FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS: Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare (1991) “Let’s Scope What’s Going Down Over on Elm!”
Welcome to my Nightmare! You’ve guessed it, this year’s Friday Night Frights theme will be the mainline entries in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. In fact, expect to see a lot of Freddy’s toasted mug here at the Dorkside for a while. And though I’d originally planned on posting write ups following their cinematic chronological order, there’s a 4k disc of the original coming out toward the end of October I’m waiting on so we’re just gonna have to work our way backwards. There are now only 6 Fridays left until Halloween so we’d better get going, beginning with Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare.
It’s time for Freddy 101!
Always loved that line.
When this movie hit theater screens back in November of ‘91 it was a big deal for several reasons. Not only did the title make the bold declaration that this time Freddy was going to bite the big one for good, it was also something that was going to go down in 3D. That’s right, upon having your ticket torn you’d receive a pair of Freddy Krueger branded 3D glasses. And upon an in flick prompt, would put them on and witness the final sequence go down in 3 dimensions!
That line not so much.
Now while my Grandfather took me to see part 3 in the theaters, I wasn’t able to catch this one at the time to experience that for myself. It’s one of the great hardships in my upbringing and I still often lie awake at night regretting such a missed opportunity. I don’t talk about it often but I was 11 at the time and really hitting my horror movie loving stride. And along with the audacity of that title, the 3D gimmick just screamed every kind of cool. But a lot of the older kids in my neighborhood were able to check it out and there’s a vague memory of one of them scoring an extra pair of glasses for me. Well, either that or I bought them on ebay late one night years later but I prefer the lore of the former.
Finally seeing it by way of VHS rental months later (though not in 3D until a DVD release years later), I have to say I really loved it. Watching horror movies at home with my Aunt was a bit of a Saturday night tradition during this era and we both had a blast. After the kinda downer part 5 turned out to be, this one returns to the fun of 3 and 4 leaning heavily on over the top comedy and even more out there kills. There’s a kid obsessed with video games (even playing a Ninja Gaiden Tiger handheld at one point showcasing his addiction) who Freddy takes out in pure pixelated glory. And another one who is deaf in one ear (which kinda hits close to home as I also have this disability) who Krueger shows no mercy on whatsoever. If that doesn’t scream a good time, I don’t know what does!
Englund really goes hard in this one delivering another completely unhinged performance and is of course the main draw (far more than the “plot”). But by this point, Krueger’s antics were perhaps becoming a bit long in the tooth. So it made sense to send the guy off in a blaze of glory and let everyone take a break for a bit. While this movie does end with him seemingly connecting to the Devil’s wifi, this would be an act in title only as he’d eventually hit the big screen over a decade later to take on another iconic killing machine who’s fond of goalie masks.
But not before sporting a particularly nasty version of the power glove at one point here. C’mon, that’s just nerd gold right there.
People really like to trash talk this one but I will defend Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare with my dying breath. It’s not bad!
