This post is just here to confirm what you’ve known since you were 10 and your parents gave you the ok to watch rated R films. Perhaps your parents weren’t that carefree and you had to have an older sibling rent it and hide the tape in a clam shell box for Harriet The Spy. Whatever the origin, it’s an obvious realization through multiple viewing experiences, possibly on Halloween night as you chug Octoberfest and feel a sugar rush from an endless amount of fun sized Nerds, that NOES 3: Dream Warriors is one of the most exciting experiences the horror genre has ever offered.
Dream Warriors follows Kristen, a teen who’s spends her nights making popsicle houses while chugging ground coffee and Diet Coke as she blares Dokken to avoid confronting Freddy Krueger. Kristen is of course played by Patricia Arquette. She’s one of two people who appears in this movie that would soon go on to have a monumental career. The other one being Laurence Fishburne who when you see the way he makes a bit part pop it’s no surprise he went on to give a 5 star performance in Boyz n the Hood.
P.S.-Is it inappropriate to say I swooned when Patricia Arquette was chugging ground coffee to Dokken? Ah well I fucking said it!
One evening while confronting the son of a hundred maniacs, Freddy makes it look like Kristen attempted suicide which leads to Kristen’s mother dumping her in a mental asylum for the troubled youth of Springwood. Kristen’s mother it has to be mentioned might be the whitest woman in Caucasian history. If I had to point to the quintessential middle aged white woman, it’d be her saying “andale.”
The joke’s on Freddy because Kristen lands a spot on the Elm Street Dream Team. These rad teens who have awesome powers in the dream world combine forces with Heather Langenkamp coming back like LL Cool J to try and put this red and green stripped psychopath in his place once and for all.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bill Maher from Body Double is here too!
I don’t think I could keep track of every single reason why this film works so well. For one we got Chuck Russell directing this. He fucking directs a NOES sequel that’s somehow as great as the original, if not better and what does he do the very next year?
THE FUCKING BLOB REMAKE!
That movie alone makes a valid argument for reboots. Thirty years later, just like Dream Warriors, it’s one of the freshest and more exciting experiences captured on screen. If we compare horror movies to baseball, Chuck Russell in 87-88 is equivalent to Barry Bonds smacking baseballs out of Oracle Park in 2001.
The previous installment in this franchise, Freddy’s Revenge was a detour from the formula that made the first film so great. While that’s refreshing for some, I love that Dream Warriors takes everything that made the first film great and heightens the formula.
The surreal imagery from the first film returns in a big way. It’s early on in this film where you get the psychotic visual of the Freddy worm that sends Kristen 10 ft up in the air before dropping her.
The first kill involves a teen’s veins being used as puppet strings that concludes with a gigantic Freddy up in the clouds cutting the strings to send him plummeting to his death.
Soon after that there’s the iconic “welcome to prime time bitch” kill that begins with a segment between Dick Cavett and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Later on Freddy’s fingers morph into needles and many other visual moments that make you long for the practical effects heyday. It really says a lot that 30+ years later Dream Warriors is still an engaging experience.
Dream Warriors set a template the next three films would attempt to duplicate. From Dream Warriors on we meet a new group of teens with one specific character trait Krueger uses to spice up their death. Never is that ever done as perfectly as it is in Dream Warriors because everybody is someone you don’t want to see dead. Props to whoever was in charge of casting because all around are faces you don’t want to see go.
This film is also the first time we see the body of souls concept. The next installment would feature Linnea Quigley’s boobs among the souls. The 80s were a very strange time.
Also the first film with Amanda Krueger and the “100 maniacs raping her over and over created Freddy” concept. Once again, the 80s were wild.
While pointing out the great moments I’ll also point out my minor grievances.
First off, I never understood Freddy Krueger catfishing Joey the Mute. Not only in this one but also in The Dream Master we see him once more seduced by a busty topless goddess that turns out to be Freddy in disguise. Does Freddy Kreuger find this dude attractive? If so, maybe wait til he’s 18 and try and be more honest. Sure, bad skin and a fedora can be a deal breaker but don’t let that stop you from shooting your shot.
John Saxon returns to this film briefly as a drunken security guard and boy that always bums me out. Every time I see him in the bar I assume he’s still a police officer until the camera gets closer to reveal his security patch. No man with his build and eyes deserves to suffer.
Godda….I mean gosh darn this movie is VERY religious. The Satanic Panic was in full swing around this time so perhaps New Line was like “let’s inject as much Christianity as we can to keep the Reagan freaks at bay.” It’s the only way to explain the addition of a magical nun and Freddy Krueger being defeated by holy water, which boy talk about lame. What’s with these movies killing off Freddy Krueger in the lamest fashion? I just watched NOES 2-3 back to back and they are some of the worst monster kills I’ve seen in the genre. Not that Nancy saying “I don’t believe in you” is any better but still, these Freddy kills stink worse than charred flesh.
Overall Dream Warriors is the quintessential good time horror film. It set the bar for how fun, fresh and exciting a horror sequel can be. It’s the peak of this franchise exploring the type of fantasy adventure storytelling that was trendy during the 1980s and most would agree it’s the peak in general for this franchise.
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