Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 

IMDB rate: 6,3

Genre: Slasher

Today is the third day of my 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' week! Which means, that I watched part 3 today, Dream Warriors. The idea for the week is watching a 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' movie everyday, at least when it's possible. First I'm watching part 1 till 7, then I watch Freddy vs. Jason and after that I will watch the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. 

I thought this movie was actually good. As you might have read in my previous reviews, I thought the first part was good/reasonable and the second was shit so it was actually nice to see that they weren't messing this one up. It is often that the sequel of a movie is bad, while the movie coming after that is good. Coincidence? I think not. 

Picking up where the original Nightmare left off, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) has grown up and become a psychiatrist specializing in dream therapy. She meets a group of children at a local hospital facing Freddy Krueger, the same demon she once encountered in her sleep. One of them is Kristen (Patricia Arquette), who has the power to draw other people into her dreams. Working with a male doctor assigned to the case, Nancy helps the kids realize their special abilities within the nightmare world. When Freddy captures one of her charges, she leads a rescue attempt into Krueger's domain, in hopes of putting his spirit to rest once and for all.

I think it's fair to say that part 2, Freddy's Revenge, should've never been made. It's a complete nonsense story and doesn't fit with the first A Nightmare on Elm Street. This part however, Dream Warriors, fits perfectly in the original movie. Nancy is back, helping others. Couldn't have been better I think.

Freddy's a little less the main character in this movie, which is a good thing. Sure, it's all evolving around Freddy, but he's not what the movie is all about. It's about the teenagers surviving Freddy which is a much better concept than Freddy's Revenge. 

I think Patricia Arquette did a very good job for her first acting performance. She plays a very big role in this movie and she actually surprised me by her acting. She was convincing and looking from this movie, she didn't age a day comparing to now. Another familiar face in this movie is Laurence Fishburn. He looks so incredibly young here, and he somehow resembles Samuel L. Jackson a tiny bit in this movie. There is also a young girl named Jennifer in this movie. I was absolutely convinced it was Renee Zellweger, but after looking it up, it wasn't! Point is, she looks incredibly much like her. 

The movie started off well, seeing Kristen in a dream where she can't run away from Freddy. She's running, but she doesn't move an inch. I think we've all dreamed something like this once in our life, so we all know the scary feeling that it gives. It makes you feel a bit connected with Kristen I think, because you how it feels. I thought it was a very good start for the movie. What also was a good element in the movie was the survival ending. Everybody teamed up trying to save Joey, while fighting Freddy's obstacles. It gave the movie a nice twist, and it made me also very curious if they would survive.

A scary moment in the movie was the Freddy doll. Yes it looked kinda fake, but after seeing all those living doll movies we're all a bit afraid it might actually happen, right? Well, that your doll lives is one scary thing. Now think of the fact that Freddy is the living doll. That makes it a bit worse I think. 

In this movie you hear how Freddy was born, and I thought it was a very interesting story. I won't tell anything, but it sort of explained a lot. Of course not how he can kill through dreams, but it does about how he became so fucked up. 

In the dreams the teenagers have special dream powers, this was a nice thing to see, because it made the children not entirely powerless against Freddy. Like Phillip's Wizard Master, not only was he capable of walking suddenly, but he also gave himself magical powers. It was a bit useless, but it was kinda funny to see. I don't know why Nancy didn't have any dream powers, but at least the rest did so that made it a lot better.

There was not much blood flowing in this movie, certainly not as much as in the first one. But it was also not needed for this movie. I think it was fine the way it is. Some things looked really fake, but I also have to remember that technology was not that far expanded like now, so I guess for a movie coming from that time, it's okay.

In my opinion, you should watch part 1 and after that this part. Just skip Freddy's Revenge, because it was too terrible. Besides that, part one and three fit better together than part 1 and 2.

My personal rate: 7/10