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Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

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"Freddy's Dead" redirects here. For the Curtis Mayfield song, see Freddie's Dead.
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Theatrical release poster by Matthew Peak
Directed byRachel Talalay
Screenplay byMichael De Luca
Story byRachel Talalay
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDeclan Quinn
Edited byJanice Hampton
Music byBrian May
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
  • September 13, 1991 (1991-09-13)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$11 million[1]
Box office$34.9 million[1]

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare is a 1991 American slasher film and the sixth film in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. It is the sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and was originally served as the concluding chapter of the series until the release of Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which takes place outside the series canon. This was New Line Cinema's first film released in 3-D. Upon its release, the film received a poor critical reception.

Robert Englund reprises his role as Freddy Krueger; Lisa Zane, Yaphet Kotto, Breckin Meyer, Shon Greenblatt, Ricky Dean Logan, Lezlie Deane and Tobe Sexton also star. Additionally, several well-known actors make cameo appearances in the film, including Johnny Depp (whose screen debut was in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street), Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold, and Alice Cooper. Iggy Pop sings the title song, which plays over a montage of scenes from the previous Nightmare films during the end credits.

Plot

On June 1999, ten years after the previous film, Freddy Krueger has since returned and killed nearly every child and teenager in Springwood, Ohio. The only surviving teenager known only as "John Doe", finds himself confronted by Freddy in a dream and wakes up just outside the Springwood City limits, and forgets who he is or why he is outside of Springwood after suffering a head injury.

At a shelter for troubled youth, Spencer, Carlos, and Tracy plot to run away from the shelter to California. Carlos was physically abused by his mother, resulting in a hearing disability; Tracy was sexually abused by her father; and Spencer was emotionally abused by his father. John, after being picked up by the police, becomes a resident of the shelter and a patient of Dr. Maggie Burroughs. Maggie notices a newspaper clipping in John's pocket from Springwood. To cure John's amnesia, she plans a road trip to Springwood. Tracy, Carlos, and Spencer stow away in the van to escape the shelter, but they are discovered when John has a hallucination and almost wrecks the van just only Springwood.

Tracy, Spencer, and Carlos, after trying to leave Springwood, rest at a nearby abandoned house, which transforms into 1428 Elm Street, Freddy Krueger's former home. John and Maggie, visit Springwood Orphanage and discover that Freddy had a child. John believes he is the child because Freddy allowed him to live. Back on Elm Street, Carlos and Spencer fall asleep and are killed by Freddy. Tracy is almost killed, but she is awakened by Maggie. John, who went into the dream world with Tracy to help Spencer, is still asleep. Maggie and Tracy take him back to the shelter. On their way back, Krueger kills John in his dream, but not before revealing that Krueger's kid is a girl. As John dies, he reveals this information to Maggie. Tracy and Maggie, return to the shelter, but they discover that no one remembers John, Spencer, or Carlos except for Doc, who has learned to control his dreams. Maggie remembers what John told her and discovers her adoption papers, learning that she is Freddy's daughter. Her birth name was Katherine Krueger, and her name was later changed to Maggie Burroughs following her father's arrest and subsequent murder.

Doc discovers Freddy's power comes from the "dream demons" who continually revive him, and that Freddy can be killed if he is pulled into the real world. Maggie decides that she will be the one to enter Freddy's mind and pull him into the real world. Once in the dream world, she puts on a pair of 3-D glasses and enters Freddy's mind. There, she discovers that Freddy was teased as a child, abused by his foster father, inflicted self-abuse as a teenager, and murdered his wife. Freddy was given the power to become immortal from fiery demons. After some struggling, Maggie pulls Freddy into the real world.

Maggie and Freddy end up in hand-to-hand combat against one another. While Maggie continues to battle Freddy, she uses several weapons confiscated from patients at the shelter. Enraged by the knowledge of what he has done, she disarms him of his clawed glove. Eventually, Maggie stabs Freddy in the stomach with his glove while she is near him. Tracy throws Maggie a pipe bomb. After she impales Freddy to a steel support beam, she throws the bomb in his chest. She says "Happy Father's Day", kisses him, and runs. The three dream demons fly out of Freddy after the pipe bomb kills him. Maggie smiles at Tracy and Doc; she is confident that her father is dead.

Cast

Main articles: List of cast members of the Nightmare on Elm Street series and List of A Nightmare on Elm Street characters

Production

In the original script, 15-year-old Jacob Johnson (son of the previous installment's main character, Alice Johnson) was the character while many of the "Dream Warriors" would return to aid Jacob in defeating Freddy after he kills Alice.[3] This idea was later trashed and rewritten into the final script. Peter Jackson also wrote a screenplay, but it was not used; his screenplay was about how Freddy had become seen as such of a low threat that teenagers were now taking sleeping pills just, so they could mess with him. A police officer then was to go into a comatose state, thus permanently being in Freddy's realm.[4]

The last 10 minutes of the film are in 3-D. Maggie putting on her 3-D glasses in the film is visually intended to be the audience's cue to do the same. The effect was eliminated for the VHS and television releases, except for the UK and French rental version and the U.S. Laserdisc version. The DVD box, set released in 1999, includes two pairs of 3-D glasses to use with the reinstated effect.

Reception

Box office

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare made $12,966,525[1] in the opening weekend, which was the highest opening weekend for the series until the release of Freddy vs. Jason.[5][6] After its initial run, the film grossed totaling $34,872,033 in the United States, making it the fifth highest-grossing film in the series.[7]

Critical response

Reviews for the film were generally negative. It currently holds a 20% rating on film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes on 30 reviews.[8] Austin Chronicle wrote, "Freddy Krueger [...] has devolved from the horrific, ill-defined phantasm posited in the original film into a bland and annoyingly predictable boogeyman loved by kids everywhere."[9]

The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the song "Why Was I Born? (Freddy's Dead)".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was released September 24, 1991, by Warner Bros. Records. While not included on the soundtrack, the song "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly is featured in the film.

  1. Goo Goo Dolls – "I'm Awake Now"
  2. Junk Monkeys – "Everything Remains the Same"
  3. Goo Goo Dolls – "You Know What I Mean"
  4. Johnny Law – "Remember the Night"
  5. Chubb Rock – "Treat 'em Right"
  6. Iggy Pop – "Why Was I Born? (Freddy's Dead)"
  7. Johnny Law – "Hold Me Down"
  8. Goo Goo Dolls – "Two Days in February"
  9. Young Lords – "Give Me a Beat"
  10. Fates Warning – "Nothing Left to Say"

On September 3, 1991, Varèse Sarabande released an album of Brian May's score.

Comic spin-off

Innovation Comics published a three-issue comic adaptation of the film. An alternate version of the third issue was published in 3-D so as to recreate the effect also used in the film. The series was also published in the trade paperback format. Innovation followed the adaptation with A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Beginning. The three-issue miniseries served as a direct sequel to Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, as Maggie Burroughs continues to have nightmares of her father Freddy Krueger, following the events of the film. Traveling back to Springwood with Tracy, another survivor from the film, Maggie researches Freddy's life leading up to his death by the Springwood parents. Only the first two issues of the series were released before Innovation Comics declared bankruptcy, leaving the third issue still unpublished and the story incomplete. Series writer, Andy Mangels has since made the original script for issue number three available on his website.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  2. ^ Seibold, Whitney (2012-10-12). "The Series Project: Freddy & Jason (Part 4)". CraveOnline. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  3. ^ Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Original script). Retrieved January 29, 2012.
  4. ^ Farrands, Daniel and Kasch, Andrew (Directors) (2010). Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (DVD). 1428 Films.
  5. ^ ELAINE DUTKA (2002-05-23). "Weekend Box Office : 'Freddy's Dead' Wakes Up Box Office - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  6. ^ "'Freddy's Dead' Wakes Up Box Office". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-09.
  7. ^ "Nightmare on Elm Street Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Freddy's Dead - The Final Nightmare - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 16, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  9. ^ Savlov, Mark (20 September 1991). "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  10. ^ "Nightmares on Elm Street". Andymangels.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
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