Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿

🎙️ EPISODE 587: 10.31.22 After a significant dip at the box office with Part 5, New Line decided to end the franchise with Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare: a movie that starts off with probably the most convoluted setup/beginning, and yet somehow ends with a shocking amount of cohesion. I did not have high hopes after the opening text crawl over cheesy graphics! (See below.) Despite a slightly higher budget, this movie is somehow not as aesthetically pleasing as any of the first five. It looks OK and there are a few charming/fun moments. But where it excels is in developing the backstory for Krueger. We get the definitive look into his past here with Englund getting to the play part of a pre-monster Freddy sans makeup which is really great.

It takes some time getting its footing. Could have done without the Roseanne and Tom Arnold cameos as psychos in the now childless Springwood, for example. But when our central characters make their way to the Elm Street house, this really gets rolling. Lisa Zane plays Freddy's daughter, though that fact's unbeknownst to her and the audience at first. This is the first mystery in a while that didn't feel arbitrary. And the concept of the entire town being infected with this evil madness is a good one despite some of its flawed execution. This is the ultimate conclusion to the motif of parents not believing their children: now they're destined to live a life without them... forever. Director Rachel Talalay, a mainstay within the franchise in various roles of the years, lends a refreshing feminine entry. And there's something extremely fitting about Freddy's ultimate demise being brought about by his own daughter.

While it certainly has its issues (I didn't even mention the 3-D ending which doesn't hold up, naturally), this is probably the strongest movie since Dream Warriors. Who knew that focusing on plot and character development could make that much of a difference.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 586 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 587B ⫸

---

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (also known as A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: The Final Nightmare) is a 1991 American slasher film and the sixth film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. It is a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and was originally intended to be the final installment of the series; Wes Craven's New Nightmare was released three years later but takes place outside the series canon. A canonical crossover/sequel, Freddy vs. Jason, was released in 2003. This was New Line Cinema's first 3D film release. It was released on September 13, 1991.