TV Review: Freddy's Nightmares

And you thought Nightmare On Elm Street was just a film franchise! You are all sadly mistaken.

While watching the superb 'Never Sleep Again' Elm Street documentary I was reminded that in the late 80s a TV show surfaced called Freddy's Nightmares. While the show was quickly glossed over on the documentary I thought I would have a look at the first three episodes.

The show is kind of like Tales From The Crypt, with Freddy (Robert Englund) popping up now and again throughout the episode. As I discovered this was purely to try and keep the viewer interested. All the stories are set in Freddy's old stomping ground of Springwood of course.

The first episode 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' actually is a Freddy episode and tells the story of how Freddy was burnt by the angry mob of Springwood parents. This part of the show is dealt with pretty quickly and then moves on to what becomes the basis of the show - a character being involved in a 'nightmare' scenario. In this case the police officer who set Freddy alight (Ian Patrick Williams) starts having nightmares after it happens which leads to a climatic nightmare in a dentist. Even with Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper at the helm the whole thing is just totally amateurish, with terrible acting (and yes I am taking into account the acting in the Elm Street films saying that) but it does effectively tell the story so you do have a bit of the Elm Street mythology attached.

Not so for second episode 'It's A Miserable Life'. The plot revolves around Bryan (John Cameron Mitchell) who while doing a graveyeard shift at his Dads burger bar is the victim of a drive by shooting. The first half of the episode revolves around his bizarre nightmares before he dies, then the second half is devoted to the nightmares of his girlfriend Karyn (Lar Park-Lincoln from Friday the 13th Part VII and House II) as she is also shot. Not entirely clear if her character dies, but Freddy seems to have something to do with it. He is dressed up as a surgeon for his brief appearances. It's pretty bad. Direction by Tom McLoughlin who directed Friday the 13th Part VI.

Things actually take a step up in the third and final episode 'Killer Instinct' which involves a high school runner (Lori Petty) who comes into the possession of a magical talisman that when she look into it and imagines something happening...it happens. Yeah, its absolute garbage but is quite entertaining with a bit of gore (severely lacking from the previous episodes), a funny decapitation and a OTT cameo from New Line Cinema boss Robert Shaye. Sadly it all falls apart by the end, which really doesn't make much sense at all.

Freddy's Nightmares somehow managed to run for 2 seasons with over 40 episodes being shown before the plug was pulled (Hell, even Brad Pitt turned up in one) but you can see why they only ever put 3 out on DVD - almost a warning.

**

Mostly dreadful stuff, but the extra star is adding that bit of back story to the Freddy mythology and the entertaining moments in episode three. One for die hard Freddy Fans only though.