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New Nightmare (1994)
I've heard this called the best Nightmare on Elm Street sequel and some have even called it better than the original Nightmare film. I can't say it's any of those things, but New Nightmare is one of the better movie in one of my favorite horror movie franchises and a refreshing entry after the abysmal Freddy's Dead. New Nightmare departs from Springwood, Ohio and instead takes place in the "real" world. Heather Langenkamp, the actress who played Nancy in the original film, is now a married mother, and she is contacted by Wes Craven to be in the definitive final Nightmare on Elm Street film. However, Heather has been having increasingly terrifying nightmares and phone calls that sound suspiciously like the films' iconic villain, Freddy Krueger. Her son's disturbing behavior also leads her to believe that the script that Wes is writing may not be just another movie. Arguably the best part about New Nightmare is all the nods and winks to the original film sprinkled in there. The phone gag from the first one is in there (which I admit still scared the crap out of me), and a majority of the deaths are reminiscent of other deaths in the series, particularly Tina's infamous death from the first movie and the motorcycle kill from The Dream Child. Wes Craven and Robert Englund also make cameo appearances in the film, although their subplots just sort of fizzle out towards the end. I also wasn't a big fan of Freddy trying to get a hold of Heather's son. The "creepy kid" scenes didn't really unsettle me and instead came off as hammy. But Wes obviously had a lot of fun with New Nightmare and ended the series with a clever take on the slasher film that would be replicated in the future with flops like Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. Personally, the criminally underrated The Dream Master will always be my favorite Nightmare sequel, but New Nightmare is a fun and sporadically scary slasher flick.
7/10
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