New Nightmare (1994) Review

“The bad man’s getting awful close”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The best way to redeem a horror franchise is by going back to the roots which can be done by its maker. 


PLOT


1994's New Nightmare follows actress Heather Langenkamp who lives in California with her husband, special effects artist Chase Porter (David Newsom), and their young son Dylan. She originally starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street and its three-quel, Dream Warriors. Heather has been nightmares related to an upcoming new film of fictional child killer Freddy Krueger, now helmed by Wes Craven who wrote/directed the very first film, and is full of fear due to recent earthquakes in her neighborhood. Also as a celebrity, she has been getting phone calls of an obsessed fan of the franchise. The day of celebrating the film's 10th anniversary at a talk show interview, she later meets New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye who offers to return for the role of Nancy Thompson in the next Freddy movie, despite having the villain killed off in Freddy's Dead. She doesn't decide yet, especially since Chase kept her under the loop he was working on the film as well. When returning home later that day, Dylan starts having nightmares about Krueger. When she called Chase about it, he quickly decides to come home only for him to be killed while driving by the claws of Krueger. Heather would be devastated losing the love of her life but on the day of his funeral, another earthquake occurs and she has a nightmare of Freddy taking her son from him. Some time after, she gets advice from her costar John Saxon to get the boy medical attention, which she takes when his health starts deteriorating. When he gets checked into the hospital, Heather does hope to continue telling Freddy actor himself, Robert Englund, about what's going on, but he is out of town to suppress his own nightmares of the character. She then visits Wes who admits to having precognitive nightmares and all the past films have kept a supernatural entity trapped until Freddy's Dead. Believing killing Heather will allow him to completely roam the real world, Wes suggests playing Nancy again to keep this from happening. Before leaving, she gets a glimpse of his script that has inexplicable actions to her and everyone involved. At home, she watches the news to discover Chase's coworkers, Chuck Wilson & Terry Feinstein (Matt Winston & Rob Labelle), have died onset as she saw in her dream. Freddy attacks her again, but is blocked from finishing her due to another earthquake. When she returns to the hospital to check on Dylan, head doctor Christine Heffner (Fran Bennett) grows worry that she could be unknowingly responsible for her son's condition. She plans to go back home to give him his stuffed dinosaur he believes to protect him and her babysitter Julie (Tracy Middendorf) stays with him until she returns; Julie arrived at the hospital in the first place due to having her own nightmares that had her worried for the boy. Heather doesn't get to leave home because Heffner would hold her up to express her worries and as that happens, Dylan is unwillingly sedated by another nurse and although Julie tries to keep him awake, Freddy emerges and kills her in front of the boy. As he sleepwalks, he passes through a freeway to get back home and his mom follows. She calls Saxon to meet her home for Dylan's safety, but he starts acting like Nancy's dad, Donald Thompson, having her realize reality is overlapping with the script. Embracing the role of Nancy again allows Freddy to enter the real world and abduct Dylan to his. Heather follows into the hellish construct he comes from and with her son's help, she's able to destroy Krueger by throwing him into a furnace. As this destroys the monster completely, Heather & Dylan are able to return to the real world with their lives. Upon their return, the iconic final girl finds a copy of Wes' complete script with a note where he thanks her for taking on the role once more. The film then ends with her deciding to read the script to her son.


THOUGHTS


I would be with many fans when it comes to saying this cow should've not been milked as hard as it did because the flavor sure got stale once we got past Dream Warriors. Luckily, all it took for was for Wes to be back on the director's chair to save us from another batch of disaster. It was so creative for him to go meta before moving on with Scream because it messes with your mind in imaginable fashion. Just seeing the story progress as the script is written and no title card appears before the credits is an ecstatic feeling because it reinforces the idea of how the story was happening outside a movie, becoming all the more immersive as Wes would want it. Cynthia Kay Charette killed with it the production design, having a set piece that would be fluently used for this movie's fiction and reality. And David B Miller was excellent in leading the makeup department because he succeeds in making this version of Krueger the creepiest since the first time we ever saw him. Not only are his burns more severe, but giving him a claw for his thumb to go with the glove and a black coat over the striped sweater are simple decisions that went a long way. Englund makes a big difference here from his past performances as this character because apart from the homage where his subtle one-liners and his kill on Julie reflects Tina's death in the first movie, being dragged across the ceiling, is that he comes off more sadistic due to how he's not wasting too much time to get what he wants. Throughout the 80s, he was exposited to be a child killer and we just accepted he was bad, but him actually pursuing young Dylan is where we truly saw how evil he always was, even if this isn't the same one. Due to how Englund remains great portraying this consistent evil, this gets Wes' point across that we all still have to face our fears no matter the age because allowing it to consume us will only make things worse rather than better if ignored continuously. Having Heather come back was the best selling point on this message since she previously taught us that when she first played Nancy. Had she not perfected the character's resilience that inspired us to face our fears, it's hard to know if it would pay off again here as her fictional self. In this case, it works again because she had something to live for that was her kid. With Wes' fantasy unintentionally affecting her reality, she knew it was up to her to protect all she had left because no one else was gonna do it but her. When I look back, I was pulling for Dylan to make it because Miko Hughes showed him to be one struggling to fend for himself with something he couldn't understand. Luckily, he had a mom that inspired him to keep fighting, thus being able to defeat Freddy together in Hansel & Gretel fashion. And if they can pull that off, then there is nothing else they can't do. Having said all the good that makes this movie special, there are still some things that still don't make much sense upon rewatching. For starters, how did Chase not feel the aftershock on his way out? If he left the driveway the moment Heather went out the door, he had to feel something. It's also on him for not telling his wife he was working on the new glove because Freddy is part of her life whether he likes it or not. And if Heather keeps getting harassment calls on the telephone, she should get a cellular. Also, how long was Dylan screaming? I gotta ask because when Heather comes home, Julie describes as if he was going on longer like before the limo pulled up for his mom. Other than that, you'll still be impressed with the meta madness of New Nightmare. Whatever kind of fan you are of Freddy Krueger or Wes Craven, see this as soon as possible.