to draw others into her own dreams. She discovers that Freddy is attempting to use this power for his own gain, and is forced to (once again) destroy the villain. Easily in the worst in the series at this point, The Dream Master is mainly a slog as it moves it way between heavy exposition and set piece, the latter of which are sadly lackluster compared to the earlier films. And while it is unnatural to expect a long running horror franchise to still have juice in the cannon at this stage in the game, the elements of the script intended to "keep things interesting" just force the arc to flounder. October 18th, 2019