The Dream Child (1989)

Tagline: It’s a boy!

Curiosity: How did they wrap up all those pesky loose ends from The Dream Master? Ya know, like the part where Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) was totally, absolutely, irrevocably dead times infinity blackout forever?

Plot: It’s graduation time for the Springwood teens, and Alice (Lisa Wilcox) seems to have found a whole new gang of friends since Freddy slaughtered all of her old ones, including super cool brother Rick (he knew karate, got-dammit!). Boyfriend Dan (Danny Hassel) even has tickets to Paris for senior week! Holy pan de chocolate!

THEN SHIT GETS SHITTY.

See, believing in Freddy is all it takes to revive him, and since Alice keeps waiting for him to come back, the whole thing turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. So he does indeed return from H E double Hockey Puck Thwacker Thinger, kills Dan (without even waiting for him to fall asleep, mind you), and begins corrupting the dreams of Alice’s unborn child.

Oh yeah, turns out she’s preggers. At first it’s framed as if it’s Freddy’s doing, but eventually you realize it really is Dan’s baby, which sucks. So now not only does Alice have to protect her friends, but also her baby, from Krueger, and without all those nifty Neo-like powers she gained in The Dream Master.

Plot: For a horror flick, this movie is surprisingly free of blood or violence. Even the nudity is family friendly (sort of). In fact, aside from maybe the fact that 90 percent of Freddy’s lines end with “bitch,” The Dream Child could probably run uncut in primetime on a major network. The kills are cartoonish, and the characters barely conceived. Dialogue is often overdubbed, especially in the awkward graduation ceremony that opens the movie. Even better is the garish wardrobe – everything is super bright/loud/big. Ah, the late ’80s/early ’90s – good times.

The film is the least faithful to the Nightmare mythology since Freddy’s Revenge. There’s little justification for the disappearance of Alice’s powers or Freddy’s ability to kill people who aren’t sleeping. There’s a slight argument for Alice’s baby inheriting her dream powers, but still no explanation for how it totally knows everyone ever and can pull them in. By this point, though, I don’t think anyone was trying very hard. I feel bad for Wilcox. She’s a solid actress with a good character stuck in the worst-written Nightmare on Elm Street films. Hopefully Alice gets some justice in the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash

Reflection: At least this movie served as the inspiration for Iron Maiden’s “Bring Your Daughter… to the Slaughter.”