the fifth film in the "elm street" series was released at the time when freddy krueger was a genuine pop culture icon, as shown by the inclusion of two absolutely freddy-starring music videos; one of which stars a group of overweight rappers (clad in stripes) faced with the enticing premise of spending the night in freddy's house (one of them is his nephew who stands to inherit the house - christ, i cant believe im explaining this in so much detail...). anyway the point of this explanation has more to do with the fact that it shows just how popular character freddy was at the time, and how this had a hugely negative effect on the film series. to take a horror character and actively promote him as a comedic or likeable character damages the credibility hugely. the second of the videos is another rap song (rap tie ins were de-rigeur towards the late eighties, when vanilla ice made it acceptable for middle class white kids to actively enjoy the genre).
to be fair to it, the fifth film does open with the first genuinely subversive moment in the entire series. and perhaps that is what the problem with the series is, theyre just so blatent and predictable and lazy.
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