I really felt like this list could use some 80s cheese, but I had a surprisingly hard time coming up with something that wasn’t a classic. Does anyone really need to be told that Ghostbusters and Poltergeist are fun ghost movies? I think not. In the end I decided to go with a classic character, Freddy Krueger, in a not-so-classic movie, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
In the first Nightmare on Elm Street, we find out that Freddy Krueger is the spirit of a dead murder, and that’s how his dream powers are explained, but it’s not until the third installment that we get a proper ghost story. In Dream Warriors we find out more of Freddy’s origin story, and we get told that his spirit isn’t at rest because his body hasn’t been given a proper burial. His spirit is busy terrorizing a group of kids who all end up in the same hospital ward for their “sleep disorders.” Nancy, the main character from the first Nightmare on Elm Street, happens to work at that hospital and immediately recognizes what is happening. Nancy manages to convince the kids’ doctor that Freddy is a real threat, and while Nancy teaches the kids how to fight back in the dream world, the doctor tries to find a way to put Freddy to rest. This movie is so cheesey and goofy. Everything is completely over the top, and I’m not sure it’s even really trying to be scary.
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