In the fifth installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, Alice (Lisa Wilcox) begins the film with the notion that she is safe after she vanquished the evil Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) by learning how to battle the dreamworld psychopath within her own unconscious mind. But somehow Freddy has survived, and Alice discovers that he's found a place where Alice can't protect herself when he taps into the dreams of her unborn child. Freddy is soon leaving a trail of destruction while the child is still in the womb, and he will become even more deadly when the child comes to term. Memorable moments include Freddy's attack on a comic book artist and his Hellish experiences when "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs" is locked in an insane asylum with a nun. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child was followed by Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, though Mr. Krueger popped up again in Wes Craven's New Nighmare.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide