Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Rachel Talalay, 1991, USA)

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare was originally intended to be the final installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Helmed by New Line veteran Rachel Talalay, the film is an attempt at a send-off for the franchise. Taking place 10 years in the future, the film opens in a world in which Freddy has killed nearly every teenager in the town of Springwood, Ohio. John Doe (Shon Greenblatt) is the only surviving teenager, who has survived a head injury and doesn't remember anything. 

We are then introduced to three teenagers at a center for troubled youth - this recalls the 3rd installment of the franchise, Dream Warriors. Spencer, Carlos, and Tracy try to make their escape from the center. They encounter John and try to get him to remember what happened in Springwood. He has a flashback and ends up crashing their car. We learn that John's therapist Maggie is the long-lost daughter of Freddy Krueger, who was taken from her father when his crimes were discovered.

Maggie (Lisa Zane) now is on a mission to bring Freddy into the real world - the only way he can be killed. The film is not as noteworthy as many other installments in the franchise and doesn't have many distinguishing characteristics to recommend it. One of the main marketing gimmicks of the film was that it was in 3D, and there is a 3D sequence, but without glasses, it is not much to write home about. Freddy's Dead arrived at a weird time in slasher history - the genre was no longer novel, but we were still far away from the self-referential likes of Scream (1996). Freddy's Dead is emblematic of this early 90s slump in the slasher genre that seemed to plague all major franchises of the era. Only for the diehard fans.

4/10