New Nightmare (1994)
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A fictional movie villain invades the real world to haunt the cast and crew involved in making the films about him.
The story
Heather Langenkamp, recognized for her role as Nancy Thompson in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chase and their son Dylan. After a nightmare involving Freddy Krueger's claws, she begins receiving creepy phone calls from an obsessed fan. This coincides with an offer from New Line Cinema to reprise her role in a new film. However, tragedy strikes when Chase is killed by Freddy's claws. As Dylan's health deteriorates due to his fear of Freddy, Heather discovers that an ancient supernatural entity has been freed and is targeting her to enter the real world.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Heather Langenkamp, a former actress in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chase and son Dylan. After Chase is killed by Freddy Krueger's claws in a dream-like accident, Dylan becomes terrified of sleep. Heather meets with creator Wes Craven, who reveals that the films kept an ancient entity trapped, but it has been freed. The entity is using the guise of Freddy to target Heather, intending to enter the real world by killing her. Heather discovers that reality is overlapping with the films; her surroundings transform into Nancy Thompson's house, and her friend John Saxon begins addressing her as Nancy. To stop the entity, Heather must embrace her role as Nancy. She eventually enters a hellish boiler room construct, fights Freddy, and pushes him into a furnace, destroying both the monster and its reality. They wake up in the real world, and Heather finds a note in Wes's screenplay thanking her for defeating Freddy and playing Nancy one last time, confirming her victory helped imprison the entity once more.
- First release year
- 1994
- Runtime (minutes)
- 112
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Wes Craven
- Writers
- Wes Craven · writer; Wes Craven · director
- Cast and characters
- Robert Englund · himself and The Entity / "Freddy Krueger"; Heather Langenkamp · herself and Nancy Thompson; Miko Hughes · Dylan Porter; John Saxon · himself and Donald Thompson; Tracy Middendorf · Julie; David Newsom · Chase Porter; Fran Bennett · Dr. Christine Heffner; Wes Craven · himself
- Genres
- meta; supernatural horror
- Themes
- metafiction; fear; filmmaking
- Tone and mood
- menacing; cerebral; unsettling
- Premise and plot tags
- meta-sequel; supernatural horror; slasher; self-reflexive
- Source material / true-story basis
- A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise
- Franchise connections
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Content notes
- child abuse; filmmaking; earthquakes
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and is considered by many as one of the best Nightmare movies and one of Wes Craven's most enduring films, despite being the lowest-grossing in the series.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 76% · scale: percentage · review count: 51; Metacritic · score: 64 · scale: 100 · review count: 21
- Awards and nominations
- International Fantasy Film Award · Best Screenplay · win
- Production trivia
- The film was made for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the original film's release.; Production took place concurrently with the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles.; The film was written under the working title A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: The Ascension.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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