Review #113: Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

This review was originally written in October 2020.

October Movie Review #30- Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

I'm surprised at how much I didn't hate this movie.

Like, I can't really say I thought it was "good", and there's definitely a LOT of bad in there, and it's still intent on taking the series in a trajectory I don't care for, but the content that is in there isn't the worst, and it's competently done at least. (I was far less bored by this movie than I was by Freddy's Revenge, for example.)

This movie had some sequences that I thought were pulled off really well. The bit at the beginning where John Doe wakes up from his falling-from-the-sky nightmare, and he goes to open the window only to realize that his house is also falling from the sky, was a great moment. (I'm a sucker for a dream-within-a-dream, what can I say?) There was also another dream where Carlos is unfolding a map and it just keeps unfolding and unfolding- that felt so much like a real dream and it was also kind of hilarious, I loved it. There was also a bit (later in the movie) where John Doe wakes up in his bed again, he says something like "I'm not falling for this again, nothing is going to get me out of this bed" and then the bed bursts into flames, and it got a genuine laugh from me.

But there's a lot of missed potential in this one too. I thought the idea of John Doe being an amnesiac whose memory was locked away is interesting, but I feel like it kind of falls flat in the grand scheme of the movie (as it gets cast aside for a much better purpose, with the twist of him not being Freddy's son). There were a LOT of dream sequences in this film that were just so cartoonish (complete with cartoon sound effects) that it was hard to take it seriously; I get that they're trying to make Freddy stand out with his quips and ironic kills and whatnot, but the "video game" sequence was so cringeworthy I considered skipping ahead until after it was over. It looked stupid, it sounded stupid, it made me wonder if the filmmakers were stupid.

And this comedic/goofy tone is really a shame because some of the other dreams had some genuinely good and creepy moments- like the body horror of Carlos' hearing aid, and the idea that sound could kill him (though it's executed so cartoonishly, again, as Freddy pulls every Road Runner or Bugs Bunny trick in the book to torture him). I would have rather the writers shown a little bit more restraint, but I get that by the sixth installment in a slasher series, audience members are probably just rooting for the protagonists to die in interesting ways so I can't really blame them.

There was a portion of this movie where it seems like Freddy has erased his victims from existence, and I thought that was FANTASTIC. How creepy is that? But it only lasted for like a single scene, and that just made me wonder what could have been. Instead of having all of the people of Springwood be lunatics because Freddy killed all of their children, what if this movie was about a town that (as far as they know) never had any children, because Freddy erased them all? The protagonists could show up, and inquire about why there's a school and playgrounds and all sorts of other kid necessities but no children; then the townsfolk would gradually start going insane because they don't know themselves. Is that what was being implied with John Doe's lost memory? Because as far as I recall there is never a moment connecting the two (as he's dead by the time this all happens).

I just think this movie had some real potential but they were more concerned with giving us goofy kills with topical references all of those teens are probably talking about these days (like the Power Glove). I will give them mad props for seemingly ending the film with "No seriously, Freddy is dead for real this time" and actually sticking to that (at least until Freddy vs. Jason came out).

Overall Rating: 5/10 Pointless Cameos from Roseanne and Tom Arnold

Biggest Surprise In The Whole Series: ALICE COOPER WAS FREDDY'S ADOPTIVE FATHER? WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THIS?