A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

A dynamic, fully visually realized experience. It's every bit as gory as "Batman" but more cohesive and its struggle between good and evil more tightly integrated. [11 Aug 1989, p.C6]

Unexpectedly, one of the better F-man outings. [11 Aug 1989, p.2D]

The principal appeal remains the series' principal weakness as well. These films are all about the blurring of the boundary between dream and reality, which strikes at the heart of what film is all about. But this also means that at regular intervals, someone wakes up to find that it was all a dream, one of the hoariest and least satisfying devices in the history of bad drama. [15 Aug 1989, p.C5]

"5" has none of the pizazz of "1" and "3" and is only marginally better than "2" and "4," the worst of the "Elms."

One promising note, however, was that the character of Freddy Krueger had recovered some of the evil edge he lost in previous installments.

Unfortunately, Aussie helmer Stephen Hopkins adopts a music-video approach, delaying the boring exposition for several reels and usually cutting away from climaxes to destroy much of the film’s impact. Acting is highly variable. Saving grace is the series of spectacular special effects set pieces featuring fanciful makeup, mattes, stopmotion animation and opticals.

The few halfway decent ideas in the story (by John Skip, Craig Spector, and Leslie Bohem) and production design (by C.J. Strawn) are mercilessly and fatally crushed by the inept direction of Stephen Hopkins and the flaccid editing.

La que menos me gusta de toda la saga, pero he de admitir que las escenas de muertes son de las mejores.

A better start to the Halloween season than SLOTHERHOUSE last year. And I can announce: NIGHTMARE 5 is much better than I remembered. Yes, the details of the story and the character development leave much to be desired. And yes, scenes like the one with "Super Freddy" hint at the absurd direction the sixth installment will take us. But if you set aside logic and such, you get a very creatively directed fifth installment of a slasher franchise. The curse on the unborn, Freddy’s mystical origins, a haunted sanatorium, a ghostly nun, etc. Lots of atmosphere paired with excellent set design and creative (though heavily censored for the R-rating) kills have put me in the right mood for the spooky time of the year upon rewatching it.

This one was just ok. For some reason the kid in this movie just bothered me. Yea he looked scary but he was a bad actor. The movie itself would have been better with a different actor or just cut him out altogether.

I have seen the several films in the franchise "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and found that I have enjoyed more than most slasher films of the same time ("Halloween", "Friday the 13th" etc.). However, the quality of the franchise has visibly declined with the time and the films that have been released. The script of this film follows the story of its predecessor, but the way the story was developed lacks tension, suspense and even logic, with the characters acting randomly and thoughtlessly. The film does not have a developed or appealing content and this is reflected in our interest: I feel that I lost interest in the story in the first half hour, and I simply watched the rest without feeling involved or interested in what I was seeing. The cast counts, of course, with Robert Englund in his usual role, and that he knew how to play wonderfully. It is not by chance that he was never replaced in the role of Krueger. However, I felt that the actor was too good for the film and the dialogues did not do him justice. Younger actors do what they can, but they can't match him, and they have very simple and uninteresting characters. Lisa Wilcox, who has already made the previous film, is the most capable actress but is limited to doing an average job. The director, Stephen Hopkins, offers us a boring and uninspired job, where his main bet is on creating a visual style that makes the film more attractive. The problem is that there is no content to justify it. I liked the imaginative sets, and some scenes seem to be inspired by German expressionism, but the cinematography, full of contrast and intense colors, did not help and detracted from the unorthodox look of these scenes. The editing also seemed amateurish, to say the least. The soundtrack escapes these problems a little: not being particularly memorable, it works satisfactorily.

Ok the jingle maybe needs a remix. Acting, effects, and plotting are starting to take some major dips. Freddy's cheesy phrases are really dropping in quality also, I never realized how accurate the Rick and Morty episode was in reflecting how often he ends his sentences with ****