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

Ignoring entirely the events of part two's Freddy's Revenge, 1987's Dream Warriors sees Freddy stalking the last of the Elm Street Kids, all of whom are locked away in a hospital specializing in sleep disorders. Our main character is Kristen (Patricia Arquette) who is able to "pull" other people into her dreams via some sort of psychic gift, setting the stage for a big showdown in Nightmareland by film's end. Aiding our doomed teenyboppers is Heather Langenkamp, returning as a concerned counselor specializing in nightmares (she should know), who helps the group do battle with Freddy. This entry also introduced the "Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs" subplot that helps to explain Freddy a bit, and the series would continue to use/drop this storyline in the coming films.

With the series popularity exploding across the country thanks to VHS and, of course, the character of Freddy turning into a cool sort of anti-hero, I like to consider this third offering as sort of a "tweener' Elm Street entry. It manages to combine ideas/concepts from the first film, while making everything a little bit bigger and better f/x wise (dig the Freddy snake) that would follow in the latter sequels. The tone of the film and that of Freddy is slightly lighter, and, though Freddy quips plenty of one-liners here, the character still has a certain edge to it that would be completely lost by 1988's Dream Master. Oh well. Freddy really is in his prime here however, and the make-up/costume looks the best that it would for the entire series.

One thing that I always liked about this one was that it sorta set the standard for the "Freddy Kill Set Piece" as each of Freddy's victims die via Krueger playing off their own fears/internal trauma. Before, Freddy just sorta entered your dream, fucked you up, and that was that. Here he uses each would be victims fears to kinda mess with em' prior to fucking em up. Nerdy kid stuck in a wheelchair? Have him chased by a demonic wheelchair from hell. Wannabe actress? Have her tv turn into a Freddy monster who picks her up, smashes her head into the set, all the while proclaiming "welcome to prime time bitch!" You get the point.

Story wise everything is pretty good, and the whole "Bastard Son of a Hundred Maniacs" subplot adds a little more depth to the film and Freddy's character. This concept would be expounded on in part 5 with varying degrees of success. Acting is about what you would expect, though the teens in this film are probably the least annoying and the most likable out of the series, aside from the first film. The whole "dream power" idea is sorta neat, and gives an added bit of intrigue when the kids do battle with Freddy. Not that it really helps them much, they still get slaughtered of course, but at least it makes things interesting. John Saxon is, well, John Saxon and does his thing well. Heather Langenkamp is always ravishing to look at, but her performance just felt a little "off" to me here. Still, it was cool to see both reprising their previous roles.

In many fans opinion, myself included, Nightmare 3 is the second best in the series after the original. With Wes Craven co-writing, the return of Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon, better f/x and Freddy in his prime, it's all good here. It's interesting to note that Craven planned on ending the series with this film, and would later express his disagreement with the series direction. Of course, $ talks and New Line was not about to stop here. Great fun and a classic through and through.