The key to enjoying this movie is imagination
I was born exactly one week after the Original hit theatre's in '89 i was completey in awe of Freddy films. I would go to meijer to rent Nintendo games back when they had a video store and see all the VHS tapes of "Freddy's Nightmares" and see the Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 2 VHS in the actual Meijer store and my imagination ran wild as to what was in these tapes but it seemed like taboo.
I eventually play the "Nightmare on Elm Street NES" game which gave me my preconceived notions of what the Franchise was and by the time i was ready to stop being a pansy and jump in "Freddy's Dead" was the big thing and when it came on VHS i watched the first Nightmare sequence and i turned the movie off and i wouldn't leave my granpa's side for about a month i was so scared, eventually though i watched it through and it instantly became something i had to watch everyday
I was always praised by my teachers for my imagination and Freddy's Dead was exactly what i had envisoned in my head the franchise was based on preconceived notions of the series i envisoned from VHS Covers, the Nintendo game and the two 1989 comics from Marvel i inherited along with the rest of my Uncle Timmy's comics that i'm just now mentioning..
Seeing the montage at the end credits with the awesome Iggy Pop "Why was i born" which connects Freddy to the Saturn Jews equally made my mind run wild with preconceived notions of the rest of the series which honestly besides "Dream Warriors" and the Beginning of "Dream Master" didn't live up to the hype but i loved them anyway
But i found the reason i like Freddy's Dead so much is because i was so fascinated with the carnage Freddy had caused that i missed. Seeing the childless town and all the references to past victims like "Bobby Glass" and "Yeaton Brooke" i know have plenty of fuel for my imagination to envison each of their demises.
I believe that is the key to liking this film not the film itself but imaging everything that happened between "Dream Child" and "Freddy's Dead" and it also makes the entire series better because we you because every extra you see in Springwood High you know that Freddy eventually got them. The guy Dan pushed up the locker for calling Rick a basket case was eventually killed by Freddy. Dan's friend he split off with at the Diner was eventually killed by Freddy.
Like the Mona Lisa each death you don't see is open to your own interuptation and it's never wrong and that is the beauty of Freddy's Dead and why i hold it at the top of the series and wish more were like it and i believe it elevates the entire series as a whole