A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
- Release Date: August 18th, 1988
Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master continues the terrifying saga of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) as he returns to invade the dreams of a new group of Elm Street teens. After Kristen (Tuesday Knight) passes her dream powers to her friend Alice (Lisa Wilcox), Freddy begins to target Alice and her remaining friends, including Dan (Danny Hassel), a kind-hearted jock, and Debbie (Brooke Theiss), a tough fitness enthusiast. As Alice absorbs the powers of her friends who fall victim to Freddy, she becomes the “Dream Master,” gaining the strength she needs to confront Freddy in a final showdown.
Fun Fact: The Dream Master was a box office hit and featured some of the franchise’s most creative death scenes, including Debbie’s infamous transformation into a cockroach during one of Freddy’s twisted nightmares.
I had never seen the film before and was pleasantly surprised to see how much was filmed in Culver City. The Crave Inn Diner, a teen hangout in the film, was located at 4243 Overland Ave in Culver City and is one of the primary shooting locations. Both the interiors and exteriors were shot here.
The building is located just South of Veterans Park and a few doors down from the supermarket from Superbad. This location was home to one of my favorite breakfast and brunch spots, Cafe Laurent, for many years before they relocated to Mar Vista. The building was sold and sits empty today. My assumption is that it will be torn down for redevelopment soon.
Debbie’s house was also located in Culver City at 10742 Farragut Drive. This is only a few blocks from the filming location for the Crave Inn.
Fun Fact: Tower Insurance, which can be seen across from 4243 Overland, can also be seen in Superbad.
Dan and Alice head to Debbie’s house, located at 10742 Farragut, to try to save her. Are they too late? It’s fun that this is actually a route the characters could take to get to the house from the restaurant in real-life.
In one of the final nightmares, Alice is sucked into a movie screen landing her back at a distopian, black and white Crave Inn. There’s lots of wind and debris flying. It must have been a fun day in the neighborhood when this was filmed.
I also started A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, as I had read The Crave Inn makes a reappearance. Unfortunately, it is at a different location. The interiors appear to be on a set, and the exterior is in a different location.
I hope you enjoyed this post! “Explore with Tao” has a cool video on his YouTube channel that shows this location and the inside of Cafe Laurent before it closed, as well as some other locations from the film.
