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A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
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A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

1988
Suspense/Thriller, Fantasy
1h 33m
Following up the previous Nightmare film, dream demon Freddy Krueger is resurrected from his apparent demise, and rapidly tracks down and kills the remainder of the Elm Street kids (imdb)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

1988
Suspense/Thriller, Fantasy
1h 33m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 28.92% from 1284 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1296)
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Rated 18 Nov 2020
76
57th
After a completely awesome third installment "The Dream Master" is a slump into stagnancy. While this one does have some decent effects and good kills, it's also an uninspired continuation from my favorite installment. This is my favorite slasher series and even when simply treading water, you'll find no complaints from me.
Rated 07 Nov 2018
77
72nd
Freddy's at full quip strength in this entry that brings a few characters back and has absolutely no qualms about murdering them. There's a terrific car accident where they stop a truck dead using a line underneath but it looks like what I wanted to see at the end of that U.N.K.L.E. video where the guy pulls a The Bothersome Man collision course. References! Enjoyable without really being very memorable. Except for the pizza. But I always remember a pizza.
Rated 19 Oct 2017
63
54th
The fourth film in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series is a sequel to the third film, which was a follow-up to the original, if we ignore the second, and surprisingly #4,"The Dream Master" feels like a movie sick with sequelitis. Although totally watchable, the movie plays like sample for a 80's slasher mixtape that copied "A Nightmare on Elm Street"(1984) off of cable, commercials and all onto a VHS, then tried to add "Freddy's Revenge", but instead taped over that with "Dream Warriors".
Rated 24 Jun 2018
75
65th
The laziest resurrection (flaming dog pee) and death (his reflection) but the death itself is so awesome and I’m literally just mashing this idiot keyboard trying to forget they killed off the glue that keeps this franchise together .... ... KINCAID.
Rated 11 Dec 2018
74
37th
This obviously has a much bigger budget & so there are a lot more efx & most shocking of all, licensed songs you may have heard before. There's also an actual creepy scene featuring an insect, a splatterific climax & a plot that's briskly paced which makes this watchable at least. The problems? Dialogue & acting. It also brings back characters from the last film only to get rid of them all 1/2 way through & since it's clear Freddy will never die, any dramatic conflict feels pointless now.
Rated 25 Aug 2012
40
28th
Disappointed that this didn't take place in space. Picks up where the third one left off, and does feature some quite inventive nightmares and a coherent plot. Warning: Does not actually feature any Dream Master.
Rated 21 Oct 2021
5
42nd
Usually when you get to the 4th entry in a franchise, it’s starts to become stale, especially horror. However, Dream Master continued to lend itself to it’s more goofier elements. At this point, you’re well established with the Freddy character, so I get what they’re trying to do. There is quite a few interesting kills and some genuine terror. However, any semblance of a story is non existent. For a sequel to one of the better Elm Street movies, this feels kind of just there.
Rated 14 Nov 2020
60
35th
Don't worry. I brought my "Rappin' Freddy Krueger" tape. It always makes the trip go faster. "Bitch, bitch, bitch, b-b-b-bitch-b-b-b Bitch, bitch, bitch" Heh, heh, heh. Y'know somethin', he did say, "bitch" a lot!
Rated 25 Aug 2019
60
21st
Self-indulgent and absolutely drenched in 80s pop culture, so much so that this almost feels more like nostalgia porn produced in 2017 than an actual product of the 80s - montages, karate, drum machines and hair metal abound. It's still leagues better than Part 2, but it feels like a cheap attempt to cash in on the franchise's popularity by just throwing Freddy into a mash-up of whatever was popular in 1988. Makes for an interesting relic, but not a terribly interesting Elm Street movie.
Rated 16 Oct 2017
65
63rd
Not sure how this is considered worse than the previous entry. The new cast? The disregard of the "rules" for how Freddy works? Who cares. Freddy continues to be a mischievous jerk, killing teens in sillier ways and throwing out zingers left and right. This one even features Linnea Quigley for a split second! How can you not like it?
Rated 27 Sep 2016
40
12th
the lack of creativity in here is almost overwhelming. i mean, people obviously don't give a fuck how you bring freddy back, you could have a dog piss fire on him in a dream and TADA. but what they came for is a nice assortment of funky deaths in weird settings that somehow relate to some quirk established in the respective character before. this was just lazy. and the ending? what the hell...?
Rated 16 Aug 2016
48
25th
Most "80's" of the films; Harlin directs each scene like a music video and uses the gig as a showcase for big-budget action films (which worked). Cheesy 80's songs are playing constantly with MTV & Pepsi product placements. Script by e.g. Helgeland is all over the place: 1st getting rid off characters from the previous film, then introducing new ones that you don't really care about. Freddy is the real lead here and more comedic than scary. The ending goes overboard and resembles a spoof.
Rated 19 Jun 2015
60
44th
Rated 02 Dec 2014
40
43rd
Somewhere between the decent part 3 and the 80s abomination of part 2. The contrived return of Freddy is quite horrible, but once that's out of the way it serves as an OK entry into the franchise. Considering most slashers are shit out of ideas by this point in the franchise, the fact that this is still pushing boundaries is a plus in its favour.
Rated 25 Aug 2012
30
10th
The idea that our protagonist (a well-cast Tuesday Knight whose creepy doll-face fits the material) holds great powers over the dream world had some potential that Harlin and Co. unfortunately largely fail to fulfil.
Rated 18 Oct 2010
55
58th
Unfairly bashed 4th entry in the series, this one has some inventive kills and some great Freddy one-liners. Not good enough to recommend, but decent enough to give multiple viewings (around Halloween)
Rated 30 Dec 2006
48
20th
hahaha that girl's name is Tuesday night.
Rated 02 Nov 2018
71
31st
This film has a number of good moments and others that seem forced. Robert Englund is good in his most famous role again here. The script could have used some more work. Overall I would recommend this to fans of this horror series only.
Rated 21 Jul 2018
75
80th
Most colorful fantasy-action-horror. It's truly awesome how Harlin uses dream as way to convey a multi-layered narrative: Alice uses moods and characteristics from her dead friends to try to defeat demon and fight as a dream master - car sequence on loop, cockroach destroying a girl's body, Freddy sucking life from the nerd girl, Freddy eating pizza with his victims' heads, souls being liberated out of Freddy's body, ripping him apart. Not that bloody, but the most exuberant of the franchise.
Rated 18 Oct 2017
6
25th
This one's kind of a mess, I'm not going to lie. New actress can't hold a candle to Patricia Arquette, but she tries. Characters aren't really as likable here. This is basically where Freddy goes full cartoon villain, and I can't say it's a bad change? Adding some more points for the cockroach kill, which is maybe the craziest/coolest bit of body horror in the entire series. Screamin' Mad George basically throws this movie a lifeline.
Rated 29 Jul 2017
58
42nd
(Viewed on 30/12/12): At this point the series had nowhere to go, so there was an increasing emphasis on wild set pieces to disguise the lack of plot. Hiring Harlin was a smart move; he brings plenty of energy and attitude to the series, trading narrative coherence for cartoon surrealist spectacle, a tendency that would be pushed further in future installments. Freddy regrettably became more joke like here, but Englund is always watchable and there are a few creative death scenes.
Rated 02 Nov 2016
3
28th
(2016 Freddython #4:) Probably the one you'd point to as the clearest example of just "Generic Nightmare on Elm Street Movie." Freddy shows up in dreams, kills some high school kids, makes lots of dark-yet-cheesy jokes, people don't believe it's happening until they do, then there's a comeback to defeat him in the dream at the end. Elm Street filmmaking down the bullet points. Totally watchable in a dumb way, nothing standout in the slightest.
Rated 04 Oct 2016
57
12th
I will never bench press again after watching that woman get crushed and turn into a mechanical cockroach thing. The actors are cliche stiffs and the script is generic as fuck, but the horror sequences are frequent and scary.
Rated 17 Mar 2015
30
11th
A really horrible outing in a franchise I've come to expect that from. With some horrible acting and a strangely unscary Freddy, the only thing this has going for it is some cool kills and the same fun score. Otherwise the rest is too cheesy. Even for the 80's.
Rated 03 Jun 2014
58
31st
Impressive visual flourishes and effects aside, this is a generally unsatisfying entry in the series. The surviving Dream warriors from the last film are brought back only to either be recast or quickly killed off and their transition from quirky mental patients to generic high school teens is never really explained. Still the highly inventive death sequences make it very watchable eye candy.
Rated 30 Oct 2013
53
21st
The ACTING in this movie is the REAL nightmare!! Ha ha, zing! Good one Trooth! Another brilliant movie review for the record books. Now to watch those Criticker Stars rooooll in!
Rated 18 Dec 2012
49
15th
Number 3 was so good, all this did was destroy everything that made 3 good and continue the franchise. Could have been worse, deaths will still ok to watch at this point.
Rated 22 Oct 2010
42
12th
Missing a lot of what made the previous films at least slightly different from all the other indestructible slasher films. Renny Harlin is not a good director but there is the genius move to bring Freddy back with fiery dog urine.
Rated 23 Feb 2009
35
42nd
Show a clip from Reefer Madness in the middle of your terrible movie to remind viewers that they could always be watching something a lot worse.
Rated 24 Sep 2008
24
12th
Wanna suck face? more like wanna suck shit.
Rated 08 Feb 2008
78
50th
The best scene involves a teenager practicing his kickboxing to Dramarama's "Anything Anything". I think that says it all.
Rated 09 Jan 2008
18
14th
Interesting movie. If you haven't seen three prev. movies in serial. This is only rerun of them!
Rated 03 Nov 2007
12
6th
It's all the same, it's all been done before. There's nothing new here at all. Even the surreal scares that are decent in this film are directly lifted from previous Elm Street flicks. Now let's add in the terrible 80's music, style and hair to the mix as well. Flat out, even if you're an Elm Street fan, you can most certainly skip this addition to the series.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
30
11th
A shitburger that was essentially the death knell for the NOES series. This movie is just awful and so are the two that follow it.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
40
27th
The second best installment in the series, after #3.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
60
22nd
Polished, with some good sequences. On the whole, though, pretty dumb.
Rated 09 Apr 2007
25
16th
More of the same. No new ideas, nothing really innovative, even for the series.
Rated 29 Nov 2022
30
5th
A steep, unexpected decline in a franchise that up to then maintained a certain quality. Essentially it's a repetitive stream of hollow characters dying in uninteresting scenarios. The effects are mostly much worse or much uglier, Freddy's one-liners try to be cool but end up ludicrous, and a lot of it just doesn't make any sense. Did you know that if a dog pees fire on a corpse, it comes back to life? Or that Freddy would die if he entered a public bathroom? And what the fuck is a dream master?
Rated 14 May 2022
83
32nd
This one has its merits - expectations are evidently low if we consider the previous film. From the movie theater sequence onwards, it gets much better. There are really great moments - the Kafkaesque transformation is one of the best scenes in the franchise.
Rated 25 Feb 2022
44
17th
For worse.
Rated 23 Feb 2022
61
13th
Technically a direct sequel to the superior third movie, but it doesn't really use that opportunity to its advantage. Still kinda fun to watch.
Rated 01 Nov 2021
70
19th
Viewed October 26, 2021. Renny Harlin is the series' best director since Wes Craven (if I'm being honest, I'd take Cliffhanger over anything Craven has directed), which means The Dream Master approaches the level of visual imagination that made the first film so great. There’s even less attention paid to character or plot (it definitely hurts that they recast Patricia Arquette’s character), but Harlin is an exhilarating stylist at his best.
Rated 31 Oct 2021
60
40th
Continues in the direction set by 3 but with a glossier pop-heavy MTV approach, slack pacing and a low-stakes feel. Where the previous entry benefited greatly from sticking its main characters in a mental hospital and amplifying their distress, this suffers from the generic home-and-high-school approach. Freddy's demise is a landmark body-horror freakout.
Rated 28 Jul 2020
51
14th
50.5.
Rated 25 Jul 2020
10
1st
Very bad.
Rated 02 Nov 2019
74
43rd
B
Rated 28 Feb 2018
92
68th
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 is terrifyingly awesome!
Rated 17 Oct 2016
45
7th
Picks up at the end but oh man what a dumb slog
Rated 02 Oct 2016
51
19th
Crazy nightmare sequences carry an otherwise bad film.
Rated 13 Jun 2014
47
15th
Significantly weaker than the third entry in just about every category. The pacing is very fast and rushed, and it feels dumbed down compared to the creativity of parts 1 and 3, from the higher body count to just the more typical slasher style of the movie. The character writing and acting is also weaker for the most part. Fortunately though, Lisa Wilcox plays a likable lead with the character Alice, and Freddy is still enjoyable.
Rated 13 Jun 2014
64
22nd
A step down from Part 3. The characters aren't as memorable (aside from the returning cast from the original and the leading lady, Alice) and the movie feels very rushed. It feels more like a compilation of scenes, and the "slasher" genre comes out much more obviously in this film. Freddy still has some scary presence left, but he gets even more silly in this one. Kristen would be much more welcome if it were Patricia Arquette returning to the role, but Tuesday Knight is rather dull.
Rated 23 Jan 2014
78
46th
This is when the Freddy films started to drop a little but regardless its still fun 80's Horror with some creative deaths and Freddy being as clever as ever!
Rated 24 Nov 2013
78
29th
An adequate horror concept with the weird factor upped to the next level with the creative deaths. It was particularly...interesting. The first half maintained the ability to pull others into your dream with the logic that it went by and was a good setup, and then turned it into a campy nightmare. Freddy was okay with his creepy humour and although he was understandably over-the-top and surreal, he didn't feel like a caricature.
Rated 18 Nov 2013
50
21st
Fun but sloppy. Horrible performances and a Freddy that is far more annoying than scary hurts it. The kills are boring for the most part but some of the set design of the dream sequences are well put together. There's a decent story of realizing your true potential...shame everyone who matters had to die for Alice to get there.
Rated 18 Nov 2013
55
11th
Freddy is just too goofy and no longer scary here, despite some fun sequences
Rated 25 Oct 2013
60
62nd
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master might not make the most sense and might only be tangentially related to the other entries in the series, but it's worth seeing anyway because of the effort put into the kills, the visual effects, and Robert Englund's work as Freddy Krueger. At this point, there's not a whole lot to of intellectual stimulation going on, but at least there's enough innovation to the proceedings to keep them from getting dull.
Rated 28 Sep 2013
64
41st
* Casting, Acting : 6.5 * Script : 5.5 * Directing, Aura : 7 * Ease of Viewing : 6.5 * Naked Eye : 6.5
Rated 06 Aug 2013
94
73rd
all the other films suck face compared to this
Rated 19 Jul 2013
65
25th
Probably the best looking film in the Elm Street series, if one of the least coherent (not necessarily a bad thing). The In the Mouth of Madness-like repetitive nightmare with Alice and Generic Football Player was interesting, and I wish the series had more of that.
Rated 25 Mar 2013
60
13th
just like the secend one
Rated 18 Jun 2012
35
25th
One of the better ones, for what it is worth. Written by the guy who wrote the novelisation of ET.
Rated 15 Jun 2012
70
33rd
Derailing
Rated 21 May 2012
5
20th
Cool kills, but that's about it. Shame they killed off all of the Dream Warriors in the FIRST SCENE!
Rated 19 Jan 2012
55
7th
Somewhat close to so-bad-it's-funny
Rated 08 Oct 2011
56
22nd
56.000
Rated 25 Sep 2011
55
17th
Not all bad, still some original deaths but the plot was bullshit and the acting was poor too. Plus, Tuesday Night? Really?!
Rated 14 Sep 2011
54
28th
CAN'T SLEEP TONIIIIIIIGHT. GOTTA RUN! GOTTA HIDE! God, the 80's were awesome.
Rated 30 Aug 2010
57
35th
What Part 4 lacks in substance, it makes up for in visual verve, including scenes of a kid drowning in his waterbed, and a pizza covered with pepperoni-like faces of Freddy's previous victims. This boxoffice bonanza set a new record as the most successful opening weekend of any independently released film.
Rated 26 Jul 2010
69
8th
This is much worse than number 3, but it does have it's good moments, the ending was pretty good and some of the FX were ok.
Rated 25 Jul 2010
85
62nd
my 3rd favourite in the series, it is the most MTV of the lot but i think it's quite fun and it has a good soundtrack too, Alice is a good strong female lead too
Rated 26 Apr 2010
23
1st
A Freddy suckfest. Worst of the series.
Rated 21 Mar 2010
57
46th
Number 4 for Freddy is a definite drop in quality from the previous outing, though it does have its moments. Slick-looking, but tries so hard to be funny that it forgets to be frightening, taking it as about as far from Wes Craven's original scary concept as it was gonna get.
Rated 13 Jan 2010
63
38th
Ponad 20 lat na karku, a wciaz posiada, zwlaszcza na tle dziesiejszych mlodziezowych horrorow, zadziwiajaco wiele swiezych patentow. Jedynie koncowe kilkanascie minut psuje dobre wrazenie, serwujac cos na styl Karate Kid.
Rated 07 Dec 2009
66
70th
Good Movie
Rated 30 Aug 2009
42
14th
A wasted opportunity.
Rated 25 Jul 2009
40
8th
This is the first major misstep in the Nightmare series. Horrible story, horrible acting, horrible script. It brings nothing new to the table and turns Freddy into a clown, stripping him of any creepiness he had. Even the special effects are worse in this one.
Rated 04 Jun 2009
88
75th
A nice installment in the serise featuring an outragous bodycount and plenty of loveable charactors.
Rated 31 May 2009
50
10th
Had some good scenes, but overall it just pales in comparison to the others.
Rated 04 May 2009
50
7th
Here since-ascendant auteur Harlin lets Fred coast his way through sundry slaughter scenes as he slays three survivors from 3, along with several new recruits, in a variety of increasingly predictable ways. Only an imaginative bijou-set sequence -- wherein Fred invades a _Reefer Madness_ screening(!) -- approaches the wacky inspiration that informed much of the film's immediate predecessor. Scream queen Linnea Quigley is tragically wasted as a "Soul from Freddy's Chest"
Rated 19 Apr 2009
3
40th
"Surprisingly watchable for the third sequel and despite its general predictability it's entertainingly inventive."
Rated 10 Apr 2009
0
15th
A mixture, as before, of spectacularly unpleasant special effects and grotesque humour, except that Freddy is now firmly established as the star.
Rated 09 Jan 2009
14
19th
....and yet I kept watching the series...
Rated 16 Oct 2008
65
23rd
seen all krueger movies, i love horror!
Rated 22 Aug 2008
50
3rd
Shit
Rated 13 Jan 2008
50
34th
Much the same, Freddy is turning increasingly chatty, but it's still acceptable entertainment.
Rated 16 Nov 2007
81
51st
Good cheesy fun, feh!
Rated 17 Sep 2007
60
39th
decent entry
Rated 14 Aug 2007
23
2nd
For me this is the point where the Elm Street movies really started to go downhill.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
66
69th
Contains the best death in the whole series (the cockroach) and talkative freddy is a blast. Cheesy 80s style and music only amps up the endless mugging by Krueger
Rated 14 Aug 2007
30
12th
Score based on distant memory.
Rated 30 Mar 2007
40
23rd
Still stupid

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