La Fin de Freddy : L'Ultime Cauchemar

Well, I hate to spoil the movie for you but Freddy dies in this one. For what should've have been a grand finale to the series ends up only okay at best. The body count is low and there is just general goofiness all around. Freddy is a joker, and is not threatening at all. I suppose this makes some sense, because with all the power Freddy had it would only take a matter of time before he got so cynical in his killings. Just getting the job done, and having a good laugh while at it.

Since the series has been such a success, there actually is a budget on this and there's good Special Effects. But even with all the effects, it'll be the clever camera tricks that will have you thinking "how'd they do that?" There are only 3 deaths but they are pretty good and creative ones at least. In part 5 a kid is sucked into a comic book, in this one a kid is sucked into a video game. The results of this are way better than in part 5.

Then there's the plot- which is stupid. But at this point in the Nightmare On Elm Street series, you can't expect anything good. It's reached the point of campiness and for some reason I just went with it in Freddy's Dead. It's a goofy, somewhat enjoyable flick that I'm sort of on the fence about. It's not scary at all but it will keep you entertained, unlike Parts 2 and 5.

My Rating: 5/10

Often people will have low expectations going into a film like FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE. How good can the sixth installment of any series be, let alone a string of low-budget frightfests? Yet I am not of the belief that horror series are doomed to run out of steam. Heck, I think Friday THE 13TH got better with age. But although I had an open mind while watching what was supposedly the last NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET film, I found it a bitter disappointment in every way.

Once again, our favorite grotesquely-disfigured dream stalker is after a group of teens, dispatching them one by one as they sleep. Yet none of the creativity or style of the previous films is present. Whatever happened to sequences such as the waterbed from Part 4 or the marionette from Part 3? It's as though producers cobbled this together just for the sake of making another Freddy film.

Other shortcomings abound. While other NIGHTMARE entries have been nothing short of brilliant at making the most of a limited budget, FREDDY'S DEAD looks the cheapest of them all. This is especially true when we see a younger Freddy meet the computer-generated dream spirits. It was reminiscent of a third-rate Saturday morning children's show. Humor was attempted here, with cameos by Johnny Depp and Roseann Arnold and a video game sequence with Freddy at the joystick, but it all falls flat. The acting is stale and Rachal Talalay directorial debut uninspired.

The finale is a particular disappointment. Of all the memorable ways Freddy has been killed in previous films, is having his daughter turn his own glove against him the best they could come up with? Granted, the idea of bringing the killer into the real world was a good one, but its potential was not fully explored.

Overall FREDDY'S DEAD is arguably one of the worst -- if not the worst -- films in this popular saga. And yes, that includes Part 2 and the overly artsy DREAM CHILD. One has to believe that if they had it to do all over again, the people behind this film could come up with something a lot better than this.

This film is terrible. I really can't understand why they changed Krueger from a mass murdering scary figure to a Jerry Lewis clone. They should have given the role of Krueger to Robin Williams. At least he is good at comedy. That would be something I would pay to see. I have seen the first Nightmare about 50 times, I have seen Craven's last one maybe 5 times, the others are just a waste of time and they are not even worth one viewing. I can't tell you how much I despise the way that horror films have evolved. From all of the Fridays after the fourth, all the Nightmares after the first and before the last and all the Scream clones, they are mostly terrible. There have really only been perhaps 3 films in the 90's that scared me. One was Wes' New Nightmare and the two others are this summer's biggest surprises, that being The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense. They are movies that scare, chill and make you jump in ways that this and every other Nightmare could only dream of. If you have a morbid curiosity of what else I think of this film, review A Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre along with the other two films that I mentioned. Then you will see that those films are the exact opposite of what this one if. And that is a scary thought. I just hope that horror films are on the rise again seeing as we now have names like Myrick, Sanchez and Shyalaman that have emerged onto the scene. Perhaps they can bring us back to what horror films used to stand for. We used to have scares and chills, now we have comedy in place of all that is a horror movie. If that is your thing then watch this one along with movies like Idle Hands. But if you are a purist, stay away from this one and go rent some classics. Thank the movie Gods for video.

To sum it up, in case you didn't get it, this is a disgrace to what Freddy originally stood for. This is a terrible horror movie.

I have to give Rachel Talalay credit for this was a decent vehicle for her to make her directorial debut since she'd been affiliated with this series for years before making this movie, but the story couldn't have been weaker. Except for using the character of Freddy, Nightmare 6 bears no major consistency with it's predecessors. We never find out what happened to Alice and her baby. Freddy is starting with a new group of teenagers who aren't relevant to the previous five movies in any way which make them as victims and characters (and, in some cases, as actors) even more forgettable than this movie. Perhaps the only thing that makes this movie watchable is that eeriness that makes Freddy fearsome. The only good thing that can be said about the sequels to this movie is that the eerie element is present in all of them, but is negligible due to overly high body counts, weak stories, and comedy. They shouldn't have used the tagline: "They save the best for last," since I didn't think Freddy's death scene in this movie was a far cry from his previous five.

I guess I'm part of the silent minority who enjoyed this film. Is it one of the best of the "Nightmare" series? Maybe not, but I had lots of fun with it. Freddy Krueger reaches his evil, wisecracking potential. Since parts 4 and 5 kind of lagged the series down, I felt this so-called final installment ("New Nightmare" is the real finale) brought the series out of its slump. There are some great nightmare sequences, including one where Breckin Meyer plays a stoner who gets trashed, falls asleep and gets stuck in a video game to which Freddy controls. This is both a highly original and hilarious sequence, especially when we see him out of the dreamscape, hopping around like Super Mario. And Freddy belts out the funny one-liner, "Great graphics." And since the movie was made about 10 years ago, it brought back memories when Freddy started controlling the game with the Powerglove. Anyone who remembers the first 8-bit Nintendo remembers the Powerglove.

The cast is superb. Lisa Zane is perfectly cast in the lead. I haven't seen Yaphet Kotto since "The Running Man," and I think the last time I saw that film was about 5 years ago. He's another great, underappreciated actor who possesses a powerful screen presence. And who can forget the cameos? The best one is by Johnny Depp (from the first "Nightmare") playing a spokesman for an anti-drug commercial.

The 3D sequence at the end is really awesome! So for those who are looking to check this film out--please rent or buy it on DVD! Hopefully all the editions come with the 3D glasses, but I'm sure the video edition has the 3D element removed.

I personally didn't see many things wrong with the film. It even elaborated on Freddy's backstory. The film is a great mix of humor and scares, and the gross-out effects are terrific. Could this have given better justice to the franchise? Of course it could have. But Rachel Talalay did a fine job. And finding the perfect conclusion is easier said than done.

And in closing, I loved the montage over the opening credits. Fans of the series will be delighted, and will look at it as a tribute to beloved Freddy.

My score: 7 (out of 10)