ninjaalexs

I became aware of this due to it being released on one of Vinegar Syndrome's partner labels.

It's an indie drama about an aspiring female stand up comedian coming to terms with past trauma and being a sort of surrogate mother to Brooke, a missing teenager she used to nanny.

The performances are strong, but the film is humourless, which I'm sure is intentional. I've seen a lot of indie "dramedy" over the years and sadly they are all much of a muchness: the same "sad boi/girl" soundtracks, the same themes of female empowerment, the same coffee shop / bike ride / small rodent montages. Fleabag was such a megahit it set the template, but nothing has really moved on since. It's another film I'm underwhelmed by.

I consider myself to be a fan of Troma films ever since catching some on late night UK TV, but this is a lesser effort. It uses leftover footage from the second movie, as well as highlights from the first film. I am a fan of the first film and the second one is ok-ish. I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood for it or didn't have the right amount of stimulants, but this is for the most part just plain bad.

It lacks the gore of the first two films. This is understandable as the first two films had difficulty securing an R rating for video and theatres. Not to mention the kid friendly Toxic Crusaders TV series would have been in the pipeline. Like a lot of Troma films it has goofy humour which is more irritating than amusing in this one. You can excuse the low budget and I actually think some of the set design and costumes look really good. However, when the actors are told to stand around and point and laugh for two minutes, it's just bad film making and not so bad it's good either. There's also the nearly two hour runtime to consider.

I can appreciate the green devil and the original take on Dante's Inferno; which has been done better since in The Devil In Miss Jones sequels and Deconstructing Harry. Other than that it's hugely disappointing. Troma did go onto redeem themselves with an absolute cracker in the form of Tromeo & Juliet. These films no doubt have their fans, but it would have made for a wasted Blockbuster rental back in the days to all, but the most ardent fans.

One of the worst in the franchise. It has many references to popular films at the time: The A-ha Take On Me music video, The Omen, The Exorcist, body horror like Tetsuo Iron Man & Society, Judge Dredd and Dark Horse comics.

Robert Englund is always fun to watch, but for the most part his one liners are forgettable. It is clear to viewers he has become a parody of himself. Due to the popularity of the franchise this film and Dream Master also feel more "child friendly" with less gore and more fantastical effects. It's worth mentioning this film was cut by the MPAA and the cut version was carried over to Blu-ray and streaming media. Even without the cuts the kills while inventive especially a comic book fight with Freddy lack the menace of earlier films, making Freddy look like a loveable Uncle.

The film was a box office success making almost triple its 8 million dollar budget. However, it is often panned by both genre critics and fans as being the worst in the series after Freddy's Revenge. It's difficult to argue, but there's still a good deal of invention and style to this bookmark of 80s slashers.