Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) - Sorry, but isn’t that title a ‘spoiler?’

Okay, when you choose to watch a film entitled ‘Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare’ then you can’t really complain that ‘Freddy’ may just not make it out of this one alive.  Then again... if you’ve watched any of the other Freddy/Nightmare on Elm Street films, then you’re probably used to seeing Freddy get bumped off at the end of the ninety minutes then come back again.

So, this film in the ‘Nightmare’ series is the last.  Or at least it is in the same way that 1984’s ‘Friday 13^th: The Final Chapter’ was the ‘final’ Friday 13^th film (there were approximately eight future installments including remakes and spin-offs).

Here Freddy takes top billing once again, as he looks for pastures new to continue his evil killing spree, after wiping out every single child in Springwood.  The ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ series has divided fans.  Those who like the franchise serious and dark (and, dare I say it, Freddy at his scariest?) like parts I-III.  However, after that, Freddy tended to drop his sinister undertones and become more of an ‘evil clown,’ spouting comic one-liners after each kill. ‘Freddy’s Dead’ can be put squarely in the latter’s bracket.

If you don’t mind Freddy’s ‘humour’ then you should enjoy this one, as it’s not that scary.  However, it does tend to recycle a few of the franchise’s old plotlines, plus copies one of the later ideas from the Friday 13^th series (regarding a relation of the central killer).  The film-makers also tried a new trick (now the ‘norm’) of introducing a 3D element near the end of the film, although you probably will hardly notice if you’re watching it at home on DVD or Blu-ray.

I enjoyed it, but I was always okay with the ‘Freddy-light’ portrayal of the demon killer in the later movies.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that