Delayed Reaction: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

What I Guessed It Was About: Does it even matter by the fourth movie? There's survivors from The Dream Warriors, so he's gotta come back and kill them.

How I Came Into It: Did you know that this is the highest grossing horror movie of the 80s? Yeah, and it isn't all that close either. That puts it in company with The Exorcist (70s - $232 million), The Sixth Sense (90s - $293 million), The Ring (00s - $129 million), and The Conjuring (10s - $137 million). And it's not even close. The 80s really were a fallow decade for the genre.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) It's interesting how they kept evolving the series. It's not as repetitive as I'd expect. Each movie has its gimmick. It's not like I'm going to say something negative about Robert Englund either.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: You know how the highest grossing movie in a franchise is normally the one right after the one everyone loves (Shrek 2, Dead Man's Chest)? I'd say this must be the case here, but that's giving The Dream Warriors far too much credit. This was a massive downgrade from Patricia Arquette, "Larry" Fishburne, and the return of Heather Langenkamp to whoever Freddy's victims were this time. You may have noticed that I've mostly avoided talking about any specifics for this movie. That's because it's about as horror-by-numbers as it gets. It's the fourth movie in a franchise of, I think, 7 continuous that retains basically none of the original creative voices, actors, or characters other than the villain. If they aren't going to try, then neither am I.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend