It seems even the most hated of movie sequels can find a fanbase. This is especially true for horror franchises, where fan rankings of series like Friday the 13th and Halloween can vary wildly from person to person. But when it comes to sequels which consistently find themselves at the bottom, actually enjoying them can feel like defending a guilty client.
For me, that feeling applies to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, released 37 years ago today; a sequel which deserves revaluation. The Dream Child came out at a time when the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise had embraced spectacle over pure horror. The film reflects that with a creative premise, memorable kills, and a visual style that leans more gothic than what came before it. But alas, not all of Elm Street 5 holds up, as it is Freddy Krueger’s goofy death sequence that severely brings this sequel down. As a result, while the hate for The Dream Child may be somewhat understandable, it’s worth more than one bad scene.
If there’s one thing the Elm Street series has plenty of, it’s creativity. Even at its most questionable, the franchise is filled with memorable images and interesting ideas. This is especially true of The Dream Child. The film acts as a follow-up to Elm Street 4; final girl Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox) discovers she’s pregnant, and Freddy Krueger is using the dreams of her unborn child to kill more victims. Deny if you like, that’s a weirdly cool premise, and one which allows Alice to further mature as a character. The film is also visually impressive, with gothic set pieces such as the church in which Freddy is reborn. That extends to the kills, too: Though there aren’t many of them, The Dream Child opts for quality over quantity, featuring some of the most memorable deaths in the series.
The Dream Child‘s predecessor, The Dream Master, was a lot of fun, but unceremoniously kills off the protagonists from the third film, The Dream Warriors. The Dream Child is able to avoid that baggage, adding fresh new friends for Alice. As they die off, the film takes the time for Alice to mourn her friends, resulting in a film with surprising weight. This, combined with the film’s gothic style and ominous music score, helps The Dream Child to feel much darker in tone than many other Elm Street sequels.
Of course, The Dream Child has no shortage of campier elements too. Freddy Krueger still cracks jokes as he kills, and the deaths, while creative, may be too over-the-top for some. The film’s most egregious offense, however, comes with the way Freddy is killed. In several scenes, Alice interacts with a young boy named Jacob, who we learn is her yet-to-be-born son. In an attempt to corrupt the boy — and to regain his own strength — Freddy tries to turn Jacob against his mother, feeding the boy the souls of his victims. It’s only when Freddy’s own mom, the nun Amanda Krueger, enters the dream world that she’s able to convince Jacob to turn on Freddy.
It’s all very goofy, especially when Jacob gives his own one-liner, declaring “school’s out, Krueger!” before proceeding to spit out all the souls inside him back at Freddy. That’s not to mention the fact he’s sporting Freddy’s burnt face as he does it. No shade to the child actor, Whit Herford, but to see Freddy taken out like this is frankly embarrassing. It doesn’t help that it’s treated like this epic moment, or that Jacob resembles a miniature Freddy Krueger as he does it. Freddy’s final defeat comes when he’s absorbed back into his mother, which only makes the scene feel more nonsensical.
Unfortunately, Freddy’s death is bad enough to bring down a solid Elm Street film, delivering a true example of a movie jumping the shark. Indeed, The Dream Child is far from a fan favorite, and is often considered one of the worst in the Elm Street franchise. But with that said, one has to ask: does one terrible scene make a movie bad? After all, the scene doesn’t take away from the film’s amazing visuals, creative kills, and all its other redeeming qualities.
37 years later, The Dream Child may never be truly embraced by fans, but those who love it have managed to look past its flaws and find a memorable sequel inside.
