Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23921 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-06-25
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Wes Craven was tempted back to the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, in partnership with writers Bruce Wagner (Wild Palms) and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), to script this fun, action-oriented sequel directed by Chuck Russell (The Mask). Langenkamp (as the world's only teenage psychiatrist) and Saxon return, but the heroine is debuting Patricia Arquette, who has the power to pull her friends into her dreams and thus assemble an army to take on Freddy, who begins here to spout those post-death witticisms that became a trademark. A nun reveals the villain's backstory as "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs". It's full of wild images and effects, such as the sleepwalker turned into a puppet strung on his ripped-out veins, and pays homage to Ray Harryhausen with not only an animated Freddy puppet but also his evil, walking skeleton. --Kim Newman

Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Jump To Nightmare Scene Navigation
Cast And Crew
Original Theatrical Trailer
Music Video Dokken Dream Warrior
English

Synopsis
The third installment featuring the fiendish monster Freddy Krueger. This time Freddy terrorizes a group of Elm street kids confined to a mental hospital for sleep disorders and suicide attempts. Naturally Freddy's presence isn't what the doctor ordered.

Customer Reviews

AN ORIGINAL ENTRY IN THE SERIES
Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette) is the latest Elm Street child to be tormented by nightmares of an unknown dream figure. However, to her mother Elaine (Brooke Bundy) she appears to be trying to commit suicide. She is placed into Wesson Hills Medical Center, run by a doctor Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson) where Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) is interning. After being given all the necessary introduction to the facility, she begins to take an interest in Kristen's problems with dreaming. Soon, the other teens in the facility are dying in bizarre ways, all of which look like suicide. Nancy is convinced this is the work of Freddy Kruegar, (Robert Englund) who she has faced before. After the death of Jennifer, (Penelope Sudrow) Nancy decides to tell the others about Freddy and they immediately undergo treatment to stop the nightmares. However, Freddy continues his assault on the teens, finally forcing the remaining teens into the dream world to stop Freddy.

The Good News: As with most Elm Street movies, this one is filled with some great dream moments. Picking out a favorite is nearly impossible, but several are clearly very imaginative. The opening one in the movie is one of those, as we are just repeatedly thrown one horrific image after another. Included in the scene is a barking pig, a dead child suddenly appearing out of nowhere, fire, scares, dead leaves, and everything else you can imagine. Lots of action and tension as well which really help out with the scene. It was also interesting to see how it went, as it really had some interesting twists and turns in it. I could say that about all of the dream sequences in the film: they never go the way you would expect them to go since there is always something new that happens that adds to the terror. It goes on longer than you would expect them to, and it adds to the terror. So many of the scares end up this way. The end of Kristen's first dream is exactly that way. It should've ended so much earlier than what was the actual ending of the dream the way the film has it. It's one of the best dreams in the film, and the actual best dream could be the one toward the end, where Freddy goes crazy and slaughters the others with their own nightmares. It's a great scene that features all of the teens getting killed in horrific ways, which kinda makes up for the pretty slow but still suspenseful beginning of the film. That also surprised me about the film: the suspense in the film. We get a lot of scenes that come with scores of atmosphere. Even better is the FX work in the film. There are so many great FX ideas in here. The Freddy snake is perhaps the most obvious one; but the various ways his hands morph into different weapons is really great, but the real FX treat is the clever way we are introduced to the dream world. The house that keeps reappearing, Nancy falling into the chair, and how the walls always seem to provide some cheap scares. Some of the wall gags are big scare givers, so it has some great moments. Also, this is the start of comic Freddy, so he has some okay lines for his kills. Not as great as the lines in part 4, but they still provide some chuckles for some.

The Bad News: It does have some pretty bad lines, but it is still the start of him turning into a comedy star. Several are pretty funny, but some are quite groaners, so it can lead to some real moments of agony as you wait for the next kill. Also, the middle part of the film is pretty slow, which is quite the opposite of the thrilling intro and ending, so the middle is a bit hard to sit through. Despite the reappearance of Nancy, she really isn't given a lot to do other than tell what Kruegar can do to the children. For someone who had firsthand experience with dealing with Freddy, she should've had a larger role in the film, especially billed third on the top.

The Final Verdict: This one is actually really good and quite surprisingly holds up real well. It also contains some classic Freddy moments and is the start of his turn toward a wise-cracking villain. One of the better entries in the series, and one that all Freddy fans should like.

Five, six, get a crucifix
A brilliant sequel, probably my favourite so far. The idea of setting this movie in a mental hospital (where teenagers who are having nightmares about Freddy trying to kill them have been sent) was a very cleaver idea and it worked really well. Very good and suspenceful and you really care about the charactors.

A new twist and an army is coming against Freddy
New director for this third episode. The modern world is growing and we are starting to have the information highway coming into the picture. The new architecture is very striking and powerful. We come back to a girl as the center of the film, but at once that girl is living with her mother and her male guests. But also at once she is moved to a hospital where she meets a whole gang of young people who are Freddy's victims. Freddy does not try to make anyone kill the others. At first he tries to terrorize them into committing suicide. Society reacts as can be expected : the kids are calling for some attention and their dreams and suicides are nothing but the symptoms of their guilt. A junior doctor reacts positively when a psychiatrist comes into the picture, and this psychiatrist is the surviving girl of a preceding episode. This leads to a psychiatric ward in a hospital with all these kids, and group therapy. This time Freddy has a group against him, a group that can remain united, or at least the survivors can, and they can start a war against this Freddy. The film also densifies Freddy Krueger with a mother who was a medical personnel in the old psychiatric ward of the very hospital in which we are. This wing of the building was closed when this young woman was by accident left behind in the ward surrounded by all kinds of crazy criminals. She was raped and many other things and Freddy is her son. Even worse she lost her head, though not completely and could then dedicate the end of her life to religion. She became a nun. The father of the young psychiatrist who has survived Freddy was one of those who burnt Freddy to death when he was caught after kudnapping and killing twenty children. His remains had never been buried. The father will finally accept to tell where the bones are. During that time the kids and the young psychiatrist are getting into the dream to save the others who have been taken and to get rid of Freddy. They will not all come back, but they will come back after Freddy's destruction by the junior doctor burying the bones and sprinkling them with holy water before covering them with earth. It is the first time the christian theme is brought in with holy water and a crucifix, hence with a parallel to vampires. The film then is a new twist in the general fabric invented by Wes Craven and it is quite effective. We must go on in this saga to see where we are going, where we are taken to. Be sure Freddy will live forever and ever, ever after the end of each film.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne