Although A Nightmare On Elm Street 5 is actually worse than any of its predecessors, it's less odious than the fourth series entry -- which was nothing more than a shamelessly exploitative disjoint series of gruesome killings -- because it is so absurd that one can laugh at it. Yes, it's exploitative. Yes, it's gruesome. Yes, it's downright reprehensible. But when a truck swerves around on the road accompanied by that sound effect used on The Flintstones whenever anybody skids to a stop, at least there are unintentional laughs to be had.

Others include the moment one character spins around to face Freddy and suddenly becomes a ridiculous looking comic book hero who starts throwing lead at Freddy to the accompaniment of some insidiously out of place music that suggests we're actually watching a lighthearted superhero movie for preteens. Another is the "climactic" finale in which a young child is told to "give back the power" that Freddy gave him. Apparently the power Freddy gave him came in the form of a skewering slimy tentacle.

The bloated cheek death would have been funny had it not been so utterly disgusting. I'd also like to know how the characters have this innate knowledge about how to move around in their dreams. You want to go somewhere? Find a picture of it and draw a stick figure of yourself there. Yes, one of the characters does this, and does it so casually and confidently, it's like she does this all the time. Give me a break.

So how does Freddy return? In the previous series entry, of course, he dies. Again. In this one, he returns to life in a sequence so random and nonsensical it's quite obvious the filmmakers could think up no better alternative. "Make it confusing, and everybody will think they just missed something," I can hear one of the writers saying. From what I gather, Freddy gets reborn, though who gives birth to him a second time and how he grows up again so fast, I have no idea. His opening line, "It's a BOYYY!!!" is too cheesy for words. It's a lot like the movie as a whole in that regard.