Hi, my name is Cayden Affleck and this is the first of my movie reviews, Affleck’s Flicks. Each week, I’ll review one movie, varying between genres and sometimes relating to a theme. Throughout the Halloween season, my reviews will center around horror movies, such as ghost movies, monster movies, body horror, psychological horror, slashers, and for today’s purposes, zombie movies.

WELCOME TO PRIME TIME B

I probably can’t say that last word in a school newspaper, but Freddy Krueger sure can. This week’s movie is Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. I know it’s weird that I didn’t do the first one, but Dream Warriors is widely regarded as the best in the series. It wasn’t the best choice, to be honest, so I would highly recommend watching the first one first. You can skip the second one, however, as it is largely disconnected from the rest of the movies. Also, you could watch the rest of the series but none of them are the best except for Wes Craven’s New Nightmare which is definitely the standout, but sorry I’ll get on with the review. I thought I’d give a little synopsis for the movie just so people who aren’t familiar know what I’m talking about.

Kristen Parker, a teenager who has the power to bring people into her dreams, is sent to a psychiatric hospital after an encounter with Freddy Krueger. There, she meets other teenagers dealing with the same sweater-vested monster and even a seasoned expert who knows everything about Krueger. They must team up to defeat Freddy using Kristen’s special ability and get out of this nightmare.

Dream Warriors is a fantastic slasher movie and is unique from the others of its time and still today. Freddy Krueger first of all is a villain who attacks people in their dreams, which is something I still haven’t really seen replicated and has a very distinct appearance with his sharp finger knives, iconic sweater vest, fedora, and burned skin. He’s also known for his use of a very specific swear word, which as I said before, I can’t repeat.  Second is that the main characters that Freddy is after fight back against him and try their best to beat him in their dreams be it with super strength or even wizard powers. Third, and in conjunction with my second point, the characters are very smart in how they combat Freddy. Fourth, and super small, listen to the song Dream Warriors by Dokken. It was made for this movie and I think it’s a really good song if you like 80s rock. Anyway, last thing, Freddy Kruger is extremely well known for his distinguished ways of “taking care of people,” you know what I mean, but when everything is a dream, things can go in a crazy direction. The “taking care of people” shown in this movie is crazy because they did most of it without any special effects or CGI and instead with things like animatronics, prosthetics and dummies. If you watch the movie, you’ll see how crazy that is. In conclusion, Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a spectacular slasher that I believe still holds up today for the reasons just listed and one that I would highly recommend for any fan of 80s slashers. One more thing, go and splash some water on your face or get some coffee and listen for the sound of scratching running across the wall because who knows this might be a dream. 

Or even a nightmare?

Next week: If you happen to be in West Virginia, beware of wood chippers, sharp spears, and jagged trees, and make sure to pack your inhaler.