Halloween Marathon: Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Seems like this Halloween marathon is almost fully the highlight series.  We’re now at the 6th and supposedly final installment.  But we know that isn’t the case 😉

Before we do head into the review, I’d like to say that I had to rearrange my schedule a little for the marathon. It may not be fully horror movies but we’re adding a book review and some full reviews of podcasts I did over at That Moment In.  I’ll link it appropriately when those reviews come up.  I realize that time is scarce and with other priorities and even though I’m on track with the Halloween marathon, I tend to run out of time to do life things, you know.  It just happens so I have alternatives and this is one of those cases.  I am working on watching a few more movies to hopefully get more variety in this movie marathon.  I’m hoping it’ll work out but just a little update on how this marathon is going as I plan it out.  One thing I do promise, this highlight series, A Nightmare on Elm Street is going to be fully reviewed.  All movies accounted for by October 31st 😉

Let’s check it out!

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Director: Rachel Talalay

Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Shon Greenblatt, Lezlie Deane, Ricky Dean Logan, Breckin Meyer, Yaphet Kotto

Freddy Krueger returns once again to haunt both the dreams of his daughter and Springwood’s last surviving teenager.-IMDB

 I made it through this one.  That is an accomplishment in itself.  Freddy’s Dead felt so long! It was only 96 minutes and it felt like an eternity to reach the end.  I started dozing off in the last 20 minutes or so but no, I refuse to watch this again.  Freddy 2 was boring for many reasons but this one takes the cake so far at being the worst in the series as of now.  I’m not sure any of the other ones could be worse.  I honestly don’t.

Why was it bad? What did I not like? I know you’re all dying to know.  Maybe not…but bear with me, okay? This is supposed to be a review.  I promise you that by the end I’ll have something good to say about this.  It was a complete failure.

First things first, what happened to Freddy? What happened to the tone of the movie? In 10 years after the last event (or I think that is what it said), there was only one teen left in Springwood and this is how the story works out.  Its a complete mess in the sense that we never really know when its real and fake.  Was that the supposed effect we were to feel? The building of characters here are so many that they don’t even have time to focus on anything.  But, I’m jumping around right now. Freddy turns into a joker.  He isn’t funny, not sadistic, not crazy, not impactful, just plain boring.  It seems like after a whole turn of events, Freddy is going back to nothing.

While they try really hard to give the kills a little something different, it just feels campy but in a really bad and ridiculous way.  Honestly, this one is a complete mess.  The biggest reason that nothing makes sense. Next part is scene example.  If you haven’t seen this, skip to the end of the spoiler to continue.  **SPOILER** The guy here who is the surviving teen escapes but gets caught in this recurring dream where Freddy has him trapped in the house on Elm Street over and over again and every time he makes and escape, it doesn’t make sense.  Like, the house crashes downward and his character would have a follow through motion where he goes sideways out the window.  Excuse me, but that isn’t how physics works.  You don’t drop downwards and the impact makes you go sideways. That’s just one example. Another one was where he falls down and hits his head on a rock and when he wakes up, the blood he shed from his forehead is on the other side of the rock where he didn’t hit.   **SPOILER ENDS**  It might just oversights on scenes but its just sloppy work.  At this point, its like they don’t care. Sometimes, I wonder if it is deliberate to re-emphasize on the campy slasher genre that its been. Still, this one is really nonsensical.

But, I told you that I’d tell you something good and we’re at that part. Freddy’s Dead has one good feature that kind of redeems it a little, but doesn’t at the same time.  What it does well is that it still ties in to the Freddy and Springwood and how he’s killing the teens.  What works even more is the fact that they built on top of the backstory we’ve known and now we get the reason of why he chose to kill the kids of the parents who murdered him as revenge instead of say, killing the surviving parents to dealt him the pain in the first place. This is where we bring in his daughter and ties it all up. While that does work, the story itself is so choppy and meaningless that its hard to feel engaged and that is where it has its downfall mostly.

Overall, Freddy’s Dead/Part 6 is lacking and unengaging to watch.  Its easily one of the lesser installments in this series so far.  Freddy isn’t fun to watch, his kills are not either.  While the premise and backstory for Freddy adds a little positive, the pacing and nonsensical approach made it feel double the length that it actually was.  Its definitely not a great way to end such an iconic franchise, if it actually was the end.

Have you seen Freddy’s Dead? What did you think?

Valentine’s Marathon: Kate & Leopold (2001)

Last year I wanted to do a Meg Ryan marathon and seeing as that didn’t happen as her filmography is pretty long, I decided that I’d go through the few that I had acquired during this year.  I felt pretty bad especially since Paul over at Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies asked me again about it and I promised him that I’d try to put at least one of them in my Valentine’s Marathon. I definitely would like to see another one but Kate & Leopold was my choice because it was a romantic comedy and I needed one of those after a very teary after A Walk to Remember 🙂

Director: James Mangold

Cast: Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Breckin Meyer

Stuart (Liev Schreiber) finds a crack in time and ends up falling into April 1876 where while he is documenting photographs as he follows his great great grandfather, Leopold Duke of Albany (Hugh Jackman), he also catches his attention. Leopold follows him accidently back to 21st century New York but before he gets a chance to actually explain everything to him, Stuart has an accident and asks his ex-girlfriend Kate (Meg Ryan) who lives upstairs to help him. While Stuart struggles to find a way to escape the hospital, Leopold is learning about the new time he is in while befriending Kate and her brother, Charlie (Breckin Meyer). The affection between Kate and Leopold grow but he knows that he must leave her.

I like Meg Ryan a lot and none of her movies have disappointed me thus far. Kate & Leopold is one of the new ones with Meg Ryan and its a charming one.  Of course, Hugh Jackman does most of the charming. Where do you find gentlemen these days? No offense.  If you exist out there, well, you sure aren’t in Montreal and I haven’t met you. Of course, it doesn’t bother me too much but c’mon, lets face it, wouldn’t it be awesome to be courted by a gentlemen in elegant sweep you off your feet ways? I know I would.  Its like how we watch Audrey Hepburn movies and say, “They don’t movies like this anymore.” Same thing, just different context. Its classy and beautiful. Hugh Jackman just takes it and leaves and for me, Meg has always been a classy lady so this fits her.

If you take Kate & Leopold and try to apply logic and the concept of time travel and ask whether it makes sense, well, it doesn’t.  There’s a lot that doesn’t really work but I don’t know, as much as I did notice it, it didn’t bother me all too much.  I’m not watching a drama and accuracy doesn’t have to be the main focus in a romantic comedy.  If you are able to toss logic to the back your mind and just enjoy the sweet story, this one is alright. It’d gladly sit through this one again but if given the choice, I’d probably choose some of Meg’s other works like When Harry Met Sally.

Other than Meg Ryan and a very charming Hugh Jackman, there’s also Liev Schreiber. So this is where Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber started acting together, eh? My first thought when I saw Liev Schreiber was, “wait a minute, I saw him in X-men Origins!” You know, my boyfriend’s sister thinks my boyfriend looks like this guy.  I don’t think so personally but it did help me recognize him.  I haven’t seen this guy much anywhere but he is pretty funny in this.   The other supporting role with Breckin Meyer playing Charlie was actually funnier.

I really don’t have much to say about Kate & Leopold.  Its a good romantic comedy.  The time travel plot is quite incomplete but if you’re willing to through out logic and just enjoy Hugh Jackman’s charm and his very awesome accent, it’ll be entertaining 🙂

Have you seen Kate & Leopold? What did you think about it?