In 1991, the Freddy Krueger franchise allegedly came to an end with the sixth ANightmare On Elm Street movie. Called Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, I naively believed it would become the last in the series.

After all, the returns on the prior entries gradually diminished, and the franchise seemed to run out of steam. Dead let New Line cash in one last time, but even then they were reduced to gimmicks in an attempt to drag in viewers. Between the promise of the title to the 3D effects used in the movie, the whole project seemed pretty pathetic.

Perhaps I was the only one who felt surprised when Freddy returned to life in 1994 through yet another film, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, but I definitely didn't expect it. Even less easily anticipated, however, was the fact this sucker was actually pretty good!

Despite a career that encompasses many TV/film roles, actor Heather Langenkamp (Heather Langenkamp) remains best known for her role as “Nancy” in the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie. This comes back to haunt her – literally.

When Heather experiences bad dreams that involve Freddy, she finds others like actor Robert Englund (Robert Englund) and director Wes Craven (Wes Craven) in the same camp. As the body count grows, Heather begins to fear that the fictional Freddy may exist and stalk her.

Like I noted, New Nightmare offered a pleasant surprise in 1994. It clearly became the best in the series since 1987's Nightmare 3. It arguably delivered the top release after the original in 1984.

Probably not coincidentally, Craven made both the 1984 and 1994 pictures whereas none of the five in between had him behind the camera. Actually, Craven executive produced and provided the story for Nightmare 3, which is probably why it's such a good film.

New Nightmare marks a definite divergence in the series' story, one that also hinted at the self-referential direction Craven would take in 1996's Scream. This tale finally leaves the fictional world of Springwood and Elm Street and actually takes us to "real-life".

New Nightmare features some fictional characters, but its main participants are actual people, although the movie clearly depicts them in non-factual ways.

These folks intermingle with others such as Heather's fictional son Dylan (Miko Hughes) and fake husband Chase (David Newsom) to create a semi-real world where fact and fantasy intermingle.

Craven creates a wonderful world in which all of the insanity actually seems plausible. The presentation of events as being part of "reality" also helps blur the lines.

The film definitely feels scarier because we can't hide in the fictional quality of the characters. Even though we know the action has been fabricated, the awareness that we're seeing real people – no matter how altered they may be - makes the events resonate more strongly.

It also helped that most of us had no idea whether Langenkamp was actually married or had a kid when the movie was made. The concept that the film might closely echo her reality added just a tinge of fright to the proceedings.

The acting's pretty good as well. Langenkamp never was great as Nancy, but she manages to offer a convincing portrayal of herself.

Englund reverts to the original feral presentation of Freddy. We find very little of the camp superstar he became in later efforts, and this makes his presence frightening once again.

Hughes actually may be one of the best parts of the cast. He displays a seriously spooky quality about him that makes his descent into dementia more convincing. I half expected the little bugger to start shouting "redrum"!

I won’t call New Nightmare a great film, but it definitely delivered one of the best pictures in its series. It took a tired franchise and injected new life into it with creativity and verve.

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Despite some minor concerns, the image usually seemed fairly good.

Sharpness usually worked fine. A few wide shots could be a little tentative, but most of the movie boasted fairly positive delineation.

I noticed no problems with shimmering or jaggies, but mild edge haloes showed up at times throughout the film, and those created distractions. As for print flaws, I noticed a handful of small specks but nothing too bad.

Colors appeared adequate. The film stock tended to be a little dense, and that trend reflected here with hues that could seem a bit on the flat side. Still, the tones came across with reasonable clarity and vivacity, so they held up fairly well.

Blacks offered positive depth, and low-light shots seemed good. Shadows displayed appropriate smoothness and clarity. This was a slightly inconsistent but generally appealing image.

Less equivocal pleasures came from the involving DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of New Nightmare. The audio used all five channels to a good degree, and I found that both effects and music cropped up from all around frequently in the film.

Sounds moved reasonably well between channels, and panning sounded smooth and realistic. This meant the soundfield provided a well-placed experience.

Audio quality seemed good as well. Dialogue felt natural and distinct, and I detected no problems related to intelligibility.

Effects seemed clear and accurate, with solid dynamic range and no distortion. The score seemed acceptably clean and crisp as well, and I found that low end seemed strong. This easily became the best of the Nightmare soundtracks.

How did the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD? We got a nice boost in clarity and range from the lossless soundtrack, and visuals appeared better defined and smoother. The Blu-ray delivered the expected improvements.

For the first time since the original film, a Nightmare flick comes with an audio commentary. Here writer/director Wes Craven provides a running, screen-specific look at story/characters and connections to prior Nightmare movies, sets and locations, cast and performances, effects, music, editing and related domains.

Though he occasionally just describes the movie’s story, Craven usually offers nice insights. He covers a lot of ground and makes this a solid chat despite the narration.

Along with the film’s trailer, we get five featurettes, and Becoming a Filmmaker runs seven minutes, 53 seconds. It brings notes from Craven as he examines his background and what brought him to movies. Craven offers an engaging look at his history.

With An Insane Troupe, we get a 51-second clip that features Craven as he looks at aspects of scary movies. It becomes a forgettable snippet.

Next comes the two-minute, four-second Two Worlds. It provides remarks from Craven while he chats about the nature of New Nightmare. Though a bit redundant after the commentary, “Worlds” adds some insights.

The Problem with Sequels goes for one minute, 35 seconds and features Craven. He tells us his thoughts about challenges connected to sequels in this short but interesting chat.

Finally, Filmmaker fills four minutes, 37 seconds with comments from Craven. Here he looks at his orientation as a movie creator. Craven provides decent valedictory notes.

New Nightmare marks the revivification of a sputtering franchise. The movie provides a breath of fresh air for the series and makes a nicely spooky outing. The Blu-ray brings largely good picture, audio and bonus materials. This turns into a satisfying horror experience.

Note that the Blu-ray of New Nightmare can only be found as part of a seven-movie “Nightmare on Elm Street Collection”. While the first flick can be purchased on its own while the second and third appear in a “two-fer” disc, films four through seven appear solely in this package.