A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers:

Wes Craven (character), William Kotzwinkle (story)

Stars:

Robert Englund, Rodney Eastman, John Beckman

2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Beckman	...	Coach
Kisha Brackel	...	Friend
Brooke Bundy	...	Elaine
Wanda Bursey	...	Friend in Mourning
Hope Marie Carlton	...	Pin Up Girl
Kristen Clayton	...	Little Girl
Duane Davis	...	Jock
Rodney Eastman	...	Joey
Robert Englund	...	Freddy Krueger
Richard Garrison	...	Doctor
Danny Hassel	...	Dan
Andras Jones	...	Rick
Tuesday Knight	...	Kristen
Jeff Levine	...	Paramedic
Joanna Lipari	...	Nurse

Storyline

Following up the previous Nightmare film, the dream demon Freddy Krueger is resurrected from his apparent demise, and rapidly tracks down and kills all three of the surviving Elm Street kids. However, Kristen Parker (who has the ability to draw others into her dreams) wills her special ability to her new best friend Alice Johnson before her demise. Afterwards, she soon realizes that Freddy is taking advantage of that unknown power she now wields to pull a new group of teenage children into his foul domain. Can Alice embrace her new power to finally defeat Freddy or is it already too late?

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Plot Keywords:

freddy krueger character | sadistic murderer | monster | boogeyman | slasher flick | 

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Taglines:

You shouldn't have buried me, I'm not dead

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alice's abilities originally included the Dream Warriors, but the effects weren't great, and it would confuse the audience of who she was trying to portray.

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Goofs

When Freddy is resurrected and is saying "You shouldn't have buried me. I'm not dead", his mouth clearly isn't moving.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alice: Hello.
Kristen Parker: Do you live here?
Alice: Nobody lives here.
Kristen Parker: Where's Freddy?
Alice: Heh, heh. He's not home.

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Crazy Credits

(c) MCMLXXXVIII the 4th elm street adventure (information at the end of the credits on the 1999 DVD ultimate collectors box set)

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Alternate Versions

The UK cinema version was cut by 56 secs to delete footage of nunchakus from two scenes, and the cuts were expanded to 1 min 7 secs for the video release. The cuts were fully restored in the 15 rated 2001 DVD.

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Connections

Referenced in Luonteita: Renny Harlin (1990)

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Soundtracks

Are You Ready For Freddy?
Written by Patrick Klein, Ken Thomas, Matt Wells, Mike Anderson, Chris Richards and Giovanni Fusco Performed by The Fat Boys Produced by Tony Bongiovi
(played during end credits)

User Reviews

A Lot Of Fun That Goes Beyond!

The Dream Master is a sequel of sorts to 1987's Dream Warriors - as well as being the 3rd sequel in the series. Directed by Renny Harlin (who I'm not a huge fan off to be honest), this action packed horror is full of comedy, style and great fx.

It's obvious from his early days (between this and Arctic Heat) and the fact that he is now working from China - that Harlin is a long time fan of Hong Kong cinema. His imagery and style of shooting mimics that of the finest 80's Hong Kong films and if every cast member was Chinese, Dream Master could easily be mistaken for a classic from the HK golden years!

It's a shame that experimental and exciting technique is now gone and he has resorted to typical Hollywood style filmmaking (such as the God awful Skiptrace)...

The cinematography and colours are pretty cool and remind me of classics such as A Chinese Ghost Story etc, not to mention the mad mix of genres, (kung fu) fight action, and some pretty decent stunt work!

Patricia Arquette has been replaced with Tuesday Knight, but the cute Joey returns as does motormouth Kinkaid - but not for long.

To most people, this is pretty much more of the same Freddy versus the kids, but it's actually pretty smart extending (what was their best film so far with) Dream Warriors and in turn, produce the highest grossing film of the series as a result.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 is a lot of fun! Far from perfect, but definitely one of the better ones..!

Details

Official Sites:

Nightmare On Elm Street

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 August 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Filming Locations:

Café Laurent - 4243 Overland Avenue, Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,833,403, 21 August 1988

Gross USA:

$49,369,899

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$49,369,899

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Heron Communications, Smart Egg Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 99 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1