A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Name: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Released: August 11, 1989
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 54
Cast: Burr DeBenning, Clarence Felder, Danny Hassel, Erika Anderson, Joe Seely

1989

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Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 51 Ratings

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5.2

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5.2	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 51 Ratings

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A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

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Movie Details & Credits

New Line Cinema | Release Date: August 11, 1989 | Unrated

Starring: Burr DeBenning, Clarence Felder, Danny Hassel, Erika Anderson, Joe Seely, Kelly Jo Minter, Lisa Wilcox, Nicholas Mele, Robert Englund, Valorie Armstrong

Summary: The pregnant Alice finds Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) striking through the sleeping mind of her unborn child, hoping to be reborn into the real world.

Director: Stephen Hopkins

Genre(s): Fantasy, Horror

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 89 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Kevin Thomas

A dynamic, fully visually realized experience. It's every bit as gory as "Batman" but more cohesive and its struggle between good and evil more tightly integrated. [11 Aug 1989, p.C6]

Dave Kehr

Using a style heavily indebted to music videos - lots of fast cutting, odd angles and gratuitous camera movements - Hopkins keeps the energy level up, though his manner is a bit too choppy to keep all of the diverse elements together. [11 Aug 1989, p.B]

Mike Clark

Unexpectedly, one of the better F-man outings. [11 Aug 1989, p.2D]

Caryn James

Though the film hints at psychological intrigue, it never moves beyond the limits of its genre. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

A flimsily plotted but visually impressive addition to the endless Freddy Krueger saga, with an unsavoury gynaecological flavour. Read full review

Richard Harrington

"5" has none of the pizazz of "1" and "3" and is only marginally better than "2" and "4," the worst of the "Elms." Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

The few halfway decent ideas in the story (by John Skip, Craig Spector, and Leslie Bohem) and production design (by C.J. Strawn) are mercilessly and fatally crushed by the inept direction of Stephen Hopkins and the flaccid editing. Read full review

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User Reviews

spencerkid

Jul 10, 2019

its goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood ok?

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Panchogul

Oct 4, 2018

La que menos me gusta de toda la saga, pero he de admitir que las escenas de muertes son de las mejores.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

Josephgamers65

Aug 7, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD is a good enough entre to the entire series why this movie to me so far is the worst is that third act what was that with all the child stuff what I don't like what this movie did was kill Daniel I enjoyed his character on screen, of course, they had to kill him and it does not really pick up from that and the third act was horrible the worst third act of the entire series so far of course with all the kid and stuff with Freddy and Jacob and alive and Amanda I get they were doing the asylum stuff but with the CGI and all that is horrible I was like what am I watching CGI mess with the kid Yvonne is so annoying she does not believe anything that has been happening until she gets into one of those dreams which is around the third act which does not help either like I said disappointing movie not the much Freddy in this one I was surprised all round a passable movie so I give A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child a C+… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JPK

Jul 4, 2019

Another Miss
In a franchise where it’s sequels are either hits (3) or miss (2), This goes in the “Miss” category.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

robertoiglesias

Oct 19, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After the first 4 Nightmare on Elm Street films were fantastic, this one sucks imo. The transitions and setting changes are horribly done, it makes the story confusing.
For example, when Alice leaves the park (real world), she goes up some stairs to a gothic castle that’s an abandoned asylum. She goes down a hall and finds a gross stroller, and is then strapped to a bed and is being wheeled down the hallway (dream world). She becomes a nurse and the woman in the bed is Amanda Krueger (Freddy’s mom) who is giving birth to Freddy (btw this is a history lesson in the dream world). Freddy becomes himself again, gives now horrible jokes, and Alice finds herself in the diner she works at IN THE REAL WORLD!! HOW CONFUSING AND STUPID THIS IS!!! Also Freddy is annoying, has mediocre makeup fx, the deaths are a bit confusing, and the dream child story gets lost with a cloud- no A STORM OF PLOT HOLES AND DUMB PRODUCTION CHOICES! Alice must have fallen asleep off screen! HOW CRYPTIC IS THAT TO YOUR AUDIENCE!
In the first 4 movies, there was 1 or 2 scenes in each movie that were a bit confusing, so I just said, it’s a guy from your dreams named Freddy affecting the real world. This film has like 20 choices that make no sense. What’s good in this film are Alice, the other characters, the kills, and some parts make sense. But when compared to the previous installments, this one is not good.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

Narwhale73

Mar 16, 2022

Freddy's "resurrection" wasn't explain well (or at all really), but that's about it. The plot is inconsistent and Freddy's power scaling at this point wavers more than a DBZ character. That said, It's definitely an improvement from the atrocity that was Dream Master.

It's effects and actingFreddy's "resurrection" wasn't explain well (or at all really), but that's about it. The plot is inconsistent and Freddy's power scaling at this point wavers more than a DBZ character. That said, It's definitely an improvement from the atrocity that was Dream Master.

It's effects and acting is what you'd expect from a Nightmare Film assuming you watched the other sequels.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

royalguy07

Oct 19, 2022

Ok the jingle maybe needs a remix. Acting, effects, and plotting are starting to take some major dips. Freddy's cheesy phrases are really dropping in quality also, I never realized how accurate the Rick and Morty episode was in reflecting how often he ends his sentences with ****

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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