A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is a 1988 American fantasy slasher film. Renny Harlin directed it, with a screenplay by Brian Helgeland and Scott Pierce. It is the sequel to *A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors* (1987) and the fourth film in the *A Nightmare on Elm Street* series. The story follows Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) as he returns to the dreams of Kristen Parker, Joey Crusel, and Roland Kincaid. He uses Kristen’s best friend, Alice Johnson, to reach new victims and continue his killing spree. After *Dream Warriors* came out, series creator Wes Craven suggested his own idea for a fourth movie. The producers rejected it in favor of a different sequel. This film is often called "the MTV Nightmare" of the franchise. The movie came out on August 19, 1988. Critics gave it mixed reviews. It earned $49.4 million in the U.S. on a budget of $6.5 million, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise domestically until *Freddy vs. Jason* (2003). The next installment, *A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child*, followed in 1989. One year after surviving Freddy Krueger’s rampage at Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, Kristen Parker, Roland Kincaid, and Joey Crusel have left the hospital and returned to normal life. When Kristen dreams of Freddy’s old boiler room, she pulls Joey and Kincaid into the dream, worried that Krueger might be back. Joey and Kincaid, annoyed, insist he is gone. The next day, Kristen meets her boyfriend Rick Johnson, a martial arts enthusiast, along with their friends: Rick’s shy sister Alice, asthmatic genius Sheila, and athletic Debbie, who dislikes bugs. Kristen has become popular, while Kincaid and Joey are seen as outcasts at school. They confront Kristen, telling her their dream-hopping days are over and that she might accidentally bring Freddy back. That night, Kincaid falls asleep and wakes up in a junkyard, where Freddy is resurrected by accident. Despite fighting hard, Kincaid cannot contact Kristen to pull him out, and Freddy kills him. Joey stays up late watching TV and listening to music but eventually falls asleep. He wakes to a Playboy model swimming in his waterbed; she turns into Freddy, who pulls him into the bed and kills him. Heartbroken, Kristen learns of their deaths and feels guilty she could not save them, realizing Freddy is back to finish them off.