Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 19, 1991, edition 1 / Page 13
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Page 8 DTII Omnibus Thursday September 19, 1991 Freddy's dead, and Mike doesn't feel so good Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Yaphet Koto directed by Rachel Talalay Plaza 967-4737 12 cammed. Schnookered. Taken for a ride. Gypped. Let's face it folks, I got lied to. Recently f anemia maga zine interviewed the people behind the making of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. They made it sound as if it were going to be a great movie. Of course, I didn't expect them to tell the reporter, "It's gonna' suck bad, like last week's Hoover." But they made it sound awesome. They lied. Here are some examples: Aron Warren, producer: "We're taking a lot that has come before in the previous Nightmare films a step further. We're breaking a lot of the series' conventions and taking the Nightmare concept to a place it's never been before." Robert Englund, actor: "The hu mor is there, but not to the degree that it's been in previous films." Rachel Talalay, director: "(I felt) that a more adult script that concen trated on characters was the next logical step." In retrospect, maybe Warren wasn't lying. Thismoviedoes go where no other Nightmare movie has gone: straight in the toilet. 1 had trouble with this movie from the very first frame. We are told that the nice suburban Calilornia-like townotSpringwood.sileof the mythi cal Elm Street, is in Ohio. Ohio.'?.' Where 'd they come up with that.' Anyway, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare is set ten years in the future Sadistic Tatie exemplifies black comedy genre Tatie Danielle Tsilla Chelton, Isabella Nanty, Neige Dolsky directed by Etienne Chatilier Chelsea 968-3005 12 The art of black comedy, as vague a term as that may be, is most often accomplished through the use of material which would ordinarily pro voke feelings of disgust, terror or re vulsion. Instead, it is manipulated to create a situation which is actually humorous in the context of the film at hand. Although death and violence are the traditional devicesof films pinned Mike Long (where bad horror films are used as torturedevices...just kidding) and the first scene displays an FBI-like map of the U.S., which shows that there are no teenagers left in Springwood. To itscredit, theopeningsequence is quite promising. It parallels the "flying house" scene in The Wizard of Oz, except instead of the Wicked Witch, we have Freddy (Robert Englund) shouting, "I'll get you my pretty, and your little soul too." After this, the movie goes downhill faster than a runaway jellydonut on a treach erously icy bobsled run. We are introduced to John (Shon Greenblatt), the last teenager in Springwood. (Edtor's note: thought you just said that there weren't any teenagers in S(jringwood. Just wonder ing.) (Mike's note: I realize that there is a discrepancy in logic here, but I didn't write the movie. If I had written it, it would've been called "Stuart in Lollipop Town.") (Editor's note: Huh?) (Mike's note, part two: Shut up, Mondy!) Be cause Freddy can't leave town, he sends John out to bring back more teenagers. And sure enough, he does. John ends up in a shelter ran by Maggie (Lisa Zane) and Doc (Yaphett Kotto). Maggie takes John back to Springwood to find out about his past. Some other teens from the shelter tag along. They are killed off and Freddy gains the power to escape the con fines of Springwood. The battle (yawn ! ) begins in order to stop Freddy before he takes over the world. How come teenagers in the Night mare films are like no one I've ever met? 1 mean, granted, I've never known anyone who has been tor mented by a killer in their dreams, but that's beside the point. Do you know any girl who practices kung-fu 23.9 hours a day? I don't either. Maybe if Ned Dirlik with the black comedy tag (for ex ample, Eating Raoul, War of the Roses and Parents), Etienne Chatiliez' Tatie Danielle succeeds in this elusive genre with but one "tool" an old woman (the title character) who may at first appear harmless but is actually as harsh and infuriating a movie character as any in recent memory. Director (and co-screenwriter) Chatiliez gives us a tumultuouschapter from the life of an icy, razor-sharp specimen, a lady who, from the movie's opening, proceeds to systematically slice up the feelings of all those around her. When she is finally gone, she leaves in her wake a gaping hole, carved into the existing perceptions of the elderly which are They promised that this would the kids were more realistic, the film could've been a little bit better. Rachel Talalay is not a bad direc tor. She sets up some very interesting shots, but because the script is weaker than a wet Hi-Dri towel, her talent can't save the movie. The script just plain tries to hard. Because this is going to be the last Nightmare film, writer Michael DeLuca piles every thing onto the Freddy mythos that he can. If this stuff had really been im portant, Wes Craven would have put it into the firsffilm. We learn exactly how and why Freddy became a killer in the first place. We meet Freddy's evil father, played by Alice Cooper. (Editor's Note: Maybe itshould've been called Freddy's Dad: The Final Night mare. Ha-ha-ha.) (Mihe'snote.Mondy, shut up.) We meet "the dream people," who gave Freddy his power. Please, give so much a part of today's society. For a little longer than an hour, the film occupies itself with one theme only: the uninterrupted assault by this great-aunt on all the obsequious, sub servient types around her. The vari ous crimes against humanity perpe trated by Tatie (played wonderfully by Tsilla Chelton) are heartless: she sets her dog on people, intentionally abandons her young great-nephew in the park, insults her niece-in-law's cooking, calls friends' daughters ugly, urinates in her dress at a dinner party, and indirectly (but intentionally) causes the death of her devoted but ditsy housekeeper, Odile (Neige Dolsky). As victims and locations change, her behavior remains bit terly consistent. She seems to draw from a bottomless well of cruelty, without reason or mercy. This bizarre one-woman show ends abruptly, however, when the inevi Y1 II be the last one, so say goodbye to the me a break. Freddy's mystique is what once made him a great character, we don't need a 2020 expose on his past. The only redeeming feature of this trip down memory lane is that we get to see the arsenal of maiming gloves that Freddy once owned. As for the humor in the film, Freddy's Dead has more than parts 4 and 5 put together. In the stupidest scene in the movie (I flipped a coin), Freddy says the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. The humor in the Nightmare films has diminished any and all frightening qualities that Freddy might have once possessed. Even my cat Leonardo, who gets un-' der the bed when the doorbell rings, isn't afraid of Freddy. When I learned of this I said, "Aren't you afraid of his glove with the claws?" Leonardo thought about this for a second and then, raising his paw, replied, "Nah, table happens she meets her match, in the form of Sadrine (another fan tastic performance, this time by IsabellaNanty), a tough youngnanny who is to care for Tatie while the family escapes to Greece. After a few initial confrontations of the when-iron-wills-first-clash type, the two settle into a harmonious, almost en joyable co-existence, each realizing that they are essentially birds of a feather. No matter how spirited Sadrine remains, however, peace can not last long with Tatie around, and the film ends appropriately as her final unpredictable and destructive moments cause mass confusion and distress throughout the city of Paris. More than anything else, this is a movie about relationships. For one thing, it doesn't tell much of a story in the traditional sense. While it does detail the progression of a family's interactions, nothing ever really fc. biggest horror star of the decade I've got four of them myself." I'm sure some of you are wonder ing just what in the hell "Freddy Vi sion" is. Yes, some, but not all, of the film is in 3-D. Yes, you do have to wear glasses. You know to put your glasses on when Maggie puts her's on in the film. The 3-D effects are the worst I've ever seen. I assume that the filmmakers were trying to compare Freddy to those classic 3-D creatures of the '50s. All they managed to do is give me a headache. Even the shoddy effects of Jaws 3-D have Freddy's Dead beat. Freddy's Dead: The Final Night mare is a complete disaster. It's truly sad to see the biggest horror star of the decade go out with a whimper. If they truly have "saved the best for last" as the ads proclaim, I can only assume that there will have to be another changes. Halfway through the movie, I felt that the ending really wouldn't matter much, that a similar impact would be retained regardless of the exact finish. The viewer certainly doesn't get to know the characters themselves; the movie is about how they relate to one another, not about what kind of people they are. Even Tatie can never be fully understood we are shown that her husband is dead, but are told nothing of their life See TATIE, page 1 1 wait for the video go to the dollar theater only pay matinee price pay full price take your sister, too
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 19, 1991, edition 1
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