A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
All actors and roles (10)
All team (96)
Short description
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master continues the story of Freddy Krueger, who returns from the dead to haunt the dreams of the teenagers of Elm Street. The young survivors of the previous film find themselves targeted once more, and Kristen, who can pull other people into her dreams, passes that ability to her friend Alice before Freddy can claim her. Alice becomes the focus of Freddy's attention, and his killings continue through her connection to those around her. The film was directed by Renny Harlin, the third of the twenty-eight features he has directed in chronological order, following Prison and preceding Die Hard 2. Brian Helgeland and Jim and Ken Wheat wrote the screenplay, and Robert Shaye and Rachel Talalay produced. Robert Englund returns as Freddy, joined by Tuesday Knight, Ken Sagoes, Rodney Eastman, Danny Hassel and Andras Jones among a credited cast of thirty.
The film was released in August 1988 and runs ninety-three minutes. Made for about seven million dollars, it took in roughly forty-nine million worldwide, a strong return for a horror release of its period. Audience scores sit in the middle range, at 5.6 out of ten on IMDb from around sixty-eight thousand votes and 5.9 out of ten on TMDB from a much smaller base. A critics' rating of 4.9 out of ten from thirty-four reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Renny Harlin can be spotted among the students in the classroom.
- Tuesday Knight not only played a role in the film, but also performed the film's title song.
- Alice and other students are listening to a lecture on the philosophy of dreams. Robert Shaye, the producer of the Freddy Krueger films, played the lecturer.
- Originally, Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner came up with a plot that revolved around time travel through dreams. However, producers Robert Shaye and Sarah Richardson felt that this storyline was incorrect and contradicted the concept created in the first film.
- Ellie Cornell auditioned for the role of Alice.
- Initially, Tibor Takács was offered the direction, but he declined to join the project two weeks before filming began.
- Wes Craven declined an offer from New Line Cinema representatives to rework the screenplay they had written and film it.
- Renny Harlin became the film's director solely due to his persistence. Chuck Russell's "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (1987) was extremely successful at the box office, and the studio enthusiastically embraced the idea of a sequel, planned for release in August 1988. Harlin, a huge fan of the franchise, repeatedly expressed his desire to direct the future installment. He came to the New Line Cinema office every day and insisted on a personal meeting with producer Robert Shaye. The studio decided not to sign contracts with any of the other potential directors they had been in negotiations with for "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master," and Shaye finally agreed to meet with Harlin, as he was constantly present. However, studio management was skeptical of the "young upstart," especially since he only had experience directing two films that had gone unnoticed. Shaye himself later admitted that he also hesitated about handing the direction of an American horror film to a Finn with highly questionable ideas about the future project. Harlin’s persistence eventually prevailed, and he was also running desperately low on funds. Shaye jokingly claimed that Harlin was hired as director so he could buy new clothes. There was also another reason – with less than a year remaining until the planned release date, Shaye simply couldn't afford to delay the start of filming, and Harlin seemed like someone who could withstand the race against time and meet the tight shooting schedule.
- Brian Helgeland was hired as the screenwriter after being recommended by Robert Englund, as Helgeland had worked on the screenplay for his directorial debut, "976-Evil II" (1988). The film's release date had already been set, but the future project still lacked a screenwriter and director, and Helgeland was hired with the condition that he deliver a script within seven days. Robert Shaye from New Line Cinema told him that there were only seven days to write the script – and not a day more. Helgeland flew home to Massachusetts for Christmas and wrote the script at home in the kitchen, then sent it to Los Angeles by courier. He met the deadline.
- Lisa Wilcox was cast as Alice while on her honeymoon, so she had to cut it short and urgently return to filming in Los Angeles. Additionally, the blonde Wilcox had to dye her hair red so she wouldn't resemble Tuesday Knight, who played Kristen, too much.
- As soon as a contract with Renny Harlin was signed, the 1988 Writers Guild strike began. Less than 7 months remained until the end of filming, and the special effects artists had already begun work on the project (even before the project had a director). Harlin had only 7 weeks for pre-production, and he considered the script raw. Due to the strike, he had to rework the script himself and independently work on storyboards based on incomplete scene descriptions (they hadn't been fully fleshed out yet) and his own imagination. The final version of the script was written in collaboration with Rachel Talalay and Michael De Luca, and some plotlines and dialogue were added during filming.
- When Alice enters the cinema, posters for the films "Reefer Madness 2" (1985), "Hairspray" (1988), and "Prison" (1987) can be seen.
- The diner where Alice works is called “Crave Inn,” which is a reference to Freddy Krueger creator Wes Craven.
- When Dan and Alice are in the hospital, an announcement can be heard over the loudspeaker requesting Dr. Shay to report to a specific room. This is a reference to producer Robert Shay.
- In the cemetery, behind the graves of Kristen Parker and Roland Kincaid, two tombstones can be seen engraved with the names Donald and Nancy Thompson, characters from the films “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) and “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (1987).
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