A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) **1/2 [Freddython 2021 Pt. 5]

A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) was, in this viewer’s opinion, the start of the decline of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise. It's a shame because, even though the series was mostly playing it for laughs at this point, the previous sequel, The Dream Master, was still quite good. 

The Dream Child doesn't really attempt to scare its audience, which is a waste because there are certainly dark themes to be found here. ANOES5 has some of the most striking visuals of the whole series—thanks to some excellent production design—yet some shots look really cheap and more than a little cheesy. It's also kind of a dull movie overall with pretty uninteresting characters. Director Stephen Hopkins had a hand at another sequel the following year—Predator 2 (my review here)—and that one turned out a lot better.

ANOES5 starts out promisingly enough and the kills are very fun and imaginative (even while they are incredibly silly)—KNB EFX Group did a great job of realizing them. Robert Englund has a few good Freddy moments (*SPOILER* Dan's death is one of the series' best *END SPOILER*) but even those are fleeting. Lisa Wilcox returned as Alice and she is just as likable as in the prior film. The pregnancy and mothering aspects (and fears associated with both) are never explored in a satisfactory way though, and the film as a whole is lacking the right mix of elements that made the first four Nightmares special.

You can find my reviews of the previous four NOES films here, here, here, and here.

You can find my Nightmare On Elm Street Films Ranked list here.