New Nightmare (1994) ***1/2 [Freddython 2021 Pt. 7]

A mere three years after Freddy Krueger was (supposedly) killed off in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Wes Craven returned to the franchise (ten years after his original film was released and seven years after he wrote the story for the third film) with the (non-canonical) New Nightmare. This would be the last NOES movie for a full nine years until Freddy vs. Jason appeared in 2003. Overall I don’t find NN to be quite as great as many fans feel it is but I do like it a lot, my favorite aspect being the returning focus on the character of Nancy Thompson. I don't always tend to go for meta horror but Wes did a nice job with it here, before he mined that well again (very successfully, financially) with Scream (my review here) two years later.

Heather Langenkamp (who was still only 29 when this film was made) is at her best here—radiant, fiery, and delivering an excellent performance. I don't tend to be a fan of children in peril in horror films (I prefer when the children are the peril), as I find it implements too easy a narrative device for eliciting sympathy and perceived danger. But I do think young Miko Hughes—who made his screen debut in Pet Sematary (my review here) five years earlier—is quite good, providing a memorable role. 

Robert Englund is a different kind of Krueger here ("darker, more evil" to quote the film) and it's refreshing. That menace permeates the whole film, which is stripped of almost all humor. I'm not particularly enamored with the Freddy makeup in NN (too clean looking for my tastes) but I appreciate that the filmmakers tried something different. I do very much like Krueger’s outfit though (what a sharp dresser). I love that Nosferatu (1922) nod as well.

The lead up to the final act where real life crosses over into movie reality is still chilling (especially when the Charles Bernstein theme plays). The climax itself has excellent (all too briefly glimpsed) production design and practical effects but Freddy’s demise is pretty silly (in fact most of the film's humorous moments appear during the climactic battle). The NOES filmmakers rarely seem to be able to find a truly satisfying way to off Freddy. As much as I love FK, Englund's portrayal of that most famous boogeyman, and the wonderful f/x of these films, the real fear in the best Nightmares comes from the anticipation of the scare, not the kills themselves.

On a franchise quality level, I would rank this entry just below the first and third films (though I actually place it fifth on my list because it's not technically part of the series, events-wise), but NN is without question the best directed film of the franchise and a contender for Craven's most competently directed feature (dodgy CGI aside).

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

You can find my Wes Craven Feature Films Ranked list here.

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

*New Nightmare was the first NOES film to not feature art by Matthew Joseph Peak (who created the gorgeous, iconic posters for the first five Nightmares and the art for the soundtrack of the sixth). I've never been too keen on any of the theatrical posters for NN but I do rather like this fan one that Matt Ryan Tobin created.