Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
And so, after the unintentionally hilarious homoerotic abomination that was Freddyâs Revenge, New Line Cinema realized that they had made at least a partial mistake here (despite the healthy box office) and when it came time to do Part 3 in the series in 1987, they made an offer that couldnât be refused for Wes Craven to come back and conceive the story along with writing the original script for this installment, although they didnât go so far as to offer him the chance to sit in the directorâs chair once again. That job went to Chuck Russell, a guy just starting out but whom would have a fairly good run as a director with The Blob, Eraser, and The Mask on his future resume, while Cravenâs script would be rewritten by (among others) none other than Frank Darabont, on his own way to cinematic glory with Shawshank Redemption and other acclaimed hits. So while there was definitely talent behind the camera here, there were also plenty in front too, including future Oscar winners and nominees like Patricia Arquette and Lawrence Fishburne (given a likable nothing role as a put upon orderly). The big story going in though, was the welcome return of Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson, the beloved heroine of Part 1 now returning as a so called âgrad school superstarâ having done (so weâre told) remarkable research with dream therapy (still sporting a cute little tuft of gray hair and the most amazing pout in cinema history) now coming to work at a mental institution to help counsel the few remaining âElm Street kidsâ whose parents had all helped to torch the evil maniac Fred Krueger many moons ago. At this point itâs important to note that the characters and events of Part 2 are not mentioned here nor ever would be again, leading one to believe that the producers were ultimately so embarrassed by the film that it can now be seen in the overall canon as either being one entire feature length fatal nightmare suffered by one unlucky Elm Street kid (though the actual movie never specifically identified him as being such), or else otherwise something just to be tossed aside and forgotten (especially since Freddy never even attempted a supposed âpossessionâ ever again) with Part 3 falling under what is now known as a âretconâ by being just a direct sequel to Part 1 itself and acting as if Part 2 never even happened (makes sense since it was implied there that Nancy took a one way ticket to the looney bin and never even came close to a college campus). The story takes place mostly within the confines of a mental hospital that has just seen the arrival of one of Freddyâs regular whipping toys (Arquette) after a so called âsuicide attemptâ, but from the looks of things with her home life, she is not so much being locked up for that but rather for being a thorn in the side of her horrific motherâs personal life (at best a repulsively self absorbed woman, at worst an outright middle aged prostitute). Turns out that the idiot doctors at the hospital (led by longtime character actress Priscilla Pointer) are convinced that the teensâ shared dreams is some form of mass psychosis brought on by their own repressed feelings of guilt, a theory that they cling to even after they endure the occasional Freddy induced suicide. Nonetheless, they go ahead and hire Nancy (who obviously knows about everything related to Krueger) to be a dream therapist in order to see if it helps the kids in any way, and the main doctor in charge of looking after the kids (Bill Maher lookalike Craig Wasson, a guy more famous for losing out on many big roles than for most of the ones that heâs actually had!) immediately falls head over heels in love with Nancy, her big curious eyes and her beautiful pout, not to mention the ever so slightly lost, haunted way that she carries herself with, due in part no doubt to her having access to an experimental drug called Hypnosil that allows her to sleep without the burden of having dreams (unhealthy in its own right) with the same fictional drug coming into play in later films of the series as well. Willing to believe anything and try a fresh approach if that would help explain things, he allows Nancy to tell both himself and the kids about the legend of Krueger and what must be done to stop him, all while he also is being approached by a mysterious nun (Nan Martin) who seems to know a lot about Freddy as well including his origins as the âbastard son of a hundred maniacsâ. But Freddy is always up for new challenges, as when Nancy realizes that Arquette has the ability to bring several others into the same shared dream and thus give them the ability to band together and fight as âThe Dream Warriorsâ (and donât laugh, as there was an actual time in the 80s when kids wanted to be such a thing so that they could have dream powers and fight Freddy). But therein lies the central problem with the story when it comes to the writing of Nancyâs character, as while itâs nice that they can work together in a dream to âfightâ Freddy (unless Freddy manages to isolate any of them for the kill, something that he can seemingly do at will), it quickly becomes obvious that she doesnât really have any sort of a real game plan for exactly HOW to defeat Freddy, going from being the tough, obsessed, and strictly organized babe of Part 1 to just kind of drifting along a little bit here with these other kids, never really giving them a decent strategy on what to do and almost acting as more of a cheerleader for their efforts than as a coach, like laughably believing way too easily that one of the kids screaming out loud (HIS dream power) has actually managed to singlehandedly defeat Freddy just like that, and also falling for the oldest, cheapest trick in the book to fall into Kruegerâs clutches herself, even as Langenkampâs own charisma still carries things quite well. As for Robert Englund, as always he remains a masterful presence as Krueger, epitomizing the kidsâ worst fears while even ad libbing perhaps the characterâs signature one liner (âWelcome to prime time, bitch!â) which brings up the fascinating idea that this film was sort of the âtransitionâ chapter between the dark, mysterious figure of the shadows that Freddy started as in Part 1 and still was in Part 2, to the so called âcomedianâ caricature that die hard fans accused him of being as the series went on, as this film was the first one to make good use out of all the jokes and quips, but yet still retained a VERY dreary, bleak, and at times almost gothic atmosphere with such good enough writing that we can still feel an awful feeling in the pit of our collective stomachs over a number of the character death scenes in the story (excluding the laughably ineffective âWizard Masterâ guy who gets his heart ripped out), with the whole movie itself bravely ending on a somewhat downbeat, depressing note despite Freddy having been âdefeatedâ once again. As for the rest of the cast, Ken Sagoes steals many scenes as the defensively reactionary Kincaid, winning the hearts and minds of many fans through some well timed ghetto shit talking directed towards Freddy; Rodney Eastman as the mute Joey (who gets locked in a coma and needs to be saved) does what he can after falling victim to Freddyâs hot naked nurse trick; Jennifer Rubin kicked off a very respectable career as the troubled Taryn, a recovering junkie whom through some suspiciously placed dialogue it is implied that she might have been sexually abused as a child by Freddy back when he was still alive and human; Bradley Gregg as the artist who makes puppets and learns the hard way not to leave them out around Freddy; Ira Heiden as the Wizard Master and Penelope Sudrow as the wanna be TV actress who makes it to Prime Time; and even John Saxon returning (albeit briefly) from the first film as Nancyâs Dad, once the renowned town Police Lieutenant who had apprehended and later burned Krueger now being reduced to little more than a broke down, drunken, lowly security guard; and most bizarre of all, prominently billed 30 second cameos by Dick Cavett and Zsa Zsa Gabor as themselves appearing on TV in an already referenced here fateful moment in the film. One thing of note here is the often spectacular special effects, the best the series has had to date and which would become the trademark of later films in the series. And finally there is Dokkenâs title theme song of Dream Warriors, one of the best metal anthems of the decade and with enough dramatic emphasis to make one sit up and take notice of this, certainly the best in the series barring the first one only, one of the best horror sequels ever made easily, and yet another high water mark for 80s horror in general that only served to enhance the legend of its dream stalking iconâŚ
9/10