Los Angeles: See Freddy Krueger On The Big Screen!

Last summer, I had my first ever sold out showing for one of my "Horror Movie A Day Presents" screenings at the New Beverly, courtesy of Nightmare on Elm Street 4, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary. I managed to get nearly every teen from the film there for a Q&A, and it was incredibly great to look out and see not a single empty seat. Thus, I'm hoping for lightning to strike twice, as now it's a year later and so naturally I'm hosting the 25th anniversary of its followup: 1989's Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

Let's be honest, this is no one's favorite entry in the series, but I think it's a bit underrated all the same. The script was much more ambitious than the previous film (and the next one), so even if it doesn't come together as perfectly as it should, I can still appreciate the effort. And it's got some of the series' best true "nightmare" imagery, such as the weirdo Escher-esque finale and a kill scene involving being force fed to death. Also, Freddy is slightly less of a comedian in this one, which is definitely a plus in retrospect as that aspect of the character is much more grating now than it was then - remember when this guy was scary? So, again, at least they were trying to get that back.

Interesting bit of trivia I never realized until just now: the directors of Nightmares 4 and 5 followed it up by directing sequels to John McTiernan films. Dream Master's Renny Harlin went on to make Die Hard 2, while this film's Stephen Hopkins called the shots on that same year's Predator 2. Weird! Maybe Rachel Talalay can make Rollerball 2 or Another Medicine Man.

Anyway, stars Lisa Wilcox ("Alice") and Kelly Jo Minter ("Yvonne") will be on hand for a Q&A to discuss the film, which should be fun - if you've seen the Never Sleep Again documentary, you know this one had a wacky production involving different scripts and other silliness, so I'm sure they have some great stories to share. I'll also have some DVDs to give out for basic Freddy trivia, and as always the film shows on glorious 35mm!  I doubt there will be too many opportunities to see this on the big screen at all, let alone on film, so if you missed it the first time around (being that it's the lowest grossing entry in the series, that's a safe bet), get your butt down to the New Beverly! It all goes down at 11:59pm on Saturday, August 23rd; you can buy tickets at the door or HERE via BrownPaperTickets. The New Beverly is located at 7165 Beverly Blvd in Los Angeles, 90036. See you there!

Poster designed by Jacopo Tenani - check out his others HERE!