The third sequel in the long-running series is set firmly in the world of the late 1980s: we're talking lame fashions, big hair, rubbery special effects and a rather uneven tone veering midway between comedy and horror. It's all about what's over the top, with everybody involved aiming to outdo the scares and FX of the previous movies, but in the end none of this can disguise the fact that by this stage the story was wearing very thin. This is nothing more than a supernatural slasher that virtually reprises the plot of the first three films in the series with different characters.
Of course, watching Robert Englund hamming it up will always be a guilty pleasure, and I have to say that the special effects are also pretty impressive. In the days before CGI, the FX team here went all out in creating bizarre and inventive death scenes, most notably a moment involving a giant cockroach. Freddy's resurrection at the outset is gratuitously silly yet somehow still works, paying homage to the old Chris Lee/Dracula resurrections in spectacular fashion. There are lots of able technicians working hard behind the scenes, including Howard Berger and Screaming Mad George, and in a film this reliant on special effects their diligence pays off.
It's hard to review this title objectively, because watching it makes me nostalgic for '80s cinema in all its tacky badness. But I think it's fair to say that this is one of the better sequels out there; it's not frightening in the least, but it is entertaining and it's one of few enjoyable Renny Harlin-directed movies in existence, along with DIE HARD 2 and DEEP BLUE SEA.
