8. ‘Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child’ (1989)

This was when the franchise really started to show signs of running out of steam, to the point that when the title card for “A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child” flashes, the “5” is omitted entirely.
A straight sequel to the far superior fourth entry, you can tell that things were getting creaky. Despite some stylish direction from Stephen Hopkins, it is dumber than it is scary. And a greater emphasis on explicit gore doesn’t make anything more exciting.