A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

There’s little doubt that A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors stands as a distinct improvement over its immediate predecessor, with the film’s (almost) consistently entertaining vibe perpetuated by its impressive cast and emphasis on imaginative, appreciatively brutal kill sequences. The movie marks the return of Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy to the Freddy franchise, as the character, now a psychiatrist, agrees to help several institutionalized teenagers – including Patricia Arquette’s Kristen, Jennifer Rubin’s Taryn, and Bradley Gregg’s Phillip – mount a defense against Robert Englund’s supernatural antagonist. Director Chuck Russell does a superb job of initially drawing the viewer into the proceedings, with the mental-hospital setting certainly a refreshing change from the suburban atmosphere that dominated the first two films. It’s also worth noting that Russell, along with fellow screenwriters Bruce Wagner, Wes Craven, and Frank Darabont, has effectively injected new life into the series’ nightmare sequences, as the increasingly tiresome boiler-room scenario that was so pervasive in both the original and its sequel has been jettisoned in favor of several impressively creative dreamscapes (eg Phillip is transformed into a human marionette whose movements are controlled by Freddy). The above average feel persists right up until about the film’s halfway mark, after which point the lulls within the narrative become more and more difficult to overlook – with the decidedly uneven vibe exacerbated by the inclusion of a few underwhelming subplots (ie one character’s ongoing encounters with a nun that may or may not be a ghost). It’s a small complaint that is, in the grand scheme of things, easy enough to overlook, as the movie is otherwise far more engaging than it has any right to be and ultimately fares marginally better than Craven’s lauded 1984 original.

**1/2 out of ****