I've been watching the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series in order, and as is the way with the law of decreasing returns, I've noticed them getting gradually worse with each film. THE DREAM CHILD is the worst yet, an ultra-silly and irrelevant addition to the saga which aims to add a twist with the introduction of a demonic baby.

Sadly, the execution and calibre of the script are both so poor that the resultant film is laughable in the extreme. Once again, Freddy is back as a comedic clown rather than a genuinely terrifying menace and by this stage it's hard to remember when he was an imposing villain.

The script is vapid and unoriginal, taking elements that worked successfully in previous films and merely reworking them for this one. The death scenes are fairly dull and unmemorable and despite some creativity in the bizarre nightmare scenes, as a whole it just doesn't hold together. Add in lacklustre turns from an under-performing cast and you have the worst 'Nightmare' yet...

Nightmare survivors Alice Wilcox (Lisa Wilcox) and Dan Jordan (Danny Hassle) are still a couple. Alice is pulled into a nightmare as Amanda Krueger. She was a nun forgotten in the asylum to be raped by the insane and became the mother of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). The next day, Alice, Dan and their friends Yvonne (Kelly Jo Minter),aspiring model Greta (Erika Anderson),and Mark (Joe Seely) graduate from high school. In another dream, Alice witnesses Amanda Krueger (Beatrice Boepple) giving birth to a deformed baby. Alice has to release Amanda from her earthly prison for her to battle Freddy. After Freddy kills Dan, Alice is hospitalized and discovers her pregnancy.

This is probably the third or fourth best of the original six Nightmares. It starts with a memorable scene of the insane asylum. It's a darker nightmare. The newborn Freddy is creepy. The story is muddled with some complicated unborn nightmare concepts. Most of it is middling with almost every aspect. The most damning problem is that the franchise is getting tired. The characters other than Freddy are no longer fan favorites. They are expendables.

I can't be the only one who can tell how this movie is very similar to the dream master: freddy is punny, we get tons of unnecessary backstory on him and his mother, we have forgettable characters (one is alright tho),freddy is still good, etc. The effects are good but there are times where there is REALLY BAD green screen as well. There are also good and detailed kills but they are barely in the movie, eh then again they would get stale of they was too many I guess. The pacing is somehow better than the 4th movie surprisingly which is a step up. The whole baby dreaming and affecting you thing isn't a bad idea but sadly we have an annoying child through out the movie... wonderful. The ADR laugh at the end was also kinda weird because they flipped between where the laugh was. Overall it's not unwatchable and abysmal (like ANOES 2),in fact, I appreciated it more this time than I did last time so it is thankfully not the bottom of the barrel.