Tag Archives: Robert Englund

V: The Final Battle (1984) | Richard T. Heffron



In this three-part TV miniseries sequel, the Resistance is fending off the pressing Visitors, who continue to fool the people of Earth by controlling the media, while depleting the planet of precious water and rounding up humans for food. The resistance scientists hope, hoping to find a weakness in the overpowering Visitor defenses that will help them turn the tide of the war. However, the Visitors still manage to gain the upper hand, especially when they capture Resistance leader Juliet Parrish (Faye Grant), who the scheming Diana (Jane Badler) tries to break with intense conversion techniques. Meanwhile, Robin Maxwell (Blair Tefkin) is dealing with her pregnancy from the lizard-like aliens, horrified at what kind of baby she will have. Marc Singer co-stars. Richard T. Heffron directs.


V – The Original Miniseries (1983) | Kenneth Johnson



The people of Earth are visited and befriended by a human-like race from outer space inhabiting massive spacecraft, 50 of them measuring three miles in diameter, hovering over cities throughout the world. These newcomers speak Earth’s languages fluently, though they have distinct electronic-sounding voices and are so sensitive to light that they frequently wear sunglasses. They’re called the Visitors by the people of Earth. They’ve come to our planet for resources that we can manufacture for their people to survive in exchange for their vast knowledge of technology and medicine. They become celebrities welcomed by humans worldwide.

Manufacturing ramps up while the Visitors take over media outlets, shaping public opinion for their cause against the world’s scientists and any others who might figure out how to stop their domination, registering them to track their whereabouts, and imposing their influence upon the world. Revealed within the tale is that the Visitors are a race of carnivorous reptilians donning elaborate human disguises to suck the Earth completely dry of its water and to harvest humans for food. Kenneth Johnson writes, directs, and produces. Marc Singer, Faye Grant, and Jane Badler star.


Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) | Robert Englund



The sixth and final in the original Freddy Krueger arc finds us ten years in the future, where the psycho demon has killed off all but one of the original Elm Street children.  Needing new souls to maintain his power, Freddy plans to use the last teen to get him out of Springwood to new towns and new teens to murder.  However, his past comes back to haunt him in a big way, leading Freddy to have to battle for his life beyond the dream realm.  Rachel Talalay takes over the directorial chores in this lighter entry in the series.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) | Robert Englund



The fifth entry in the A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series sees the return of Lisa Wilcox as the heroine, Alice, taking on Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) yet again, who has come back to haunt her nightmares through her unborn child. Freddy wants to be reincarnated by feeding the fetus the soul of Alice’s friends, and with the baby asleep most of the time, the terrifying dreams seem non-stop.  Stephen Hopkins directs this darker and gloomier installment.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) | Robert Englund



Future action movie maestro Renny Harlin came to Hollywood from Finland to take over the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise for one entry with THE DREAM MASTER, in which Freddy Krueger gets resurrected in order to get revenge on those who put him in his grave, and to hopefully take a few more teenage souls along the way.  Brian Helgeland co-scripts this effort that brings together Robert Englund, Tuesday Knight, Lisa Wilcox, Rodney Eastman, Ken Sagoes, and Danny Hassel.  The result would prove to be the biggest box-office success for the series to that point, and a killer soundtrack to boot.


A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) | Jack Sholder



A very speedy follow-up to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET replaces Wes Craven as the creative force, taking the series in a new and unexpected direction under the guiding influence of Jack Sholder.  Screenwriter David Chaskin supplies the subversive screenplay that caused it to become a cult hit in the gay horror-loving community for its homoerotic subtext that adds one more layer to this story of a confused teenage boy struggling to control his impulses driving him to commit heinous acts, with only the love of his gal pal to perhaps curb him from doing Freddy’s bidding. While derided at the time of its release, the film has its champions, even if it deviates the most from Craven’s vision among the sequels.  Mark Patton, Kim Myers and Robert Englund star.


A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) | Wes Craven



Wes Craven refreshed the struggling slasher film genre with this more surreal and intense take, saving New Line Cinema with one of the big surprise hits of 1984: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.  Heather Langenkamp  stars as Nancy Thompson, who finds out that she is not alone in having a recurring dream about a badly burnt and scarred man named Freddy Krueger who terrorizes her with horrific acts of terror (Craven says that the character’s name was based on a school mate who bullied him as a child).  What’s even more scary is that her friends are starting to die mysteriously, and Nancy is sure that if she were to fall asleep and dream, she will be next in line to be a victim.  Her parents think here is something wrong with her, and the local police can’t believe a word of it, so she must fend for herself.  But surely she can’t stay awake forever! John Saxon, Johnny Depp and Robert Englund also co-star in this first of many films in the long-running and beloved horror series.