Fowler's Frights 2015: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Starring: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette
Directed by: Chuck Russell


After the homoerotic debacle that was Nightmare 2 proved to be a success financially, the franchise needed to have a restoration in tone. While it would be hard to go back to the true, gritty horror roots, it was important to find enough of a balance in order to maintain genuine terror, while providing enough comedy to capitalize on the pop culture phenomenon of Freddy Krueger. Thus, we got A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Wes Craven returned to develop the story, Heather Langenkamp returned to the role of Nancy Thompson, and the film features young up and coming performances from Patricia Arquette and Laurence Fishburne. This is, in my opinion, the definitive film in the Nightmare series that sets the tone for how the films should be. The film was a box office sensation, grossing more than the first two films combined. It had a huge promotion on MTV, a rockin' soundtrack courtesy of Dokken (anyone remember them?), and was one of the biggest icons of late '80s pop culture.

Like I said, Heather Langenkamp returns as Nancy Thompson. It's great to see heroines return in horror franchises as long as their roles are done correctly, and Nancy is one of the all-time greats. She no longer acts like the victim, and is going head on to fight Freddy Krueger. We also have a great amount of supporting characters, all adding their own traits and personalities to a large body count. These are the Dream Warriors, each able to have their own personas and powers in the dream world and have all proven to have methods and tactics for fighting Krueger in the past. This makes our heroes look very competent against the villain, and the villain will have to bring his A game to get the better of the Dream Warriors.

Robert Englund is back as Freddy Krueger and he doesn't disappoint. It's hard to say much about a great character like Freddy over and over again when he continues to shine as the highlight of the films. As the films go on, Robert looks more tired and worn out with Freddy, but here he's having a blast. Not much else to say. If you love Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, you'll enjoy his performance in Dream Warriors.

A lot of the death scenes are bloody and gruesome, but Freddy's also able to finish them off with comedic one-liners. This is Freddy's bread and butter and is the element fans love most about him. Freddy Krueger can be horrific and hilarious and a lot of Freddy's best lines and iconic scenes are in Dream Warriors. The dream world in this film is also my favorite of the series. It blends into the real world, but is also fantastical enough to reflect the styles of each of the kid. None of the scenes look the same with Freddy's victims and I think that's how it should be. I mean think about it, you can dream about the same people or ideas, but each dream world should reflect the individual. They create the world in their mind, then Freddy makes it his playground. Nothing against the boiler room, but the dreams in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors are my favorite.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Proving to be my favorite of the sequels, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is the perfect blend of comedy and horror that the series needed. It's a great staple of '80s nostalgia, and if you love all things that decade, definitely seek out this sequel if you want some laughs and scares.

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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and movie images are copyrighted by New Line Cinema