A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

1988 film by Renny Harlin

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is a 1988 American fantasy slasher film directed by Renny Harlin, and is the fourth installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Serving as a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), the film follows Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) who, following the death of Nancy Thompson and completing his revenge against the families who killed him, reappears in the dreams of Kristen Parker, Joey Crusel, and Roland Kincaid, where he uses Kristen's best friend, Alice Johnson, to gain access to new victims in order to satiate his murderous needs. The Dream Master is often popularly referred to as "the MTV Nightmare" of the franchise. The Dream Master was released on August 19, 1988, and grossed $49.4 million at the domestic box office on a budget of $6.5 million, which made it the highest grossing film in the franchise in the United States until the release of Freddy vs. Jason, a crossover with the Friday the 13th franchise, in 2003. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. It was followed by A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989).

In 1988, a year after the events of the previous film, Kristen, Kincaid, and Joey have been released from Westin Hills and are back to their lives as normal teenagers with their families. However, Kristen believes Freddy Krueger will come back, and when she dreams that she is in Freddy's old boiler room, she summons Joey and Kincaid into the dream. To reassure Kristen that Krueger is dead, Kincaid and Joey take her to Krueger's boiler room in the dream and show her that the boiler is cold. The next day, Kristen meets up with her boyfriend, martial arts enthusiast Rick Johnson, and their friends—Rick's shy and quiet sister Alice, Sheila, an asthmatic genius, and Debbie, an athletic girl who dislikes bugs. Kincaid and Joey confront Kristen at school about the dream. They tell her that their days of fighting in dreams are over, and if she continues, she might accidentally bring Krueger back. That night, Kristen stays awake to keep herself from dreaming, but Kincaid falls asleep. He awakens in a junkyard, where Freddy has been accidentally resurrected. Kincaid fights Freddy, but Freddy overpowers and kills him. Joey falls asleep in his room and sees a model from one of his posters swimming in his waterbed. Freddy pulls Joey into the waterbed and kills him. At school the next day, Kristen learns that Kincaid and Joey were found dead. She later tells Rick, Alice, and Alice's crush, Dan Jordan, about Freddy and vows to avenge Kincaid and Joey. Kristen realizes that her mother has put sleeping pills in her dinner but falls asleep as she tries to run out of the dining room. Kristen starts to dream; Freddy overcomes her attempts to repel him and forces her back to his home. Since Kristen is the last of the Elm Street children still alive, Freddy goads Kristen into summoning one of her friends into the dream so that his fun can begin anew. She calls Alice into her dream, and Freddy throws Kristen into his boiler, but before she dies, Kristen gives Alice her dream power. Alice wakes up with the sense that something is wrong and takes Rick to Kristen's house. When they arrive, they see that Kristen's bedroom is on fire with her in it. Later, Alice falls asleep during class and inadvertently brings Sheila into her dream. Freddy kills Sheila and makes it look like an asthma attack. Rick starts to believe Alice, but the following day, he has a dream where an invisible Freddy attacks him in a martial arts dojo. Rick fights him and manages to knock his bladed glove off. However, the glove levitates and stabs him to death. With each death, Alice changes—she gains the abilities and personalities of her dead friends. She makes plans with Debbie and Dan to fight and kill Freddy together, but when her father keeps her in, Alice falls asleep. Through Alice, Freddy stalks Debbie, transforms her into a cockroach, and crushes her in a roach motel. Using Debbie's temper, Alice tries to ram Freddy but collides with a tree in reality, injuring Dan. As Dan is rushed into surgery, Alice returns home and readies herself to join him and face Freddy. In a dream, Alice rescues Dan, and the two find themselves in an old church. Dan gets injured in the dream, which prompts his surgeons to wake him up. Alice now has to face Freddy alone. Freddy has the upper hand due to his experience, but she uses her friends' dream powers against him. When he is about to win, Alice remembers a nursery rhyme called "The Dream Master." She recites it and forces Freddy to face his own reflection, which causes the souls within him to revolt. The strain tears Freddy apart. Alice's friends' souls are released and leave Freddy as a hollow husk. Months later, Dan and Alice are on a date when Dan tosses a coin into a fountain. For a moment, Alice sees Freddy's reflection in the water, but she ignores it. Dan asks her what she wished for, but Alice does not tell him as they walk away from the fountain.

Lisa Wilcox as Alice Johnson. Wilcox was not initially considered for the lead role of Alice (see below for more details). In this film she plays a more timid version of the character who would later return in the sequel. Danny Hassel as Dan Jordan. Hassell was not expecting to be cast and assumed that the producers giving his character the same name as himself meant they were not that interested in his role in the script. Nonetheless Hassell, along with Wilcox, would return in the sequel the following year. Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger and nurse (without make up). Englund returned for his fourth appearance in the role of Krueger; the time loop sequence of Alice and Dan trying to save Debbie is often quoted by him as his favourite in the whole series. Tuesday Knight as Kristen Parker. Knight assumes the role of Kristen which had been played by Patricia Arquette in the previous film. Knight would contribute the film's soundtrack and, in 2010's documentary Never Sleep Again, other cast members suggest that her prominence was the result of a relationship with director Renny Harlin something both Harlin and Knight deny. Robert Shaye appears uncredited in a cameo role as Alice's teacher talking about a positive and a negative gate of dreams and Aristotle's dream philosophy.