Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

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Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Freddy's Dead: The Final Mightmare movie poster
Directed by	Rachel Talalay
Produced by	Michael De Luca, Michael N. Knue, Robert Shaye, Aron Warner
Written by	Wes Craven (characters), Rachel Talalay (story) Michael De Luca (screenplay)
Starring	Robert Englund Breckin Meyer Lisa Zane Shon Greenblatt Yaphet Kotto Ricky Dean Logan Lezlie Deane Tobe Sexton
Music by	Brian May
Cinematography	Declan Quinn
Editing by	Janice Hampton
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	September 13, 1991
Running time	89 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$5,000,000 (estimated)
Preceded by	A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Followed by	Wes Craven's New Nightmare
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (also known as A Nightmare on Elm Street 6) is an American slasher film, released in 1991. As the title suggests, the film was intended to be the last in the series of films featuring Freddy Krueger, wherein the character would be killed off. However the success of the series prevented it from ending (much like Friday The 13th part 4 and part 9). Another film, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, was produced. The character of Freddy Krueger then returned in 2003's Freddy vs. Jason.

Robert Englund reprises his role as Freddy Krueger; Lisa Zane, Yaphet Kotto, Breckin Meyer, Shon Greenblatt, Ricky Dean Logan, Lezlie Deane, and Tobe Sexton also star. Additionally, several well known actors make cameo appearances in the film, including Johnny Depp, Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold and Alice Cooper.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Production 2.1 Writing 2.2 Casting 3 Reception 4 Comic spin-off 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Plot summary

It is unknown how Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) has returned, but he has somehow managed to kill nearly all of the children and teenagers in the town of Springwood, Ohio. The only surviving teenager (known only as John Doe throughout the film) finds himself confronting Freddy and being thrown through an invisible barrier, in hopes that he will bring back victims for Freddy. He finds himself wandering the streets with no memory of who he is and with a mysterious article about a woman named Loretta Krueger.

Meanwhile, at a shelter for troubled youth, Spencer (Meyer), Carlos (Logan) and Tracy (Deane) all plot to run away from their troubles (Carlos was physically abused by his parents, Tracy was sexually abused by her father, and Spencer simply doesn't want to conform to his father's lifestyle). John, after being picked up by the police, becomes a patient of Maggie's. Maggie decides to take him to the town that is mentioned in the article he was carrying. Tracy, Carlos, and Spencer stow away in the van, but they are discovered when John has an hallucination and almost wrecks the van just outside of Springwood.

After encountering an insane teacher, Maggie and John find out that Freddy Krueger had a child that was taken away from him. John himself begins to suspect that he is Freddy's child, which, to him, would explain why he has not been hurt. Meanwhile, Tracy, Spencer, and Carlos decide to rest at a nearby abandoned house. The house happens to be 1428 Elm Street (the house where the previous Nightmare On Elm Street films occurred). Carlos and Spencer quickly fall prey to Freddy. Carlos' head explodes when Freddy replaces his ear piece with an amplified one, and scratches a chalkboard with his glove so loud, the screeching caused Carlos' head to explode. Spencer, who passes out on a couch while watching a broken television after smoking a joint, ends up being sucked into the TV while "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is playing and discovers he's in a video game and during one of the stages, he falls into a deathtrap. John and Tracy both fall asleep to try to save Spencer, but fail due to Freddy having a Nintendo-style "power glove". Tracy is awakened by Maggie, but John is still sound asleep. They decide to take him back to the shelter. It turns out that Freddy was simply using John to get to his daughter. Freddy then kills John by making him fall on a bed of spikes. Before he dies, he tells Maggie that Freddy's child was not a boy.

When Tracy and Maggie return to the shelter, they realize that no one remembers John, Spencer, or Carlos except for Doc who can somehow control his dreams. Upset, Maggie remembers what John has told her and discovers some adoption papers in her house. That night, she falls asleep only to encounter Freddy. Freddy then tells her a horrifying secret, that Maggie is really Kathryn Krueger, Freddy's daughter. He explains to her that he wants to start all over again, killing children, at the shelter claiming that "every town has an Elm Street".

Doc discovers that Freddy may be able to be pulled into the real world, and theorizes that he can be killed in reality. Maggie decides that she'll be the one to enter his (Freddy's) mind and pull him into the real world. Once in the dream world, she puts on a pair of 3D glasses (the theatrical version of the film was in 3D) and goes into Freddy's mind. There, she finds out that Freddy was teased as a child, inflicted self-abuse as a teenager (Sexton), and murdered Loretta Krueger (his wife) in front of his own daughter. After some struggling, Maggie manages to pull Freddy into the real world.

Both Maggie and Freddy end up in hand-to-hand combat against one another after Freddy tries to get Maggie's sympathy by telling her that she knew that it wasn't his fault he ended up the way he did. However, Maggie continues to battle Freddy, enraged by her knowledge of what he has done. Eventually, Maggie stabs Freddy in the stomach, with his own glove, and then sticks a pipe bomb in his chest, causing him to explode. Maggie manages to evade the blast and tells both Doc and Tracy that Freddy is dead.

[edit] Production

The last ten minutes of the film are in 3-D. The effect was eliminated for the VHS and television releases - with the notable exeption of the UK rental version. The DVD box set, released in 1999, includes 2 pairs of 3-D glasses to use with the reinstated effect.

[edit] Writing

A 16-year-old Jacob Johnson, the son that was born to Alice Johnson in the previous installment, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, was a major character in the original script. In this first draft of the film, Alice, now in her thirties, was killed by Freddy. Taryn, Joey, and Kincaid from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors also returned as the "Dream Police." In the script, Taryn was the "Blade Cop," Joey was the "Sound Cop," and Kincaid was the "Power Cop." Director Rachel Talalay has stated that she greatly disliked the original script and that the rewritten version "saved the day." ^[1]

[edit] Casting

The film marked the silver screen debut of Breckin Meyer.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Comic spin-off

Innovation Comics published a three issue comic adaptation of the film. An alternate version of the third issue was published in 3-D in order to recreate the effect also used in the film. The series was also published in the trade paperback format. Innovation followed the adaptation with A Nightmare On Elm Street: The Beginning. The three issue mini-series served as a direct sequel to Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, as Maggie Burroughs continues to have nightmares of her father, Freddy Krueger, following the events of the film. Traveling back to Springwood with Tracy, another survivor from the film, Maggie researches Freddy's life leading up to his death at the hands at of the Springwood parents. Only the first two issues of the series were released before Innovation Comics declared bankruptcy, leaving the third issue still unpublished and the story incomplete. Series writer, Andy Mangels, has since made the original script for issue number three available on his website.^[2]

[edit] External links

• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare at The Nightmare On Elm Street Companion
• Andy Mangels' original script for the unpublished third issue of A Nightmare On Elm Street: The Beginning

[edit] References