Jim Wheat – GOAT Film Reviews

Director: Renny Harlin

Cast: Robert Englund

Screenplay: Brian Helgeland, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat

93 mins. Rated R.

1988 was when the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise hit peak Cool Freddy status. That’s why there’s only one name on the poster. At this point, he was like James Bond, spouting off killer one-liners while maliciously murdering teams. It’s no wonder the fourth film feels like a music video.

It’s been a year since Kristen, Kincaid, and Joey did battle with Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund, Nightworld: Door of Hell, The Midnight Man) at Westin Hills, and the three teens are enjoying life outside of the hospital, now as functioning members of society. Kristen has a problem, though; she’s still afraid that Freddy’s going to come back, and she keeps pulling Kincaid and Joey into her dream world while they’re trying to move past it. Kristen’s trying to live her life. She has a boyfriend, Rick, and she’s very close to his sister, Alice. One night, though, Kincaid falls asleep and ends up in a dream-version of the junkyard where Krueger’s remains were put to rest, and thanks to some dog urine, Freddy is now back and ready to finish off the Elm Street kids once and for all.

The Dream Master is probably the least-grounded entry in the main series, especially up to that point. There are some strengths in that way, as the film is able to expand the limits of the dream world and how Freddy is able to manipulate it. The film leans into its Alice in Wonderland homage, and all that works pretty well. At the same time, how is Freddy brought back? Dog urine that lights on fire or something like that? It’s very stupid. I don’t even understand the idea behind it.

There’s also the focus on its characters. There are so many characters in this film, and so many of them are not developed well outside of tropes and clichés. Patricia Arquette has been replaced by Tuesday Knight, who just doesn’t have chemistry with Rodney Eastman or Ken Sagoes, and she doesn’t really embody the character in any way that feels like the Kristen we know from Dream Warriors. Eastman and Sagoes, as Joey and Kincaid, aren’t given anything really cool to do. The only reason for all these new characters is as fresh meat for Freddy.

The Dream Master is a super clunky but mostly enjoyable horror entry in the Nightmare on Elm Street saga. It isn’t the worst film in this franchise but it’s a significant drop in quality from the third film. Having a strong introduction for new Freddy foe Alice worked pretty well, but it betrays a lot of the characters carried over from the predecessor. It’s damn fun and enjoyable to watch, but there’s a lot of problems. Thank goodness that the film’s cheese factor works.

3/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13^th, click here.

For my review of Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, click here.

For my review of Steve Miner’s Friday the 13^th Part 2, click here.

For my review of Steve Miner’s Friday the 13^th Part III, click here.

For my review of Joseph Zito’s Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter, click here.

For my review of Jack Sholder’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, click here.

For my review of Danny Steinmann’s Friday the 13^th Part V: A New Beginning, click here.

For my review of Chuck Russell’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, click here.

For my review of Tom McLoughlin’s Jason Lives: Friday the 13^th Part VI, click here.

Director: Chris Walas

Cast: Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson, Frank Turner, John Getz, Harley Cross

Screenplay: Mick Garris, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, Frank Darabont

105 mins. Rated R.

As some of you are aware, David Cronenberg’s The Fly is one of my all-time favorite horror films. The sequel, The Fly II, has a steep ladder to climb, an impossible feat. But the question is whether or not The Fly II can be capable enough to stand on its own, and I think that, as a sequel, it actual is passable enough.

When Veronica Quaife dies giving birth to her child with Seth Brundle, the child, a victim of his father’s experiment, is taken in by Anton Bartok (Lee Richardson, Network, Prizzi’s Honor) and his company. The boy grows at an accelerated rated. and celebrating his fifth birthday, Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz, Pulp Fiction, Class Rank) is a fully-grown man with extreme intelligence and a need to learn. Martin searches for a cure to his mutation. At the same time, Bartok is searching for the missing piece in Seth Brundle’s telepod experiment. When Martin discovers that Bartok is not interested in helping him, he must venture for his answers with only the help of fellow Bartok employee Beth Logan (Daphne Zuniga, Spaceballs, Those Left Behind).

The Fly II is nowhere near as strong a film as its predecessor. First-time director Chris Walas (The Vagrant), who worked on the creature effects for the original film, stepped behind the camera this time around. For a first film, The Fly II could have been so much worse. The faults here come with pacing, performance, and the ending.

The Fly II has some real pacing issues. It feels like a three-hour movie at times. I feel like the lack of a throughline direction from Walas is a big reason why this sequel suffers. It feels very unfocused at times, meandering about in search of meaning.

The performances from Stoltz and Zuniga are very underwhelming. Stoltz seems childlike, as he is still, but he is just uninteresting. Zuniga, though, is just dull. Richardson’s Bartok isn’t an interesting villain, but he is evil enough to suffice. I just missed the characters from the first. I feel like having more of a presence of Seth and Ronnie, or hell, even Stathis (John Getz, The Social Network, Trumbo), who appears in the sequel in a cameo.

The ending is pretty amazing, except that it half-sucks. There’s an ending for our main characters that is extremely underwhelming, Then, there’s a super-dark stinger before the credits that I loved. The entire third act goes insane, a larger-scale version of the original, and I liked where it was heading, but it just didn’t go far enough.

But there are some really cool moments of the film. The Fly II is at its best when it forges a new path rather than retreading its far superior parent. Walas kills it again with the incredible makeup effects. The attempts made at adding to the mythology are mostly successful, and I have to say, I did enjoy most of the film.

The Fly II is an inferior sequel, but it gets about as good as it was ever going to get after losing Cronenberg. It’s a fun 1980s camp horror sequel that does try to reach the stars even if it misses often enough.

2.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

For my review of David Cronenberg’s The Fly, click here.

Tag: Jim Wheat

[Freddy Krueger Day] A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)