AndrewC 🎅🎄’s review published on Letterboxd:
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors may hold a high regard amongst many Elm Street fans and even be preferred to the original by some but for me, I just never really connected a whole lot with this film and wouldn't consider it anywhere near my favourite. That's not to say that it is in anyway a bad entry as it definitely is one of the better ones but compared to the first Elm Street or New Nightmare, I don't love it a whole lot, probably because I've always just preferred the scarier and darker films in the series as opposed to the more comedic and fantastical spin with a quippy Freddy that this one begins. There is still quite a bit I like about Dream Warriors as it effectively retains the previous two movies' creative imagery and unlike the following three entries, the characters are well-written and likable while the story is solid, interesting, and fast-paced.
The return of Heather Langenkamp to the series after being absent in Freddy's Revenge is also very welcome but the real highlight of this film (as would be the case for the rest of the franchise up until Freddy's Dead) has to be the excellent special effects. Some of the effects sequences here are genuinely stunning and very imaginative, definitely being amongst the best work in this department for any horror movie of the 80s. Even with all these great things though, I still can't really say I love Dream Warriors overall as it just doesn't click the same way the first one and New Nightmare does for me. I certainly admire and like a lot of what's here but it definitely does begin (in my opinion) the rapid downward spiral of quality in the Elm Street series even though that isn't felt here yet, which is why I feel this is a very good fantasy slasher but not one I can say I love like a lot of other fans do.
![[the worms]](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/avatar/twitter/2/8/4/1/1/6/shard/blob-0-80-0-80-crop.png?v=523fb33c30){kind=small}
