A Nightmare On Elm Street 5 is a slasher horror film directed by Stephen Hopkins. The plot continues to follow new dream warrior Alice (Lisa Wilcox), as she once again has to fight Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), who has returned from the dead this time using Alice’s unborn babies dreams as a gateway back into our world.

This is by far the strangest nightmare yet, there is a lot of out there ideas that range from the goofy to the downright disturbed. Though Hopkins himself does not like this film, studio meddling once again, I think it has a place amongst the better trips to Elm street. I enjoyed the surreal feel to it and a lot of imagery was unsettling which I felt heightened the film.

Furthermore, the deeper dive into the origins of Freddy was interesting to see how it all began, the monster baby stuff not so much, but the rest of it was intriguing. That said, I found the focus on Alice’s baby, who is or isn’t Freddy’s son? Was bad, I did not care about this future character that is barley set up at all and just appears.

The deaths were a lot of fun, I thought the dinner party kill and the comic book esque kill were probably the best of the bunch, though they all have an entertaining campiness to them that makes them so fun to watch.

Overall, though some of the ideas were poorly thought out, baby Freddy springs to mind, I think because of the clear vison and style this film feels better than a lot of the other instalments.

Pros.

The Kills

The focus on Freddy’s origins

The campy fun

The visuals

Cons

Jacob as a character

Zombie baby Freddy

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Nightmare On Elm Street 4: Dream Master is a slasher horror film directed by Renny Harlin. The plot this time sees Freddy find a way to bring himself back to life, after seemingly being killed in the last film. He once again goes after the remainder of the Elm Street children, to strong degrees of success, and then sets his sights on new prey.

My first thoughts about this film is that it is odd that Kristen is no longer played by the same actor from the last film (Patricia Arquette), and is now re-cast younger for some reason despite this film supposedly being set after the third film. I understand they probably couldn’t afford her, but if that is the case why bring back the character at all?

The kills were so so this time around, which is not what you want to hear from a slasher film. There were a couple of funny and or well-done ones such as the water bed and the dojo fight scene. The rest, however, were fairly generic and fade almost immediately from memory.  The final fight was even more forgettable than that, and it all hinged on some strange nursey rhyme that was not set up, and despite him quoting it (implying he knew it), somehow served as Freddy’s death which makes very little sense.

Overall, other than a few inspired deaths this was a forgettable follow up that fails to live up to Dream Warriors in almost every way.

Pros.

Campy slasher fun

It is very watchable

A few good deaths

Cons.

Most of the deaths are generic

The final battle doesn’t make sense

Why bring back Kristen at all?

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a slasher horror film directed by Chuck Russell. The plot sees Freddy (Robert Englund), terrorise and try to kill the remaining Elm Street children, who are locked away in a mental intuition. However, the remaining Elm Street Kids realise that they have dream powers themselves and that together they can fight back against Freddy.

I was getting strong X-Men vibes from this film, I know it is because I have recently seen the New Mutants and stylistically they share some similarities, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling throughout.

I thought this was a step up from the previous film as it gave me what I was asking for, more Freddy. Freddy really gets his time to shine here, his kills are more out there and oddly inventive and we get to see his past explored in more detail, which I found interesting.

I enjoyed seeing Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), return I thought it was a great way of tying the series together outside of Freddy, sadly she was not given all that much to do beside be a mentor for the new cast of kids. Said kids were okay, none of them really struck me or left any kind of impression, their powers were neat, but underdeveloped we needed more time seeing them use them for it to be believable and make sense.

Overall, this might be my favourite of the Elm Street films so far I enjoyed the focus on Freddy and the dream warriors are a cool concept, even if the execution is a bit shaky.

Pros

The focus on Freddy and his backstory

The return of Nancy

The powers (as an idea)

The kills

Cons.

The powers were not fleshed out enough and the dream warriors themselves were all very bland

4/5

Reviewed by Luke   

A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is a slasher horror film directed by Jack Sholder. The plot follows a new group of teens lead by Jesse (Mark Patton), who again find themselves being terrorised by everyone’s favourite stripped jumper enthusiast. However, this time Freddy seems to want to possess the body of Jesse for his own malicious purposes.

I would be remise if I did not bring up the homoerotic elements that are present in this film, they are clear as day and the story around them is damning, heart breaking for Patton and a little confusing. I would advise you to go and read up about it, as there is quite a bit too it, or watch the documentary Patton later made about his experience making this film.

That said.

I applaud this film for trying something new. It tries to breakaway from the standard slasher structure of a killer picking off kids one by one, with the plot this time being about Freddy possessing someone to do just that, oh wait. I think this film is worse for deviating from the traditional slasher structure.

I think my key issue with this film is that Freddy is not featured enough. Yes, I understand they are going for the possession angle, but we come to these films to see Freddy do his thing, and yes we get that but with much reduced screen time.

Overall, though it still has some goofy 80s charm this film tries to hard to be something it isn’t and loses sight of itself as a result, we need more Freddy!

Pros.

A few funny kills

The goofy charm

Cons.

Not enough Freddy

In its attempt to not be a slasher it becomes boring

The experiences of Mark Patton, and what he was subjected to

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Prom Night is a slasher film directed by Paul Lynch. The plot sees follows a group of high school seniors as they are stalked and killed by a masked man seeking vengeance for a crime that happened 6 years prior.

Some say that this film is a giallo/ slasher hybrid, and with certain aspects I can see that. The more surreal dream like elements are very reminiscent its true, they are also easily the best thing about the film.

Personally, I found this to be deeply generic. If you look at the other big Jamie Lee Curtis slasher film that came out only a few years prior Halloween, you see a film dripping in style and identity, with this it could be any other slasher a group of teens being chased by a masked man and picked off one by one; real original.

I thought the story was also quite convoluted, I lost track of the motivations a lot of the time as the film can’t seem to stick to one plot line for any length of time.

I didn’t think of the characters were particularly likeable and I don’t think the cast did anything of note to impress, I think it was all deeply by the numbers and low effort.

Overall, I understand some people regard it as a cult classic, but to me it just screams generic.

Pros.

It is watchable

Cons.

The story is convoluted

The cast are very bland

It feels very by the numbers

The kills feel repetitive

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Hellraiser 3 is a horror film directed by Anthony Hickox. The plot again serves as a continuation of the last film, wherein Pin Head (Doug Bradley), became imprisoned in a statue. Obviously, he tricks some gullible humans into feeding him their friends, thereby restoring him, he then goes on a rampage. The only people willing to fight back are news reporter Joey (Terry Farrell) and the manifestation of Pin Heads good side, also played by Bradley.

After the god awful second film I very nearly gave up with this series, but a part of me wanted to see if it could get worse. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this film is hands and shoulders better than the second film, whilst still being leagues off the first film.

The main thing I enjoyed about this film was that it does not even try and be serious, or even remotely like Barker’s short story anymore, it just goes full on goofy. I found the 90’s charm of having these evil beings cracking wise to be somewhat charming.

I thought this film have several memorable moments such as the church scene as well as some of the early club stuff while still imprisoned, these are really well done and are suitably tense.

The new final girl does not have a patch on Kirsty and that is a simple fact.

Overall, a good end point for the series as it manages to claw back some of its dignity. I know this is not the end, but I am leaving it here (for now).

Pros.

It abandons any serious notion

Several memorable scenes

The one liners

Cons.

The new characters are bland

It has lost all sense of identity’

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke  

Sleepy Hollow is a horror fantasy film directed by Tim Burton, based on The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. We follow Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), a New York police constable who is sent out to the small village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders.

I remember watching this a lot when I was younger, it was my go-to horror film, especially on Halloween, for a long time. However, I recently rewatched it and saw it entirely differently then I did when I was younger and am now left thinking how much of my remembered enjoyment is the fabled rose-tinted glasses.

I still enjoyed some of the horror elements of the film, such as Ichabod’s tragic back story and the flashbacks involving his mother, as well as the headless horseman as a character. I find the fact that said horseman is silent for most of the film makes him more scary and you have to use your imagination. Having Christopher Walken play him when he does have a head is a masterstroke as he fits the role so well, stuffing it with malice and fear.

The acting is all fairly solid, Christina Ricci and Johnny Deep basically play similar characters to what they normally do, so your enjoyment of their performances will come down to how you find them in other roles.

My big complaint with the film that I didn’t previously notice is the tone; in that it is all over the place. Despite claiming not to be, this feels very much like family friendly horror, the darker elements are counter balanced with these oddly comedic moments and the two clash horribly as you would imagine.

Overall, it is still good when it is being scary, but the odd ball humour really ruins it as a whole.

Pros.

The headless horseman

Christopher Walken 

The gore and so genuine malice

Cons.

The main performances from Depp and Ricci are just them playing characters that they have played before again and claiming it is new.

The humour really hurts any kind of tension

3/5

Reviewed by Luke