In this sixth and not-so-final addition to the Nightmare franchise Freddy finally succeeds in finishing off the last of the teenagers in his home town, and all the adults enter a state of mass psychosis. Now Freddy is out to find a new batch of victims.
As it would turn out, Freddy has a previously unmentioned daughter born of a wife whom he murdered. Now intends to use her in order to access new prey. Lucky for him, she just happens to work in a home for troubled teens.
Freddy's Dead carries forward the tradition of the Dream sequels. The acting ranges from bad to hilariously over the top, and character development is negligible. Freddy remains an almost comical figure, killing people in ironic and cartoonish fashions while making increasingly bad puns. The gore is even more toned down and there's only one "jump scene" that I can recall.
As a result, one can watch this film from start to finish without feeling particularly concerned with the outcome... which we already know due to the title. The deeper look at Freddy's past and origins was kind of cool, but could have been done in a much more effective and terrifying way had this film stuck to the style of the original.
The original Nightmare on Elm Street had everything right; it was scary, Freddy was a serious villain, the characters had some background to them and you could take interest in their fate, the acting was decent, and the effects were great.
Unfortunately, the Nightmare series quickly began to lose its edge starting right away to some extent with the first sequel, more with the second, and completely with the rest that followed. Luckily Wes Craven returned after this sad "finale" to give this series one last triumphant kick at the can.
1 frying pan to the face out of 5
Rated R for horror violence, and for language and drug content.
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