A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master (1988)

54% of critics liked it
(26 reviews)
60% of users liked it
(228,083 ratings)

This fourth trip down Freddy Lane was the most successful at the box-office, but although it has some impressive visuals, it is mostly an empty film. Credit must go to the effects team for some fine work, but otherwise, this entry from the director of Cutthroat Island (Renny Harlin) is extremely… More This fourth trip down Freddy Lane was the most successful at the box-office, but although it has some impressive visuals, it is mostly an empty film. Credit must go to the effects team for some fine work, but otherwise, this entry from the director of Cutthroat Island (Renny Harlin) is extremely weak. Roland Kincaid falls asleep and awakens in the Springwood junkyard, where his dog -- named "Jason" in a sad foreshadowing of the film's giggly tone -- pees fire on Freddy's grave. The pyro-urinary baptism causes Krueger (Robert Englund) to reassemble from bones outward in an admittedly impressive sequence. Predictably, Freddy guts Kincaid, then appears in Joey's waterbed as a naked pinup girl (Hope-Marie Carlton) before slicing him to ribbons. And so it goes. The film has a few interesting ideas kicking around, but no real identification points. This is a video game, not a movie, and the characters seem to exist only in order to move the film from one effects sequence to another. There is a lot to be said for special effects, and the ones here are extraordinary and vivid. However, the wonderfully grim mood and subtle performances of Chuck Russell's outstanding third entry in the series are gone, abandoned by Harlin in favor of a splashy, comic book approach which would, unfortunately, dominate the series' later installments. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: Renny Harlin
Genres: Horror

In Theaters: Aug 19, 1988 Wide
On DVD: Aug 21, 2001
Studio: Media Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Consistently watchable and inventive.
Variety Staff, Variety
Robert Englund, receiving star billing for the first time, is delightful in his frequent incarnations as Freddy, delivering his gag lines with relish and making the grisly proceedings funny.
Caryn James, New York Times
Though the Elm Street series contains the most intelligent premise in current genre films, none of the movies take much advantage of their potential.
Richard Harrington, Washington Post
As always, the teen actors are disposable, and even Robert Englund seems to be sleepwalking through Freddy.
David Nusair, rec.arts.movies.reviews
...an obvious low point within this incredibly uneven series.
Karen Krizanovich, Empire Magazine
Surprisingly watchable for the third sequel and despite its general predictability it's entertainingly inventive.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
With each entry, the films become more removed from their source. Freddy just isn't scary anymore.
Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com
Not counting 1994's Wes Craven's New Nightmare, it's superior to all the other later sequels in the series.
Clint Morris, Moviehole
Fun, but not a shade on the earlier Elm Street flicks
Stefan Birgir Stefansson, sbs.is
The new comedy version of Freddy...
Wesley Lovell, Oscar Guy
As the series drags on, the inventiveness of murders decreases slightly but Freddy's humor continues to entertain.
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
The Dream Master has a sort of constant level of goofy idiocy.
Leo Goldsmith, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Bottomless grab-bag from the 80s TV subconscious, riffing on Jaws, Karate Kid, and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, with a palette that would make Joel Schumacher queasy
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Renny Harlin's finest moment. That should tell you something.
, Time Out
While some of the monotonous effects are strikingly surreal, Harlin's direction creates an atmosphere which is more morbid than scary.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Not much to see here except for the occasional '80s big hairdo and some decent gore shots.
Blake Davis, KFOR Channel 4 News
A good sequel in the series directed by trash auteur Renny Harlin with just the right flair.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cory T

An ultra-stylish, guilty-pleasure sequel with a multi-layered character arc for the female protagonist who can tranpose interlopers into her dreams. Alice must mature from a shy, introverted side character to an impregnable warrior who can finally vanquish the culprit responsible for… More
An ultra-stylish, guilty-pleasure sequel with a multi-layered character arc for the female protagonist who can tranpose interlopers into her dreams. Alice must mature from a shy, introverted side character to an impregnable warrior who can finally vanquish the culprit responsible for the deaths of her friends (and her wide-eyed naivete). Freddy has succumb to macabre one-liners and MTV-generation swagger (like a demonic James Dean), but, considering the prolific series, he cannot remain a frightening mystery forever.
MisterYoda ?

3 stars
jd c

Directed by Renny Harlin (director of Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Deep Blue Sea, Mindhunters, and Exorcist: The Beginning). Elm Street 4 is another great sequel. It's my fourth favorite in the series (the third being Wes Craven's New Nightmare). The… More
Directed by Renny Harlin (director of Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Deep Blue Sea, Mindhunters, and Exorcist: The Beginning). Elm Street 4 is another great sequel. It's my fourth favorite in the series (the third being Wes Craven's New Nightmare). The Dream Master also has amazing effects, but they're not as memorable as Dream Warriors. Freddy Krueger comes back with even more jokes and they all work. Very smart script. This is when I fell in love with Lisa Wilcox (who plays Alice Johnson), Freddy's newest obstacle. She's beautiful...still is beautiful. I recently saw new pictures of her at horror conventions, and she's absolutely stunning. I just wish she was in better movies (other than this one). This is actually the only movie I've seen her in (and part 5). But I think she's a great actress too. All the characters gave good performances and all the characters were convincing, and likable. The Dream Master isn't that bloody at all, but it's very icky (the Debbie Stevens cockroach was gross, the little pizza pie heads were gross, and the sucked in face while kissing was pretty nasty). Again, the effects were great. Being so over the top it all looked pretty realistic. Lots of latex, no CGI crap...I love latex. What's also amazing about this film is the soundtrack. This features the best soundtrack out of the whole series. Find the music (not score) if you can, it's really good! What The Dream Master doesn't deliver in scares, it delivers in fun. It's a must see for fans of the series. It's one of my favorite late-80's teen horror films. <a href="http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/HorrorQf/?action=view&current=ElmStreet4.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm89/JDHallowEEn/HorrorQf/ElmStreet4.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Jeff "

Although not as great as Dream Warriors, this film still has strong moments, and is a terrific film in the Nightmare series. This is one of the first films in the Nightmare On Elm Street series to include a bit of comedy. The film Also has great dream sequences, and the deja vu part… More
Although not as great as Dream Warriors, this film still has strong moments, and is a terrific film in the Nightmare series. This is one of the first films in the Nightmare On Elm Street series to include a bit of comedy. The film Also has great dream sequences, and the deja vu part really does play tricks on you, I though that at one point my DVD was messing up on me, but no, it was Freddy all along. One thing I love about the Nightmare films is that even though some of them manage to be less great, all of them as a whole manage to be entertaining, and this film is a great example of that. The Dream Master is a good sequel and is a great addition to the franchise and will sure appeal to Freddy fans everywhere.
Wahida K

Very Creepy, not in my Nightmares though.
Conner R

It was at least better than the third one. It still suffers from the same curse of bad teenage actors. I don't know why they don't use Freddy more, he's the main attraction.
Anthony L

The Freddy films started to get a bit tired by this point and killing off the remaining Dream warriors made me quite upset :o(
Jason O

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master" isn't the best movie in the series, but it is good. Kristen (Tuesday Knight) returns in this sequel as the only child left for Freddy Krueger to terrorize. Years ago, the kids' parents all burned Freddy to death and… More
"A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master" isn't the best movie in the series, but it is good. Kristen (Tuesday Knight) returns in this sequel as the only child left for Freddy Krueger to terrorize. Years ago, the kids' parents all burned Freddy to death and buried him. That's why he's been terrorizing those parents' kids all these years, and Kristen is the final one. However, Freddy decides that to get to Kristen, he must use some of her friends, especially Alice (Lisa Wilcox), in order to get to her. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4" is a good horror movie, but what I really liked about it was its special effects. It has some of the best in the series. Some of the best special effects scenes are when you see all the kids' souls in Freddy and on the pizza, and when Freddy uses a model that is inside a waterbed as bait to get to one of the original Dream Warriors. If you like good horror movies or The Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I recommend getting this one. NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2000.
Dean !

I don't think this was as good as the first or third ones.
Lady D

Entertaining, nostalically interesting to watch
Martin S

I can't even remember what happend...
Curtis L

these all run together for me.
Cassandra M

This is the first elm street film I saw and it fascinated me back then. Of course I was only 10 at that time but it still is great. The flick is not scary like the original, but is more grotesque. Robert Englund is excellent as Freddy Krueger because he enjoys playing that character.… More
This is the first elm street film I saw and it fascinated me back then. Of course I was only 10 at that time but it still is great. The flick is not scary like the original, but is more grotesque. Robert Englund is excellent as Freddy Krueger because he enjoys playing that character. You always sense Krueger presence with his twisted nightmares. Dark humor is my taste and I always laugh when he pops his quotes: "You shouldnt have buried me; I'm not dead!" "Now how's that for a wet dream?" "Welcome to Wonderland, Alice!" There are a few things that blows; Patricia Arquette should have been recast as Kirsten Parker and the resurrection is a bit lame but then the S/F effects rocks, the director likes action scenes and the music is well above average for a 1998 film
Lafe F

Very slick and MTV- inspired Freddy movie; I believe the director was an experienced Music Video creator. Great angles. Slick cinematography and production values; great soundtrack. It wasn't scary anymore, but was a fun rollercoaster ride with each of the kids having their own… More
Very slick and MTV- inspired Freddy movie; I believe the director was an experienced Music Video creator. Great angles. Slick cinematography and production values; great soundtrack. It wasn't scary anymore, but was a fun rollercoaster ride with each of the kids having their own dream-death sequence. It was a load of fun; I saw it in the theatre a few times. The characters were all likeable. Freddy had become a big personality with one-liners for every scene. He was no longer hiding in the shadows. But I loved it.
Dean M

Freddy Kruger's returns in this fourth installment to continue his favourite pastime, killing teenagers in their dreams, is played to hilt with fantastic special effect than the past three series.
danny d

i know i saw it, i dont remember it. they all sort of blend together
Jason S

A little kooky.
Emily A

This was another really good one. It was a little illogical how they brought him back, but once he was, Freddy really hit his stride. The death scenes in this are really good, and the filmmakers really acheive the dream-like surreality that is inherent in the nightmare sequences. It… More
This was another really good one. It was a little illogical how they brought him back, but once he was, Freddy really hit his stride. The death scenes in this are really good, and the filmmakers really acheive the dream-like surreality that is inherent in the nightmare sequences. It kind of loses points for recasting Kristin though.
Chris W

A couple of interesting kills, but that's it.
Lindsey D

'A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master' is almost to macabre and out there to be enjoyed on any level.