a review of 猛鬼街4：梦幻主宰

HOOPTOBER, NIGHT NINE: Hmm, this one definitely feels like a past-peak Freddy movie, complete with a goofy recap rap song at the end, but I didn't think it was bad per se, just a bit creaky. They expend an awful lot of energy in the first and second acts making us think that we're getting a direct sequel to Dream Warriors, and bringing back the survivors of said film (except for Patricia Arquette, who was mysteriously recast with a less-compelling actress) before they all get killed off in favor of the new protagonist, Alice. Even by the standards of 80s horror heroines, Alice seems strangely bland, to the point that when she magically takes on the personalities of her dead friends ("wait...I don't smoke!") it barely registers as different. I will give a shout-out to the awesome prosthetic/makeup FX of Screaming Mad George, who comes up with some pretty great and memorably goopy creatures and transformation effects. His practical realization of Alice's classmates bursting out of Freddy's torso at the climax is totally worth sitting through the previous 80 minutes.