A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

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🎙️ EPISODE 584: 10.26.22 My expectations for this one were pretty high, as I knew it was wildly considered the best-looking (from a special FX standpoint at least) and likely the most fun. The visuals certainly lived up to the hype but I think it was right on par with the first two installments in terms of overall quality and enjoyment level, generally speaking. Which is to say, it was pretty damn good if not great. With three down and four to go in this Halloween 2022 Freddy Marathon, I can say that this trio of entries is as good as any opening trilogy to a long-running franchise of films. Wes Craven returns to co-write the screenplay and guide the ship forward. The performances continue to be hit or miss, but they're fine. The real show here is all the ingenious stuff they throw at you and it's tremendous.

They're also 3 for 3 in terms of crafting a unique and original story within the bigger saga. All the movies stand on their own as interesting and fresh plots that build upon the original without being too shackled to it and/or simply rehashing it in a slightly different way. The character of Freddy gets a more flushed-out backstory but the actor Robert Englund has a little less to do here, instead taking a clear second billing to all the clever set-pieces and FX they insert him into. I'm working on a scoring system with different areas to officially rank these because, right now, I'm flummoxed as to how I would stack them. They're all great and different in their own way!

I am prepared for a dip in quality going into tomorrow's Part 4, but I am keeping an open mind. We're almost halfway home.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 583 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 585 ⫸

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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a 1987 American fantasy slasher film directed by Chuck Russell. The story was developed by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner and is the third installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Larry Fishburne, Priscilla Pointer, Craig Wasson, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. It was released on February 27, 1987.