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

Director: Renny Harlin

Writers: William Kotzwinkle, Brian Helgeland, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat

Composer: Craig Safan

Starring: Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, Danny Hassel, Rodney Eastman, Andras Jones, Tuesday Knight, Toy Newkirk, Ken Sagoes, Brooke Theiss, Brooke Bundy

More info: IMDb

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

Plot: The last girl from Elm Street is still bothered by dreams about Freddy; soon he returns and kills her, but before she died she wills her power to a new friend.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yeah.

This one picks up shortly after the last one, making it sort of a two-parter.  So far the series is doing a decent job of continuing the story. People die and others are drawn in.  I liked how Alice was a daydreamer.  You know instantly that it's going to at the very least give her some trouble and us some fun with Freddy.  I really wish they'd give more screen time with Freddy.  He gets a good deal, I suppose, but his role is pretty much the boogeyman that comes to add to his teenage body count.  I guess I want more substance.  The acting is OK but we're not watching the movies for anything but Freddy doing what he does best.  There is one cool shot that I really dug.  When Kristen's (Knight) mother dopes her up with sleeping pills and Kristen quickly loses her struggle against them, the camera is constantly moving above and around her for the entire time until she drops.  It was an effective visual to match what she was feeling.  Nice.  As always, Englund is fun as are the effects and kills.  Look fast for a Linnea Quigley cameo inside of Freddy's belly near the end.  You can't mistake whose boobs these belong to...
 

I'm not thrilled with this franchise as a whole (so far).  None of the films up to this point are great or even very good.  I like them enough to justify watching them but they just aren't doing it for me.  If it weren't for the wonderful kills and effects I probably wouldn't bother but there's enough here and there to keep my interest.  The Blu-ray (from the box set ANonES Collection with all 7 films) looks great.  They all do.