Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

October 26, 2022 11:09 AM

Reality and fantasy meet in unsettling ways in this installment of the long-running horror series, which finds director Wes Craven and actors Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund all portraying themselves. As Heather (Heather Langenkamp) considers making another film with Craven, her son, Dylan (Miko Hughes), falls under the spell of the iconic disfigured villain Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Eventually, Langenkamp must confront Freddy's demonic spirit to save the soul of Dylan.

Written and directed by Wes Craven.

79% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on HBO Max. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (3 comments total)

I'm due a rewatch as grownup me could probably better appreciate the pre-Scream meta qualities of this film. Teen me who saw it was mostly bummed at the missed fan service opportunities. (It would have been cool if Robert Englund was heroic in this, for example.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:22 AM on October 26, 2022

The sequence where Dylan is sleepwalking across the LA freeway is a real nail-biter. Overall I think this Nightmare flick stands up the best now, even better than the first one.
posted by wabbittwax at 3:12 PM on October 26, 2022

I enjoyed this movie a lot, and was one of the small group of friends who saw it and then saw the meta references of Scream as the next step, not Entirely New Thing, in Craven's career. The scene where John Saxon shifts from as-himself John Saxon to his "Lt. Thompson" movie character is a neat bit of acting I hadn't realized Saxon had in him.
posted by Gelatin at 4:40 AM on October 27, 2022