Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare Movie Review

See it. 5.5/10

Quite possibly the 2nd best sequel to the original.

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare takes bigger risks with the mythology of the Krueger Universe and in doing so, had me pleasantly surprised. This film was a much-needed breath of fresh air into a series that was quickly becoming stale with the same shit over and over again.

What worked so well with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare is mainly the trust and belief they put into the script by Michael De Luca. It takes the story of Freddy Krueger in a new direction that almost feels like a dystopian-like world which I really loved.

Reading about the general reception of this film, I can see that not many were a fan of these choices and in particular, the transformation of Krueger to essentially a tamed version of The Boogeyman aimed at kids. I can see why people would think this way and why they’ve given it such an unfavorable rating. I personally didn’t have these problems because I could see the film was choosing to be a lot more fun and less serious compared to the stinkers previous to it and, in my opinion, it did so successfully.

It’s probably the only film in the series that was able to execute its goals of being more comedic so I didn’t really care if it wasn’t scary or serious. There’s a particular dream-like sequence that involves the use of a video game, which yes, is relatively goofy, but I thought worked well at trying to be unique and entertaining. Compared to the serious nature of the other films, minus the god-awful second, which failed horrendously to be funny, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare was a much-needed variance in the franchise.

I was surprisingly really into the goofy horror setups because it was a sign of creativity that I could see in the script. It was trying to be something new and to take on bigger risks, which might not be what you expect for A Nightmare On Elm Street film. But it’s something that I thoroughly enjoyed and it even added some great aspects to the mythology, which by this point, I wasn’t sure was possible.

It’s not a great horror film and it’s by no means as good as the original or my favorite sequel, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: The Dream Master, but I still had a good time watching this film and I was willing to ignore the rest of the plot conveniences and stupidity in the story because of the efforts being made to simply be creative.

Watch this if you’re into the series but if this somehow did pass your selection, it wouldn’t be a terrible loss. However, if anything that I’ve mentioned has interested you and you’re already a fan of the franchise, then, by all means, check it out. See it.