A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

It plays better than it reviews — the watch lands harder than the write-ups suggest.

• “A particularly nice touch is the ability of one of the teenagers to pull people into her dreams, allowing Langenkamp and the threatened kids to gang up against Freddie. The neat script also fills in a little more of the Freddie mythology, including a suitably tasteless account of his conception. A creepy score and Russell's sure grasp of the skewed logic of nightmares helps to sustain the ambiguity between the 'real' and 'dream' worlds, while Englund's Freddie now fits like a glove.”

  Staff (Not Credited), Time Out London · 80

• “The morbid tone of the original has given way to horror comedy set off by quite spectacular and imaginative fantasy sequences. Dream Warriors is no less grisly, but at least you can laugh at it.”

  Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times · 70

• “Of Course A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is repulsive. That is its primary attraction. All right-thinking people will steer clear. But wrong-thinkers with a taste for the grotesque will be in heaven, or the nearest satanic equivalent. [27 Feb 1987]”

  John Allemang, The Globe and Mail (Toronto) · 63

• “Arguably the most imaginative of the horror franchise, with a fair number of truly resonant scenes.”

  Kim Newman, Empire · 60

• “Freddy Krueger is the most talkative of slashers, and also the most creative. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, he displays a great debt to Dali in concocting surreal visions for his prey. When Freddy enters the dreams of his teen-age victims, ordinary objects become armed and dangerous.”

  Janet Maslin, The New York Times · 60