The metamorphosis of Freddy Krueger from nightmarishly intimidating boogeyman to ridiculous pussified cartoon character reaches its climax of juvenile and uninspiring humour with the sixth Elm Street; Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. The character of Freddy is already dead by this instalment in the franchise, they should have given up with him while he was still the stuff of nightmares (probably after A Nightmare on Elm Street 3) as by now he is about as threatening as the Dalai Lama at a pillow fight and his deteriorated sense of humour would allow him to have "Acme" written on his sweater and meet his demise under a giant anvil without surprising the viewer. The focus is 100% on Freddy and his antics; this is basically "The Freddy Show" rather than a tale of the terrorized descendents of Elm Street families. Freddy Krueger was destined to become a star but a lot of the beauty of the Elm Street story was the intricate blend of real word and dream world, capably intertwined by the virtuosity of Wes Craven's writing and directing talents. The line between reality and dream has become blurred, overused and predictable and the fact that everybody's favourite son of 100 maniacs keeps getting his balls handed to him on a plate by pathetic, shallow teenagers has made the dream world quite a non-daunting place.

The kills in Freddy's Dead are quite predictable and no more original than any other slasher of the era and they seem to have been constructed around one-liners devoid of any cleverness which are often just a statement of the obvious while Freddy laps up the camera time. Yes.. he plays to the camera and makes quips to the viewer in a style more befitting of Ren and Stimpy with the only difference being there seems to be some talented writers behind the Chihuahua and cat duo. Rachel Talalay, writer and director of Freddy's Dead should have made more of an effort being that she was involved with most of the movies from the inception of Elm Street but instead relies on using the common slasher cookie cutter rather than setting the trends for the problem children of the horror industry to follow.

The storyline crowbars Freddy into another situation where he can kill children, tries to explain his origins and tries to explain his supernatural powers so he can be killed forever without the chance of a sequel. Enter stage left numerous Crayola-by-numbers slasher clichés and the perfect excuse to avoid coherent story... namely 3-D.

Oh no... a stoner as stereotyped by people who have never smoked anything stronger than Silk Cut Menthol... will he die in a drug induced crazy trip with the power of LSD, triggered by smoking a tiny spliff?

Oh no... Freddy was bullied and had Daddy issues, plus he used to hurt small animals. Could that be what warped him?

Oh no... Freddy is powered by evil CGI demons (who are seemingly powered by special effects used in From Beyond). Can they be stopped?

Surely only a hand to hand fist-fight can answer these questions.

That's about it for storyline; Freddy finds a way to keep killing children after he has wiped out the whole of Springfie... errr... Springwood, one such child realises that Freddy managed to fire a fertile one and that they are connected by a family tree, the age old hat-stealing trick as pioneered by Nancy is used to pull Fred into reality and he gets his butt kicked from here to wherever the fuck people traditionally get their butts kicked to.

Freddy's Dead seems like a rushed attempt to draw a line under the franchise and milk a few dollars more from a beautiful concept that has been led astray by money grabbing corporations. Freddy needed to die in 1987 as by 1991 he was way past his prime and a bit of a recreant. In the scheme of things A Nightmare on Elm Street 6 is no worse than many slashers of the same decade but it fails to stand out among what was mostly a mass-produced, no-effort genre consisting of a weak premise, a kooky bad guy and some ironic deaths of teens who deserve to die because they are fucking stupid and a danger to the gene pool. The main reason this is so disappointing is because the concept and the original Elm Street movie was an innovation in horror that bust into the mainstream, Freddy and the whole dream/reality confusion was such a great idea that could have lasted up until part 6 if only a little more effort had been made and Freddy had been kept away from cheap comedy clubs. Bonus points for the sly Jonny Depp cameo but points are deducted for cartoon noises, playing to the camera and for the fact that nightmares have ceased to become scary.

Definitely the most influential slasher movie in my humble career as a horror obsessive and a contender for "horror movie that started my mania", Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street summons my first memory of the excitement and trepidation that a newbie to the horror genre experiences when faced ... Read More "A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)"

Faced with having to express an opinion on the whole Elm Street franchise, the most daunting one to rein judgment upon has to be the second installment, Freddy's Revenge. The main reason for this is due to the two very different scenarios in which this movie has seduced my retina and caressed my occ... Read More "A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge"

Despite being one of the better sequels in the Elm Street franchise, A Nightmare on Elms Street 3: Dream Warriors is definitely the turning point where Freddy starts to show off to his audience and begins the descending spiral towards the cartoon character he is destined to become. For the most part... Read More "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors"

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is the first indication that the franchise has less of a future than a marriage between Ted Bundy and a snuff fetishist. From the lame 80s opening music performed by Patricia Arquette's Kristen replacement (Tuesday Knight), the fact that they had to repl... Read More "A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master"

I'm not even going to try and bullshit you: I love everything Freddy. EVERYTHING. Perhaps it's because he encompasses everything I am - evil & sadistic with a dark sense of humor. Or maybe it's because I like my villains with personality. I also grew up (I use that term loosely) on the Nightmare on ... Read More "A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child"