ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - February 27th
"A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM MASTERS"
released in 1987
Dream killer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) seeks to murder the last of the Elm street children who have been institutionalized in a mental hospital. But an old nemesis from his past, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) returns to help the kids fight Freddy on his own ground, in Chuck Russell's A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors!
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Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette) is a young girl who dreams herself into an abandoned house in Elm Street where she is chased by serial killer Freddy Krueger (Englund). She wakes up and goes to the bathroom, where she is attacked by Freddy again, who slices her wrist with a straight razor. Believing her to be suicidal, her mother Elaine (Brooke Bundy) has her sent to Westin Hospital, run by Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson), where she fights against the orderlies who try to sedate her, for fear of falling asleep. She is eventually calmed by intern therapist Nancy Thompson (Langenkamp) who recites part of Freddy's nursery rhyme and earns her trust. Nancy is introduced to the rest of the patients: Phillip (Bradley Gregg), a habitual sleepwalker; Kincaid (Ken Sagoes), a tough kid from the streets who is prone to violence; Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow), a hopeful television actress; Will (Ira Heiden), who is confined to a wheelchair after a suicide attempt; Taryn (Jennifer Rubin), a former drug addict; and Joey (Rodney Eastman), who is too traumatized to speak. Later, Kristen is attacked by Freddy again (this time as a giant snake), and unwittingly pulls Nancy into her dream with her, allowing them both to escape, later revealing to Nanacy that she has had the ability to pull people into her dreams since she was a little girl. Over the next two nights, Freddy throws Phillip off a roof in what looks like a suicide attempt and kills Jennifer by smashing her head into a television that she was watching.
In their next group session, Nancy reveals to the remaining patients that they are the last surviving children of the people who banded together and burned Krueger to death many years ago. Nancy and Neil encourage them to try group hypnosis so that they can experience a shared dream and discover their dream powers. In the dream, Joey wanders off and is captured by Freddy, leaving him comatose in the real world, where Nancy and Neil are fired. Neil is told by a nun, Sister Mary Helena (Nan Martin), that Freddy is the son a young nun who was accidentally locked in a room with hundreds of mental patients who raped her continually, and that the only way to stop him is to lay his bones to rest. He and Nancy go to her father, Don Thompson (John Saxon), to discover where the bones are hidden, but he is uncooperative. Nancy rushes back to the hospital after she hears Kristen is going to be sedated, while Neil convinces Thompson to help them. Going under group hypnosis again, Heather leads Kirsten, Kincaid, Taryn and Will into the dream world to confront Freddy and save Joey, while Neil seeks to destroy Freddy's remains in the real world!
In their next group session, Nancy reveals to the remaining patients that they are the last surviving children of the people who banded together and burned Krueger to death many years ago. Nancy and Neil encourage them to try group hypnosis so that they can experience a shared dream and discover their dream powers. In the dream, Joey wanders off and is captured by Freddy, leaving him comatose in the real world, where Nancy and Neil are fired. Neil is told by a nun, Sister Mary Helena (Nan Martin), that Freddy is the son a young nun who was accidentally locked in a room with hundreds of mental patients who raped her continually, and that the only way to stop him is to lay his bones to rest. He and Nancy go to her father, Don Thompson (John Saxon), to discover where the bones are hidden, but he is uncooperative. Nancy rushes back to the hospital after she hears Kristen is going to be sedated, while Neil convinces Thompson to help them. Going under group hypnosis again, Heather leads Kirsten, Kincaid, Taryn and Will into the dream world to confront Freddy and save Joey, while Neil seeks to destroy Freddy's remains in the real world!
TRIVIA: In the Australian state of Queensland, Dream Warriors was banned by the then Bjelke-Petersen government due to its drug references, particularly the scene where Freddy's glove becomes a number of syringes as he injects Taryn with an amphetamine overdose. The Australian public at the time thought the ban was absurd, as the film was not very graphic, and Dream Warriors was later released in 1990.
Top and Above: Freddy's arch nemesis, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) desperately searches for a way to save Freddy's latest victim, the gifted Kristen (Patricia Arquette).
Although having nothing to do with the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - not believing that Elm Street was capable of spawning a franchise - Craven returned to the series to write the screenplay for the next installment, as producer Bob Shaye felt the previous sequel strayed too much from the original formula. Interestingly, Craven's very first concept for this film was to have Freddy Krueger invade the "real" world, emerging to haunt the actors filming a new Elm Street sequel (New Line Cinema rejected this metacinematic idea at the time, but years later, Craven's concept was finally brought to the screen with Wes Craven's New Nightmare).
The first draft of the Dream Warriors script was originally much darker and contained far more graphic language. According to Craven, the idea for the mental health facility treating the Dream Warriors was inspired by real life establishments, "At that time there was kind of a movement of such places that even advertised on television", Craven explained, "'Send us your troubled child and we'll make them okay.' And, essentially, they were like prisons, or insane asylums." With Craven and Wagner's script delivered, New Line approached director Chuck Russell and his writing partner Frank Darabont to write the subsequent drafts. While many elements were changed - including a greater emphasis on the then taboo subject of teen suicide - one of the more shocking moments from Craven and Wagner's script remained; the climactic death of heroine Nancy Thompson (Craven later stated, since he created the character, he should be the one to kill her off).
The first draft of the Dream Warriors script was originally much darker and contained far more graphic language. According to Craven, the idea for the mental health facility treating the Dream Warriors was inspired by real life establishments, "At that time there was kind of a movement of such places that even advertised on television", Craven explained, "'Send us your troubled child and we'll make them okay.' And, essentially, they were like prisons, or insane asylums." With Craven and Wagner's script delivered, New Line approached director Chuck Russell and his writing partner Frank Darabont to write the subsequent drafts. While many elements were changed - including a greater emphasis on the then taboo subject of teen suicide - one of the more shocking moments from Craven and Wagner's script remained; the climactic death of heroine Nancy Thompson (Craven later stated, since he created the character, he should be the one to kill her off).
TRIVIA: For the dream sequence in which a Dick Cavett interview is interrupted by Freddy Krueger, actress Sally Kellerman was originally in the script as the guest. But when Cavett was allowed to pick the person he'd be interviewing, he picked Zsa Zsa Gabor because he thought she was the dumbest person he'd ever met in his life, and he'd never have her on his show in real life. Additionally, if there was one person Cavett wanted to see killed by Freddy on his show, it would be her!
Top and Above: Kristen uses her gift to bring Nancy into her dreams to confront Freddy (Robert Englund)!
While he and Darabont continued refining the screenplay, Russell began the task of assembling the Dream Warriors, by first casting young star Patricia Arquette in her debut role as heroine Kristen Parker. In a later interview, Robert Englund stated that he knew Arquette would go on to be a big star one day, explaining how all of the guys on the set were head over heals in love with her and would, between takes, even go to Englund to get his advice on whether or not he thought they had a chance with her and should ask her out. Former model Jennifer Rubin was cast as punk, former drug addict Taryn White, Rodney Eastman as mute Joey Crusel, and Bradley Gregg as artist Phillip Anderson. Ironically, TV star Penelope Sudrow was cast as the TV-obsessed Jennifer Caulfield, while Ira Heiden - who was in real life a Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master - was cast as the similarily Dungeons & Dragons loving, wheelchair bound Will Stanton.
For the adult roles, Priscilla Pointer, Laurence Fishburne and Clayton Landey were cast as the hospital administrator Dr. Elizabeth Simms, and orderlies Max and Lorenzo respectively, while actor Craig Wasson, best known at the time for his performance in Brian De Palma's horror thriller Body Double, was cast as fellow psychiatrist (and Nancy's potential love interest) Dr. Neil Gordon. Returning the series from the original Nightmare on Elm Street film were John Saxon - reprising his role of Nancy's father Don Thompson - Heather Langenkamp as Freddy's nemesis Nancy Thompson, and, of course, the ubiquitous Robert Englund returning to his role as the evil Freddy Krueger.
Ken Sagoes stated in an interview he really didn't want to audition for the role of Kincaid, but his agent talked him into going. On the day of the audition he walked in heavy rain to catch a bus to the location. He showed up completely drenched and had to sit and wait for a few hours due to the auditions running late. When it was his turn, director Chuck Russell told him, "Do whatever you want to do". Sagoes was so frustrated and mad about the whole ordeal that he yelled "FUCK YOU!", and then proceeded to scream and curse out Russell. Russell immediately hired him.
For the adult roles, Priscilla Pointer, Laurence Fishburne and Clayton Landey were cast as the hospital administrator Dr. Elizabeth Simms, and orderlies Max and Lorenzo respectively, while actor Craig Wasson, best known at the time for his performance in Brian De Palma's horror thriller Body Double, was cast as fellow psychiatrist (and Nancy's potential love interest) Dr. Neil Gordon. Returning the series from the original Nightmare on Elm Street film were John Saxon - reprising his role of Nancy's father Don Thompson - Heather Langenkamp as Freddy's nemesis Nancy Thompson, and, of course, the ubiquitous Robert Englund returning to his role as the evil Freddy Krueger.
Dr. Neil Gordon: Nancy has something to say.
Nancy Thompson: I know who's trying to kill you.
Roland Kincaid: Don't humor us. We're not in the mood.
Nancy Thompson: He wears a dirty brown hat. He's horribly burned. He has razors on his right hand.
Taryn: [scared] Who is he?
Nancy Thompson: His name is Freddy Krueger. He was a child murderer before he died, and after he died he became something worse. Six years ago, he killed my friends. He almost killed me.
Will Stanton: Why is he after us?
Taryn: Yeah, what did we do?
Nancy Thompson: It's not you. Your parents, my parents, they burned him alive. And now we're paying for their sins. You are the last of the Elm Street children.
Top: Dr Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson) and Dr. Elizabeth Simms (Priscilla Pointer) are at a loss to explain was it happening to the children;
Above: The last of the Elm Street children - Joey (Rodney Eastman), Kincaid (Ken Sagoes), Will (Ira Heiden), Taryn (Jennifer Rubin), Kristen and Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow).
Production on Dream Warriors began on October 15th, 1986 in Los Angeles. However, constant script revisions and tightening budget constraints made for an incredibly tense set - not a particularly ideal setting for the-then 18-year old Arquette to make her film debut. On her first day of filming, the production was already so behind they didn't get to her scenes until 4 AM by which point she had forgotten her lines. It took 52 takes of her feebly making her way through it before they simply fed her the lines via cue cards behind the camera. Arquette later stated it wasn't a pleasant experience for her, while Russell said he may have pushed her too hard. Likewise, when her character Kristen comes across a classic nightmarish image of a roasted pig on a table, and then it comes to life and growls at her. They art department roasted an actual pig, let it spoil, and had prop guys puppeterring it from beneath the table. Cinematographer Roy H. Wagner later claimed the pig's stench was so overwhelming on set, that he can still smell it to this day!
Englund also had a particularly stressful time during production. For one week during filming, Robert Englund was working 24 hours every day; by day, he was wrapping up filming on his TV series Downtown and then would report to the A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors set at nights. After a particular tiring day on set, Englund fell asleep in his dressing room still in full Freddy make up, only to wake up to see himself in the mirror scaring the hell out of himself! Nevertheless, Englund continued to improvise quite a few of Freddy Krueger's one-liners, including his best-known example which happened in Dream Warriors; in a scene where Freddy emerged from a television set and killed a girl by smashing her head into it, his line in the script originally was "This is it Jennifer, your big break on TV!". Englund said this line for the first two takes, but on the third take, when Russell went for an alternate angled shot, Englund changed it to "Welcome to Prime Time, bitch!". Russell couldn't decide which version to use, so he edited the two together, with the different camera angles making it easy to edit the two lines together, probably becoming Freddy's defining one-liner of the series.
Englund also had a particularly stressful time during production. For one week during filming, Robert Englund was working 24 hours every day; by day, he was wrapping up filming on his TV series Downtown and then would report to the A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors set at nights. After a particular tiring day on set, Englund fell asleep in his dressing room still in full Freddy make up, only to wake up to see himself in the mirror scaring the hell out of himself! Nevertheless, Englund continued to improvise quite a few of Freddy Krueger's one-liners, including his best-known example which happened in Dream Warriors; in a scene where Freddy emerged from a television set and killed a girl by smashing her head into it, his line in the script originally was "This is it Jennifer, your big break on TV!". Englund said this line for the first two takes, but on the third take, when Russell went for an alternate angled shot, Englund changed it to "Welcome to Prime Time, bitch!". Russell couldn't decide which version to use, so he edited the two together, with the different camera angles making it easy to edit the two lines together, probably becoming Freddy's defining one-liner of the series.
TRIVIA: The theme song, "Dream Warriors", was written and performed by the American heavy metal band Dokken. The success of the single led to the following sequels to include a heavy metal song in its soundtrack.
Top: Robert Englund on set;
Above: Englund with heavy metal band Dokken.
For Dream Warriors, make up effects designer Kevin Yagher returned to supervise Freddy's make-up, as well as design the infamous Freddy-Snake. For the latter scene, the crew only had one hour to film, so they didn't have enough time to paint it and just covered in a green goo substance to overcome the "pinkish hue." (but still came out looking unintentionally too phallic!). For the shot involving the Freddy Snake attempting to swallow Kristen, the action was filmed backwards and then played in reverse due to the gums on the puppet being too flexible and were folding over themselves. For the "sexy nurse" scene, actress Stacey Alden was originally fitted with a prosthetic for her transformation into Freddy, but Russell later found the effect unconvincing and changed the sequence to have the nurse spit out a series on tongues that tie Joey to the bed. To achieve the effect of Joey bound of a fiery pit, the set was rotated 90-degress, so that Rodney Eastman was actually standing up when he appears to be strapped to the bed. But after a few hours of being spread eagle on the bed, Eastman literally passed out from his blood rushing from his head (Eastman later compared the experience to a crucifixion, adding perhaps that is why horror producers continually hire young actors - because of the abuse they can put there bodies through without more serious injury!).
Opening in 1,343 theaters in the US and Canada, Dream Warriors grossed an impressive $8.9 million in its opening weekend, eventually earning almost $45 million at the domestic box office. Dream Warriors was also a critical success, with Kim Newman from Empire Magazine writing, "Arguably the most imaginative of the horror franchise, with a fair number of truly resonant scenes... bringing to life the sort of bizarre images which used to be found only on comic book covers". And while Roger Ebert, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, had some positive words for the film, calling it "slick, it has impressive production values and the acting is appropriate to the material" and "If some of the special effects are good, the movie also contains a classic line of dialogue. The child-killer, we learn, was conceived after his mother was held captive in a madhouse; he is therefore, and I quote, "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs." Now that would make a great title for a movie!", Ebert nevertheless rated Dream Warriors 1.5/4 stars, stating, "So why did I find myself so indifferent to the movie? Maybe because it never generated any sympathy for its characters. This is filmmaking by the numbers, without soul."
Opening in 1,343 theaters in the US and Canada, Dream Warriors grossed an impressive $8.9 million in its opening weekend, eventually earning almost $45 million at the domestic box office. Dream Warriors was also a critical success, with Kim Newman from Empire Magazine writing, "Arguably the most imaginative of the horror franchise, with a fair number of truly resonant scenes... bringing to life the sort of bizarre images which used to be found only on comic book covers". And while Roger Ebert, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, had some positive words for the film, calling it "slick, it has impressive production values and the acting is appropriate to the material" and "If some of the special effects are good, the movie also contains a classic line of dialogue. The child-killer, we learn, was conceived after his mother was held captive in a madhouse; he is therefore, and I quote, "the bastard son of a hundred maniacs." Now that would make a great title for a movie!", Ebert nevertheless rated Dream Warriors 1.5/4 stars, stating, "So why did I find myself so indifferent to the movie? Maybe because it never generated any sympathy for its characters. This is filmmaking by the numbers, without soul."
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 74%
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