"Freddy's Dead" - Maria's Take

It's Freddy, bitch.

The best thing about any later "Nightmare" film is Freddy Krueger's developed personality. Robert Englund plays Freddy with such attitude, that every word out of his mouth is either remarkably offensive or just plain hilarious.

Partly to accurately describe this film and mostly because we just adore it, Zach and I indulged in "Freddy vs. Jason." By watching that film, "Freddy's Dead" becomes easier to critique. Like I stated, Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger is just so fun to watch, calling any of his appearances "bad" seems almost a slasher movie sacrilege. However, when compared to the masterpiece that is "Freddy vs. Jason," it is easier to nitpick.

The makeup is terrible. Freddy looks like he stuck various shades of Play-Doh to his face. The storyline is confusing, the characters are annoying, and the kills are lame (and lacking). The character of Freddy is given a rushed backstory that only raises more questions, and I found myself offering up mental suggestions of what SHOULD have happened with Freddy's ultimate "death." (Keep in kind, this is #6 in a series of 8).

It always bugs me when the writers get lazy with the setup. Freddy Krueger's ability to kill people in their dreams is absolutely genius and insanely terrifying. Unfortunately, unlike in many of the other films, the dream kills in this film aren't fantastic enough. Breckin Meyer dies in a video game...it's just stupid...well, not as stupid as his hair.

Certainly there are some great one liners, and there are some legitimately creepy parts, but overall, many of the ideas get overused, and Freddy is severely underused. Where in other films, there was this sense of impending doom every time a new scene began because it was hard to tell if the character was in the safety of the real world or being lulled to their death in a dream, in this film, there is a basic setup that always alerts the audience when a specific character is dreaming. It's frustrating.

There are many slasher movies far worse than this, but I'd label this one as "mediocre."

The next movie in the franchise is "New Nightmare" which is a very cool, meta film. Other than the incomparable "Freddy vs. Jason," the 7th film is my favorite in the franchise. I'd definitely encourage anyone who has yet to see it to take a couple of hours and indulge.