Freddy is back and he’s stalking the dreams of a batch of Elm Street youngsters currently residing in the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. Teenage Kristen (Patricia Arquette who has never not been super cute) has found herself there following a nightmare encounter with the beloved child-murdering crispy coot. Ya see, she woke up with a sliced wrist looking a whole lot like a suicide attempt. The facility she now calls home specializes in sleep disorders and the batch of youths she now calls housemates are all suffering nighttime terrors thanks to the razor-gloved demon called Freddy Krueger (Englund). It ain’t easy to convince the staff that a mutual boogeyman is haunting their dreams because adults are just so dang lame. A rising bodycount paints a picture of hopelessness but in comes a dream researcher who knows what she’s talking about (Heather Langenkamp) with an eventual plan to battle the monster she’s well-aware of and end his reign of terror for good. It’ll be a lot easier because Kristen conveniently has the power to pull others into her dreams, which means she won’t be having to make a go of saving the children of Elm Street on her lonesome. A superior followup to the original dismisses a bunch of the homophobic Part 2 and let’s loose with a wild slice of slasher insanity that fully understands how much fun you can have when your boogeyman isn’t weighed down by reality. It all feels like the series finally realized its potential and a returning Craven on the screenplay/EP front may have had something to do with that. Semi-useful adults include a kind but naive doctor (Craig Wasson) who seems to be the only one who can see an elderly nun creeping around, a stern department head, a sarcastic yet sympathetic orderly (Laurence Fishburne) and a returning John fuckin’ Saxon as Nancy’s now alcoholic father. The special effects budget gets some breathing room, Freddy’s past gets a light shined on it, a junkyard encounter with Freddy’s Harryhausen-esque skeleton plays into the climax and Langenkamp’s hair is the best it’s ever looked.
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