My Favorite Nightmare In The ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’ Series
The surreal ’80s slasher franchise is actually relevant today
My second favorite deadly nightmare in Wes Craven’s classic fantasy-horror series A Nightmare on Elm Street is in the third movie, subtitled Dream Warriors. This is also my favorite sequel in the entire franchise, which blends action, horror, and dark humor.
I rented it last night on Amazon Prime. The last time I rented the movie was a few years after it premiered in 1987. I was too young to see it when it was in the theater.
The original is still a moody masterpiece that stirred a little Salvador Dali into the popular slasher movie stew. The follow-ups were mostly derivative but a few had some demented flourishes.
The nightmares in Dream Warriors are especially weird: there’s a gigantic worm with a human’s face, a violent late-night TV show parody starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, and hypodermic-needle puncture wounds on the arms of a former heroin addict that make sucking noises like their hungry little mouths.
And then there’s Freddy himself, the Ginsu-gloved demonic murder clown who enjoys sweaters like Mr. Rogers but punishing mortals like the Anti-Christ.
