A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) is the sequel that brought Nancy Thompson back and turned Freddy Krueger’s victims into a group that could fight him inside the dream. Chuck Russell directed. Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner wrote the story. Russell and Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay. New Line Cinema released the film in the United States on February 27, 1987. Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, and Robert Englund star. It was the biggest hit of the series to that point, and the last Nightmare film Craven was involved with until Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994).

At a glance

Release date	February 27, 1987 (United States)
Director	Chuck Russell
Writers	Story by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner; screenplay by Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont
Starring	Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Craig Wasson, Robert Englund, Laurence Fishburne
Runtime	96 minutes
Rating	R
Genre	Supernatural slasher
Budget	About $4.5 million
Box office	About $44.8 million domestic

Plot summary

Kristen Parker is admitted to a psychiatric hospital after a nightmare that looks, to the staff, like a suicide attempt. The ward is full of teenagers with the same story: a burned man in a hat, and parents who will not talk about Elm Street. Nancy Thompson, now a dream specialist, takes a job on the ward. She recognizes the pattern because she survived it. Dr. Neil Gordon wants a medical explanation. The orderly Max is the only adult who treats the kids as something other than a chart.

Nancy’s plan is to pull the patients into a shared dream and use whatever each of them can already do there. One is strong. One can fly. Kristen can bring other people in. Freddy is also in the building, in a different way. The nun who runs group sessions has a history with the man who became Freddy, and the hospital sits on the grounds where that history was buried. The kids are medicated into sleep. That is Freddy’s visiting hour.

Spoiler section: the ending

Nancy and Neil find Freddy’s bones in the auto salvage yard on the old grounds. In the dream, Freddy kills Nancy. Neil consecrates the bones anyway. Freddy’s skeleton tears itself apart in the grave. Kristen lives. Nancy does not. The last quiet shot is Kristen’s house model, and a light coming on in the window.

Production and behind the scenes

New Line had rushed Freddy’s Revenge (1985) into theaters without Craven. It made money and annoyed the people who had liked the first film’s rules. Craven came back with a story about institutionalized kids who could meet Freddy together. Russell, who had worked in effects and was about to make The Blob remake, directed. Darabont, then early in his career, shared the screenplay credit. The production stayed cheap, about $4.5 million, and spent the money on dream sets: a hallway of doors, a junkyard grave, and the snake-like Freddy that swallows Kristen.

Langenkamp returned after sitting out the second film. Arquette, in her first lead, plays Kristen. Englund pushed Freddy further toward the joke-telling killer that the later sequels would lean on, while Russell kept at least one kill, the puppet-strings death of Phillip, in the first film’s meaner key. Dokken recorded “Dream Warriors” for the end credits after New Line asked for a tie-in single. Angelo Badalamenti scored the film, an unusual hire for a slasher, and the music is moodier than the Dokken song suggests.

Release and reception

New Line opened the film on February 27, 1987. It made about $8.9 million in its first weekend and about $44.8 million in the United States and Canada, a series high at the time. Reviews were the friendliest the sequels had received. Fans still treat it as the last Nightmare film that feels like it belongs with the original. Arquette did not return. Tuesday Knight played Kristen in The Dream Master (1988).

Cast

Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson
Patricia Arquette as Kristen Parker
Craig Wasson as Dr. Neil Gordon
Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
Laurence Fishburne as Max
Jennifer Rubin as Taryn
Rodney Eastman as Joey
Ken Sagoes as Kincaid
John Saxon as Lt. Donald Thompson

Trivia

John Saxon returns as Nancy’s father, so the first film’s family line can close.
The puppet death used wires and a miniature. It is the kill most often cited from the film.
Fishburne was billed as Larry Fishburne.
Craven’s original story killed Freddy more finally than the released ending, which still leaves the model house lit.
Dokken’s title song was released as a single and played over the credits, not in the dream scenes.
The Westin Hills ward became the template for later “kids with powers versus Freddy” pitches that New Line did not make.

Movie Clips

Catch these official clips from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), courtesy of Warner Bros.: