Every A Nightmare On Elm Street Movie Ranked Worst To Best

5. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
New Line Cinema

Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors brilliantly helped steady the ship after the poorly-received Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, but 1988's A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master undid so much of what made Dream Warriors work so well.

While Dream Warriors shockingly killed off franchise fave Nancy Thompson, it positioned the series as moving forward with a new set of heroes in the form of Kristen, Kincaid, and Joey - the so-called "last of the Elm Street kids".

Nancy was gone, but this trio were solid characters who you could get behind as the ominous threat of Freddy Krueger raised his fedora-adorned head once more in The Dream Master. Well, that is until Kincaid and Joey are killed off just 20 minutes into Elm Street 4, and Kristen bites the bullet shortly after, with the film switching its central focus to newcomer Alice Johnson.

Not only does Alice take on Kristen's dream powers, but she also picks up the abilities of each of her friends who end up murdered by Krueger, as it's left to Alice to take Freddy down for good. Or, y'know, until he resurfaced just one year later in The Dream Child.

Nightmare 4 is a solid Elm Street outing, again with some great kill sequences. And while it was disappointing to see the Dream Warriors survivors all pushed to one side, Lisa Wilcox as Alice was great in portraying the shy, timid teenager who discovers the strength and belief to battle the odds.

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