A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) Review

Spoiler-free so you can read before you watch

Horrorific content by Yo Adrian on October 17th, 2020 | Movie Review | A Nightmare on Elm Street Series, Slasher, Supernatural, Teen, Revenge, 80's Horror

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It's about a team of teens terrorized by Freddy who gang up on him in one big badass collective nightmare.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors was directed by Chuck Russell (who also directed Bless The Child and The Blob) and stars Robert Englund (from Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street and Abruptio), Patricia Arquette (from Stigmata and Nightwatch) and Patricia Arquette (from Portal and Hellraiser: Judgment).

If you think you'll get out alive, You must be dreaming.

Freddy's back! No more trying to possess guys or running around crashing pool parties. The dream master is back, haunting the dreams of innocent Elm Street kids. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was thankfully just a bump in the road in this legendary franchise that gave way to Dream Warriors, the legendary fan favorite of all FredHeads.

"Sleep. Those little slices of death. How I loathe them" - Edgar Allan Poe

The opening scene of Dream Warriors is one of the best in all of horror. It re-introduces you to Freddy, his grisly past and his epic impact within the nightmare realm he creates for his victims. You get the backstory along with an incredibly creative nightmare scene that plays out to the iconic Nightmare on Elm Street score. It really sets the tone for one hell of a horror movie.

Dream Warriors starts with an introduction to all of Freddy's terrorized teens, all locked up in a psychiatric hospital due to their supposed suicide attempts. They all share the same nightmares but are assumed to have their own various psychological disorders. Problem is, you can't stop Freddy no matter how many pills you pop.

Phillip likes to create marionette puppets, Kincaid has anger management problems, Kristen has the ability to pull random people into her dreams, Will is a nerd stuck a wheelchair due to an "accident", Jennifer wants to go to Hollywood to be a star when she gets out, Joey is a mute and Taryn is a junky. The cool thing about all of these different characters is they all have different nightmares tailored to their own personalities and fears. It's a big part of what makes Dream Warriors so unique and creative.

One dream in particular that destroyed my psyche as a kid was Phillip's. Freddy takes form as one of his marionette puppets and slashes his arms and legs, pulling out his veins and using them to turn him into a living, bleeding human marionette. He yanks on his veins from above forcing him to walk into a desolate part of the hospital and then straight out of a window.

The meat of the movie happens when Kristen learns how to pull all of the Dream Warriors into her same dream, allowing them to team up against Freddy. And at the same time a doctor from the hospital teams up with Nancy from part 1 to try to fight Freddy from the real world. So you have several people fighting Freddy at the same time from different angles.

And yet he's still a son of a bitch to beat.

Worth Watching?

Hell yeah. Dream Warriors is practically required viewing for anyone serious about their horror.

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Yo Adrian

Founder and Executive Director of all things Horrific at AllHorror.com (Ok, actually I'm just a guy who watches way too many horror movies. It's unhealthy, really).

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