Lisa Wilcox

(On Blu-Ray, October 2021) Annoying in concept and somewhat better in execution, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master benefits from having Renny Harlin in the director’s chair. In what ended up being his breakthrough American film, Harlin here shows some flair in setting up the scares, with better-than-expected cinematography, effective special effects (for the late 1980s, of course) and decent pacing. The surreal imagery that distinguishes the series is once again a reason to watch it over more ordinary slasher films of the period, and so are the actresses. (Lisa Wilcox does surprisingly well as the heroine, but I was just sad when Toy Newkirk’s character left the film.) Where I’m not so happy with The Dream Master is in its overall plot, which brings back characters from previous films only to kill them, with this endless parade of kills only reinforcing the arbitrary nature of the series’ plotting. To that we can add the kiddification of Freddy Krueger in an annoying quip-spouting sort-of-protagonist, neutralizing the dread that the character was supposed to cause. But four instalments in—what were we expecting? It’s a minor miracle already that the direction is decent and the visual style still raises the level of the series’ nightmarish imagery. (That insect transformation sequence… yuck.)  The Dream Master is still worth watching if you’re this deep into the series and know what quirks to expect, but I suspect it won’t make many new fans.