Some say thatA Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriorsis the best of the franchise and for others, it saw a beloved character begin his downfall. So, when a group of the originalDream Warriorscast members reunited at New Jersey’s Chiller Theatre Convention, it was kind of a big deal, no matter what your feelings are about the horror classic. The third installment of the iconicNIghtmare on Elm Streetfranchise came out in February of 1987 and it cemented Freddy Krueger as a pop culture icon. Fans were able to see where Freddy came from and launched the Dream Warriors, who were much more than just cattle being led to slaughter.
In honor of the 30th anniversary ofDream Warriors, Heather Langenkamp (Nancy), Ira Heiden (Will), Penelope Sudrow (Jennifer), Jennifer Rubin (Taryn), and Rodney Eastman (Joey) all attended the Chiller Theatre Convention and took time out to recreate one of the greatest pieces of promotional material released for the third installment in theNightmare on Elm Streetfranchise. The actors, minus Robert Englund and Patricia Arquette, recreated the famousDream Warriorsposter that imitated John Hughes’Breakfast Club, and the results are fantastic.
While the first two installments of theNightmare on Elm Streetfranchise sawFreddy Kruegeras a hideous looking killer, an evil dream demon, and something to be feared at all times,Dream Warriorsbegan to make Freddy a little campy. Without the movie, Freddy Krueger would have been left in the horror bins and not the pop culture icon that we all know and love today, which is good and bad, depending on how you look at it. As it turns out, Freddy Krueger was never the same after uttering, “Welcome to primetime, bitch!” But,Dream Warriorsbrought the horror genre into the mainstream and we got a kickass theme song and video courtesy of Dokken.
For all of the good theDream Warriorshas done for theNightmare on Elm Street franchiseand horror in general, Robert Englund initially dreamt up his own version of what the third movie was going to be about, but it never came into fruition. Englund revealed in a recent interview that he had a different direction that he wanted to take the franchise and it started back at the beginning. Englund said, “I worked on my own draft for Part 3. Mine would’ve been about a sister. If Tina had a sister, and Tina’s sister would come to solve it.” That’s right, Robert Englund wanted to bring in the sister of Tina Gray, the very first victim inA Nightmare on Elm Street.
Obviously Robert Englund’s idea didn’t happen and instead we saw Freddy Krueger up againstNancy Thompsonand theDream Warriorsin a mental hospital. It’s hard to believe thatDream Warriorsis 30-years old, but then again, it’s left its stamp on nearly every horror movie to come out since then and changed the game. Check out theDream Warriorsreunion picture below, courtesy ofHeather Langenkamp’s Twitteraccount.
