Alice Johnson (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Last updated
Alice Johnson
A Nightmare on Elm Street character
Lisa Wilcox as Alice Johnson.jpg
Lisa Wilcox as Alice Johnson
First appearance A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Created by William Kotzwinkle
Brian Helgeland
Portrayed by Lisa Wilcox
[N 1]
In-universe information
Full nameAlice Johnson
Occupation High school student (former)
Waitress
FamilyDennis Johnson
(father)
Rick Johnson
(brother; deceased)
Significant otherDaniel Jordan
(boyfriend; deceased)
ChildrenJacob Daniel Johnson (son)
OriginSpringwood, Ohio
StatusAlive [N 2]

Alice Johnson is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. She first appears in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) as a teenager that inherits dream superpowers from the victims of enigmatic serial killer Freddy Krueger. In this film, she was portrayed by Lisa Wilcox—who reprises the role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989).

Contents

Writers William Kotzwinkle and Brian Helgeland conceptualized Alice. Alice is notable for her developed character arc—which features her evolving from an introverted girl to a proactive heroine. This emphasis on developing her character has led to Alice receiving a positive reception. Being an archenemy of Freddy, Alice is a primary protagonist. Alice returns in the novelizations and the canon comic book continuations.

Appearances

Film

In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master , Alice Johnson was the best friend of Kristen Parker. Their friendship was further solidified due to Alice's brother Rick dating Kristen. Alice and Rick came from a broken family. Their mother had long died before the events of the film, and the grief and devastation likely turned their father Dennis into an alcoholic. Whereas Rick showed gregariousness to mask his emotional pain, Alice became timid and withdrawn—to the point that she covered her dresser mirror with pictures just so she would not have to see her reflection. She worked as a waitress and daydreamed constantly to escape from the real world. When Kristen accidentally pulls Alice into her dream, Kristen passes on her dream powers before being killed by Freddy Krueger.

Alice became the "Dream Master", described in the script as a mythical "ancient guardian of the gate of good dreams", [3] due to the combination of Kristen's powers and her own latent dreaming abilities (e.g., shortly before Freddy's final attack on Kristen, Alice appears in Kristen's dream as a child playing on a beach [N 1] ). Alice then became Freddy's next target because, by killing Kristen, he could no longer access new victims. Alice was Freddy's loophole, as he could kill anyone that she uncontrollably pulled into her dreams. Her link to Freddy allowed her to take on the abilities— both from the waking world and the dream world—of his victims. As Alice's friends and brother are picked off by Freddy, she grows much stronger and capable of fighting back through the abilities that she accumulates. Sensing that Freddy relied on his victim's souls, Alice manages to defeat him by giving all of his victims the power to escape Freddy's body and enter the positive dream gate. [1]

In A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child , Alice suppressed her encounter with Freddy by starting a relationship with Dan Jordan (the other survivor from The Dream Master ) and making new friends. However, after becoming pregnant by Dan, Alice begins having nightmares about Freddy that reflect the horror surrounding his conception and birth. Alice's friends and Dan are soon murdered, and it is revealed that Freddy is planning to be reborn in the body of her unborn son Jacob Daniel Johnson. He is corrupting Jacob by feeding him the souls of the victims. Due to her pregnancy, Alice shares her "Dream Master" abilities with Jacob. There is a caveat, however, as Jacob is able to blur the boundary between the waking world and the dream world without Alice needing to be asleep. Thereby, just like his mother in the previous film, Jacob becomes a prime target for manipulation due to not having the right control over his abilities. When Alice is on the verge of losing her battle against Freddy, Sister Mary Helena (Amanda Krueger) urges Jacob to beat Freddy with the souls that were fed to him. Upon Freddy's demise, Alice gives birth to Jacob several months later. [4]

In the original script for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare , Alice was set to return. She would have been killed by Freddy early in the film, making Jacob the main protagonist. [5] However, this version of the script was scrapped and the actual film makes no mention of Alice or Jacob, and leaves their fates ambiguous. Lisa Wilcox has since confirmed that the producers never made any attempt to call her back for the sixth Elm Street film, [6] although they did contact her about allowing footage of Alice to appear during the end credits. [7] Footage of Alice also appears in flashbacks during Freddy's introduction in Freddy vs. Jason (2003). [8]

Literature

Alice in Nightmares on Elm Street (1991) and Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors (2009) Alice Johnson in comics.png
Alice in Nightmares on Elm Street (1991) and Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors (2009)

Alice is one of the main protagonists of Innovation Publishing's 1991 Nightmares on Elm Street comics. In this comic book series, Alice returns to Springwood following the death of her father and is forced to face Freddy after he again tries to use Jacob to kill for him. In the end, Neil Gordon gives up his body so that he can join Nancy Thompson in the "Beautiful Dream." Dan's spirit occupies Neil's body, and he is reunited with Alice and Jacob. [9]

She also appears in Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: Nightmare Warriors where a vision of Freddy causes her to meet with other Freddy and Jason survivors. As with The Dream Child , Alice and Jacob are partly linked regarding the "Dream Master" abilities. For instance, a sleeping Jacob has the ability to call an awake Alice. In turn, Alice can physically enter Jacob's dream and wake up in the place that he fell asleep. Alice's dream powers come at a cost, as she has been suffering from a terminal illness. She later sacrifices herself to pass her full powers onto Jacob. [10]

In the anthology book The Nightmares on Elm Street: Freddy Krueger's Seven Sweetest Dreams (1991), Alice appears in Philip Nutman's short story "Dead Highway, Lost Roads". Years after the events of Dream Child , Alice is now married to a real estate developer named Steve Segel. Although they've settled into a normal domestic routine, there's still cracks in their marriage — Alice is secretive about her Dream Master abilities and Steve feels like he's competing with his wife's late high school sweetheart Dan Jordan. Alice cannot shake her frightful encounters with Freddy, and she even insists (much to Steve's chagrin) on living near a shopping mall complex that has been built over 1428 Elm Street to secretly keep watch. While driving to visit her father Dennis at a rehabilitation clinic, Alice is involved in a major car pileup. Freddy manipulates the lucid dream abilities of serial killer Karl Stolenberg (who was involved in the accident while en route to his execution) in order to ensnare Alice in the "dead highway". Alice searches for a means of escape while Freddy prepares an "Alice in Wonderland" tableau in anticipation of their reunion. Six-year-old Jacob—who is staying in Wisconsin with Yvonne—enters the dreamworld upon sensing Alice's peril, and enlists the aid of Karl and anthropomorphic armadillo Joe Bob to find his mother. Near the conclusion, a deranged Karl attacks Alice, but is returned to his senses by Jacob through physical force. Alice and Karl cooperate to defeat Freddy, though Karl perishes in the battle. With Freddy defeated, Alice and Jacob return to the waking world. [11]

Alice is also mentioned in the short story "Le Morte De Freddy" by William Relling Jr. In between the events of The Dream Master and The Dream Child , Alice sent a letter to Dr. Neil Gordon (now living in Gainesville, Florida) that Kristen Parker, Roland Kincaid and Joey Crusel were murdered by Freddy, but that she took care of him. With Freddy now terrorizing a new batch of adolescent psychiatric patients, Dr. Gordon teams up with another psychiatrist to stop Freddy for good. Alice, whose whereabouts are unspecified, is not involved in their plan. She is mentioned by Freddy, along with Nancy and Kristen, when he accuses them of hating their neglectful parents, claiming that it was their hate and not their fear that allowed him to get into their dreams. [12]

Her son Jacob is the main protagonist in Natasha Rhodes' novel A Nightmare on Elm Street: Perchance to Dream. The book mentions that his grandmother Doris Jordan stole custody from Alice when Jacob was born, though he eventually entered the foster system. Alice went missing shortly after an adolescent Jacob was institutionalized at Westin Hills for killing his foster parents (who he was hallucinating as being Freddy). It is revealed that anyone who is aware of Freddy's existence is quarantined in the institution. Upon escaping from the mental hospital, Jacob sees a vision of her when he passes by his childhood home. Near the end, he sees another vision of his mother suffering unresponsively in the dream world, supposedly killed by Freddy; it is not clarified in the novel whether Jacob's vision of Alice is truly her or just an apparition conjured up by Freddy to torment him. Even though Alice is absent, Jacob has stopped himself and others from dreaming for a month by using his dream powers to protect everyone from Freddy. [13]

In fan films

Although not considered a part of the official film canon, Alice (played by Taylor Burskey) has a cameo in Don't Fall Asleep: The Film [14] (2016; Produced by 3 Count & Go): Taking place between A Nightmare on Elm Street and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors , Nancy Thompson (played by Diandra Lazor) is struggling to maintain her sanity after she is checked into a psychiatric ward. In the film, Alice's mother is an exhausted nurse that works at the ward.

Alice (played by Kay Leahy) is set to appear as one of the main female protagonists in Freddy vs. Jason: Dreamscape (2020), written by Joshua Adams and executive produced by noted horror author Blake Best. [15]

Reception

Monika Bartyzel stated that Alice is different when compared to other final girls and that her empowerment over the course of the films became an essential plot point, she said:

At first, she’s the shy, introverted hanger-on to her much more wild friends (much like Laurie Strode). She considers herself a non-entity, preferring to mask her mirror, and thereby herself, with her friends’ images. When they die, however, and she mystically consumes portions of their strength, the pictures come down in chunks as she wipes away the old Alice to become the active fighter. Instead of teamwork, the team is infused into one previously passive being, a mecha-human designed to defeat the dream monster. Alice is one of the few true and ongoing Final Girls; she survives two films, saves her child from demonic possession, and disappears from the Nightmare on Elm Street world without ever succumbing to the inevitability of death in a future installment. [16]

Other A Nightmare on Elm Street fans have also highlighted Alice's "inner journey" as the primary aspect that makes her stand out among horror protagonists, with Patti Pauley writing that "Alice Johnson’s journey towards her end-game battle with Freddy is unique among her ’80s horror movie peers" and (in contrast with Nancy Thompson) "Nancy from the get-go was clearly a strong-minded individual, whereas Alice had to go through some rough shit to get herself there". [17] On the horror blog Horror and Sons, Cody Mascho similarly comments that "One of the biggest reasons I love Alice is how she’s built up over both movies. She undergoes an amazing and relatable character journey, which really allows the viewer to root for and sympathize with her". [18] Joshua Anderson has written that Alice's character arc of evolving from shy and introverted to headstrong and extroverted helped him with coming to terms with his own homosexuality while growing up. [19]

Brennan Klein on Dread Central calls Alice's character arc "the most powerful in the franchise", adding that "in between the cockroach weight lifting and the time loops and the movie theater vortex is a genuinely powerful story of a young woman’s self-actualization in the face of trauma" and that initially she is "so bland and boring that you might even start to wonder why the movie even decided to have her as the protagonist". [20] The website Lady Geek Girl and Friends praised the intelligence and strength of the character saying, "Letting go of the past, suiting up for battle with the accoutrements of her fallen friends, and finally looking at herself in the mirror and being damn pleased with what she sees, ugh, it’s one of the best sequences in the series. In the ensuing battle we see just how powerful Alice really is as she is the first heroine in the series to face Freddy in the dream, alone, and triumph. The fight takes her to the limits of what she can do, and everything she’s gained from her friends helps, but in the end it’s her own intelligence that defeats the monster." [21] Similarly, Tommy Watanabe praised the strength of the character, saying:

In the fifth installment of the franchise, Alice fights to protect her unborn child from the possession of Freddy's spirit using more of her abilities, even invading the nightmare of her new bestie (wow, Alice, you move on quick) Yvonne by spearing Freddy with a pipe as he tries to kill Yvonne. Capable and creative, Alice proves to be a strong woman readily available to protect her friends (or attempt to, in the case of comic book artist Mark and aspiring model Greta) and family at any cost. More importantly, she had sex... and survived! [22]

Alice was ranked 12th on BuzzFeed's top 25 list of final girls, [23] the 7th on ComingSoon.net [24] 11th on Paste Magazine's list "The 20 Best "Final Girls" in Horror Movie History" [25] and one of "8 Badass Female Characters in Horror Films". [26]

On Cinapse, Ashlee Blackwell writes that "far from your mass-produced horror maiden serving only one purpose, Alice is multi-dimensional" and that she is "representative of a woman as ‘human, normal’ and whole in what has been said to be the most sexist of film genres next to pornography. Alice was not simply the shy girl who never gets the guy; the buxom, sexually promiscuous fatale, or even just the capable ‘final girl’ who defeats the killer. She is a naturally progressing variation of many of those traits and more, wrapped in one character in one film." [27]

Development

Conception

In The Dream Master scripts written by William Kotzwinkle, Brian Helgeland, Jim Wheat, and Ken Wheat, Alice still begins as a shy and introverted individual. A marked difference is that Kristen and Alice have a closer friendship. In the script, before learning about the deaths of Kincaid and Joey, Kristen confides in Alice that she has the ability to pull others into her dreams. When the group explores 1428 Elm Street, a still mystified Alice foreshadows her bravery by volunteering to be pulled into Kristen's dream if the need should arise. Alice asserts herself earlier in the film, describing the supernatural circumstances surrounding Kristen's death to the group. She tells her brother Rick about her newfound abilities, and he plays an active role in trying to keep her awake until he himself is killed. While Alice still has a final showdown with Freddy, she undergoes a physical transformation during the dresser mirror scene in which her body becomes leaner, muscular and adorned with supernatural accouterments. In the script, it is elaborated that "She's quite beautiful now, and there's a surety and strength in her eyes" (after Rick's death), and at the end scene: "Alice is far from what she looked like in the film's beginning. She radiates an earthy sensuousness and an inner strength." [3] According to Andras Jones who played Alice's brother Rick, the two were twins in at least one draft of the script, explaining the two attending the same class in high school. [28] Due to a writer's strike going on in 1988, Andras and Lisa wrote their own dialogue for the scene where they watched past home videos of themselves with Kristen and other friends while discussing Kristen's death. [7] A deleted scene was filmed for The Dream Master in which Alice has a nightmare about her father supposedly being murdered by Freddy in their kitchen; [29] some footage of Lisa Wilcox reacting to the scene can be seen in the documentary "The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4". [30]

For the sequel to The Dream Master, the producer's brief to the scriptwriters was "Alice is pregnant, Freddy wants the baby, Dan is the first to die". [31] With regard to The Dream Child scripts, Alice still battles Freddy to save her unborn son. Depending upon the script, Alice goes from an active to a passive protagonist as the events unfold. The best example is in the first script draft. Upon Freddy's resurrection, a cornered Alice is ready to die before pulling in more victims for him to kill. Freddy makes his plans known quickly, as he is the one that informs Alice that she is pregnant. Dan also learns that Alice is pregnant, unlike the film where Freddy kills him before the revelation. Alice has made new friends, and her past encounters with Freddy are no secret to them. Her straightforward efforts to prepare them for Freddy's onslaught fall short, however. With each murder, Alice still absorbs the souls through her womb but the script specifies that her gestation period is hastened. Alice accumulates her knowledge through help from Jacob (named Jason in the script) who introduces her to a book about dreams. By studying the book, Alice learns how to enter Freddy's mind through the "dream pool" and communicate with Sister Mary Helena (Amanda Krueger). As Freddy advances on Alice, her sonogram shows twins as Freddy's evil fetus is depleting Jacob in a parasitic symbiosis. Due to a warped pregnancy making her physically incapacitated, Alice is unable to fight back against Freddy's machinations. By the script's conclusion, the parasitic Freddy baby leaves Alice's body because of Sister Mary Helena's interference and Jacob is delivered instead.

As opposed to the film, the first draft of The Dream Child shows a greater rapport between Jacob and Alice as they research on how to defeat Freddy. Their relationship is further illustrated by Alice and Jacob experiencing the same physical deterioration as the plot unfolds. Yet, Alice does not know the true identity of Jacob until after she gives birth to him. So, in essence, the original plot detail differs from the film in that it impacts Alice's maternal motivation to save Jacob. [32] In David Schow's treatment, Alice gives birth to twins. [31]

During a 2019 interview, the interviewers pointed out that Alice was essentially the star of The Dream Child, with the producers having pushed Freddy a bit into the background compared to The Dream Master, and that removing Freddy from the story altogether would still have worked as a shorter soap opera-like teen pregnancy story. [7] Lisa Wilcox felt that the gravity of teen pregnancy was absent from the earlier drafts, saying that

"the first few versions of the script completely ignored things like abortion and adoption, things that teenagers have to contemplate. Fortunately, the writers and producers realized that even though this is a horror film and a fantasy, teen pregnancy is an important issue that must be dealt with in a realistic manner. They added certain elements to the Alice character to explore the situation". [33]

One of the numerous alternate screenplays for Freddy vs Jason written by later Hellboy movie co-writer Peter Briggs in 1995 would have seen Alice teaming up with Friday the 13th protagonists Steven Freeman and Jessica Kimble from Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday in 1999, leading to their respective children Jacob and Stephanie being kidnapped by Jason Voorhees, whose mind Alice enters to discover that he was an Elm Street child and that his mother Pamela was one of the vigilante parents who burned the human Fred Krueger to death. [34] She would also have dropped a hydraulically raised Pontiac car over the pursuing Jason in a garage. Freddy would have chased Alice and Jessica Kimble through Hell, only to be distracted by Thanos, Lord of the Underworld, allowing Alice and Jessica to escape with Jacob and Stephanie and survive.

Briggs called Alice "obviously an extremely useful character on multiple levels" to his storytelling. The concept of survivors of the two franchises coalescing, along with the ending with a time-displaced character signing the botched search warrant for Freddy back in the 60's, would later be used as an inspiration for the aforementioned Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors comic book series according to former New Line Cinema executive Jeff Katz, who cites the Peter Briggs draft as his favorite. [35] [28]

Characterization

“In the end, Alice is able to control her dreams. Not only her dreams, but she’s able to control her life, and that’s what the film is about: how she grows from being a shy girl to a grown woman. It’s about taking responsibility and facing your fears, which is a theme I think is close to every teenager.”

— Renny Harlin (1988) [36]

In an interview Lisa Wilcox described Alice as an outcast that a lot of people can relate to, she said:

“I immediately fell in love with the story of Alice, she’s a daydreamer who was kind of pathetic at the beginning of Part Four, and I think we all can relate to that feeling in some ways. Actually, I was totally a wallflower in high school so there was a lot of myself in the character of Alice. There’s a lot of Lisa on that screen.”

Wilcox also mentioned the character development of Alice by stating that:

"As an actress, though, what made Alice remarkable is that audiences watch Alice become stronger and stronger as the movie plays along, and you can’t help but be a part of her journey because she’s so relatable." [37]

Alice has reddish hair in The Dream Master, but has Lisa Wilcox's natural blond hair in the sequel. According to Wilcox, the producers wanted to differentiate Alice to Kristen since Tuesday Knight also had naturally light blond hair, as did Brooke Theiss (Debbie Stevens). Wilcox did not want to dye her hair with more permanent chemicals, but agreed to rinse it daily for the shootings. For Dream Child, the producers did not deem it necessary for Wilcox to color her hair again. [6]

In The Dream Master, Alice is portrayed as a regular daydreamer who wishes she would have the courage to ask her crush out, handsome jock Dan Jordan, and stand up to her alcoholic single father when he lashes out at her. Similar to fellow heroine Nancy Thompson's father Donald, Alice's father is an "alcoholic who is a parental failure" in Dream Master, and Alice thus resorts to "daydreaming as an escapist vehicle from a dysfunctional family". She describes her worst fear as being to have to work as a lowly waitress for the rest of her life, embodying "adolescent fears of entrapment in low-income service employment, a grim reality for most middle-class teenagers", and one that Freddy forces her to confront in her cinematic dream. [38] A student refers to Alice as a "basket case" to Dan, who angrily rebukes him. She is portrayed as very shy and withdrawn at first, and her more outgoing brother Rick tries to cheer her up and teach her to stand up for herself. In the film, Alice's personal development is shown metaphorically through the mirror in her room, which at first she has loaded with photographs that she gradually removes for each one of her murdered friends. [1]

In his book Horror Films of the 1980s, John Kenneth Muir noted the following:

"Alice's blossoming is coupled with the mirror (an important symbol in the film). When she is weak and diffident, the mirror is loaded with photographs that obscure her reflection. The message is that she doesn't want to see herself; she'd rather hide from what she considers ugly. But as Alice's strength grows, she takes down the photos and countenances her own image. What she finds there is gorgeous and strong."

Muir believes that Alice's transformation "is the perfect counterpoint to Freddy's storyline." Whereas Freddy's reflection encompasses evil, Alice's "reflection is what makes her powerful." According to Muir, the character of Alice Johnson, goes against the "final girl" stereotype in that she is a "greasy-haired ugly duckling [who finds] her inner strength and beauty through self-actualization" adding that "from Nancy to Alice, the women on Elm Street are tough, resourceful, powerful role models for teenagers, ones who--mirror--reality in their efforts to navigate high school, and indeed life." [39]

In the book Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in American Cinema after 1980, Timothy Shary describes the metaphorical quality of the storyline in part 5 and of Alice's "pro-life" choice, arguing that Alice's cargo as a young, now single mother might potentially have been a worse nightmare to many other teenage girls/young women than anything Freddy might have come up with:

"Alice, who's been impregnated by her slain boyfriend, realizes that Freddy plans to pose as a fetus growing inside her, but rather than abort the baby, thereby killing the possibility of spawning another monster, she adamantly declares her choice to keep it. In a less fanciful film this could be read as an ironic pro-life stance, but here Alice uses her capacity to give birth as her maternal defense against Freddy's patriarchal power. In a convoluted showdown, Alice violently pulls the diseased Freddy fetus out of her body, an image of monstrous birth and abortion, and this mutant then enters Freddy's mother, where he is finally re-contained in her womb. Alice retains her original "good" baby, and thus the result of her having sex is both death and life; the film's irony is that this teenager is faced with the challenge of raising a child alone, perhaps a more realistic nightmare for teen girls than any offered by Freddy." [40]

On the subject, John Kenneth Muir adds that "the idea of abortion, the hottest of all hot button issues, is handled in a very casual, non-preachy fashion", summarizing that "[Alice is] afraid of what her child will be; she wants to protect it; and she has to fend off Dan's parents, who want to adopt the child... [she must deal] with all of these competing emotions and stresses, not to mention Freddy...."

As Muir summarizes:

John Carl Buechler, director of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) and who was also involved in the Dream Master creative team the very same year, has compared the character arc of Friday the 13th heroine Tina Shepard from said film with Alice's arc, pointing out that "both films are about heroines who take on special powers which they use to fight the monster. In The New Blood, Tina's able to fully harness her telekinetic powers by the end to defeat Jason which is what happened, more or less, in The Dream Master." [41]

Notes

  1. 1 2 A girl played by Kristen Clayton appears in Kristen Parker's dreams in both Dream Warriors and The Dream Master and refers to herself as Alice in the latter, although it's never explained how or if she relates to the character of Alice Johnson. [1]
  2. ↑ Deceased in Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors, which is not considered to be canonical. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i> (franchise) American supernatural slasher franchise

A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American supernatural slasher media franchise consisting of nine films, a television series, novels, comic books, and various other media. The franchise began with the film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), written and directed by Wes Craven. The overall plot of the franchise centers around the fictional character Fred "Freddy" Krueger, the apparition of a former child killer who was burned alive by the vengeful parents of his victims, who returns from the grave to terrorize and kill the teenage residents of the fictional Springwood, Ohio in their dreams. Craven returned to the franchise to co-script the second sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and to write/direct Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). The films collectively grossed $472 million at the box office worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddy Krueger</span> Horror film character

Freddy Krueger is the antagonist of the A Nightmare on Elm Street horror film franchise. Created by Wes Craven, he made his debut in Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as the malevolent spirit of a child killer who had been burned to death by his victims' parents after evading prison. Krueger goes on to murder his victims in their dreams, causing their deaths in the real world as well. In the dream world, he is a powerful force and seemingly invulnerable. However, whenever Freddy is pulled back into the real world, he has normal human vulnerabilities and can be destroyed. He is commonly identified by his burned, disfigured face, dirty red-and-green-striped sweater and brown fedora, and trademark metal-clawed, brown leather, right hand glove. This glove was the product of Krueger's own imagination, having welded the blades himself before using it to murder many of his victims, both in the real and dream worlds. Over the course of the film series, Freddy has battled several reoccurring survivors including Nancy Thompson and Alice Johnson. The character was consistently portrayed by Robert Englund in the original film series as well as in the television spin-off Freddy's Nightmares.

<i>Wes Cravens New Nightmare</i> 1994 film by Wes Craven

Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 American meta supernatural horror film written and directed by Wes Craven, creator of 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street. A standalone film and the seventh installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, it is not part of the same continuity as previous films, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world and haunts the cast and crew involved in the making of the films about him. In the film, Freddy is depicted as closer to what Craven originally intended, being much more menacing and less comical, with an updated attire and appearance.

<i>Freddys Dead: The Final Nightmare</i> 1991 film by Rachel Talalay

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare is a 1991 American slasher film and the sixth film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. It is a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and was originally intended to be the final installment of the series; Wes Craven's New Nightmare was released three years later but takes place outside the series canon. A canonical crossover/sequel, Freddy vs. Jason, was released in 2003. This was New Line Cinema's first 3D film release.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i> 1984 American slasher film by Wes Craven

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Johnny Depp in his film debut. The film's plot concerns a group of teenagers who are targeted by Krueger, an undead child killer who can murder people through their dreams, as retribution against their parents who burned him alive.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors</i> 1987 film by Chuck Russell

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a 1987 American fantasy slasher film directed by Chuck Russell in his feature directorial debut. The story was developed by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner and is the third installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and stars Heather Langenkamp, Patricia Arquette, Larry Fishburne, Priscilla Pointer, Craig Wasson, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. Nancy Thompson, now a psychiatrist, and Kristen, a patient who can bring others into her own dreams, team up with other kids to launch a daring rescue into the dreamland and save a child from Freddy Krueger.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master</i> 1988 film by Renny Harlin

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master is a 1988 American fantasy slasher film directed by Renny Harlin, and is the fourth installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Serving as a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), the film follows Freddy Krueger who, following the death of Nancy Thompson and completing his revenge against the families who killed him, reappears in the dreams of Kristen Parker, Joey Crusel, and Roland Kincaid, where he uses Kristen's best friend, Alice Johnson, to gain access to new victims in order to satiate his murderous needs. The Dream Master is often popularly referred to as "the MTV Nightmare" of the franchise.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child</i> 1989 film by Stephen Hopkins

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child is a 1989 American slasher film directed by Stephen Hopkins and written by Leslie Bohem. It is the fifth installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and stars Lisa Wilcox, and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. The film follows Krueger, using a now pregnant Alice Johnson's baby's dreams to claim new victims.

Nancy Thompson (<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i>) Main character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series

Nancy Thompson is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. She first appears in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) as a teenager hunted in her dreams by enigmatic serial killer Freddy Krueger. In this film, she was portrayed by Heather Langenkamp—who reprises the role in the sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Langenkamp later portrayed a fictional version of herself who embodies the role of Nancy in Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994). A reimagined version of the character, Nancy Holbrook, is portrayed by Rooney Mara in the 2010 remake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kristen Parker</span> Film character from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series

Kristen Parker is a character from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. She is a co-protagonist and final girl of the third film of the series A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the false protagonist in the following film A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and has appeared in various merchandise as well. She is played by actress Patricia Arquette in Dream Warriors and Tuesday Knight in The Dream Master. She is the central member of the titular Dream Warriors, seven teens who have to learn to fight as a group in order to survive their spectral tormentor, enigmatic murderer Freddy Krueger, and has the ability to bring others into her dreams as well as being an Olympic-level acrobat in her dreams.

The popularity of the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series has led to several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, Innovation Publishing, Trident Comics, Avatar Press and WildStorm Productions. After the success of Freddy vs. Jason and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake film in 2003, New Line Cinema created their House of Horror licensing division which licensed the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to Avatar Press for use in new comic book stories, the first of which was published in 2005. In 2006, Avatar Press lost the license to DC Comics imprint, WildStorm Productions which then published several new stories based on the franchise before their license expired as well.

<i>Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors</i> Limited series comic book

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors is a six-issue limited series comic book written by Jeff Katz and James Kuhoric, with drawings by Jason Craig. The series was published by Dynamite Entertainment and DC Comics, with imprint by Wildstorm, beginning in August 2009 and concluding in December 2009. The Nightmare Warriors is a sequel to Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, which was published in 2007 and was itself a sequel to the 2003 film Freddy vs. Jason. The series is a crossover between the A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Evil Dead horror film franchises.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i> (2010 film) American supernatural slasher film by Samuel Bayer

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American supernatural slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer, written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer, and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, and Kellan Lutz. Produced by Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes, it is a remake of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name, as well as the ninth overall installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film is set in a fictitious town in Ohio and centers on a group of teenagers living on one street who are stalked and murdered in their dreams by a disfigured man named Freddy Krueger. The teenagers discover that they all share a common link from their childhood that makes them targets for Krueger.

<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddys Revenge</i> 1985 film by Jack Sholder

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a 1985 American supernatural slasher film directed by Jack Sholder and written by David Chaskin. It stars Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Robert Rusler. It is the second installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film follows Jesse Walsh, a teenager who begins having recurring nightmares about Freddy Krueger after moving into the former home of Nancy Thompson from the first film.

Tina Gray (<i>A Nightmare on Elm Street</i>) Fictional character

Christina "Tina" Gray is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. She was created by Wes Craven. The character was portrayed by Amanda Wyss in the original film and Katie Cassidy in the 2010 film. Julianna Damm also portrayed the character as a preadolescent in the 2010 film's flashbacks and dream sequences. A high school student whose death is the catalyst for the events of the series, Gray is the false protagonist of the 1984 original film. She also appears in the novels, Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), 2010 reboot, merchandise based on the films, and a claymation version of the character is shown in the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010). The imagery featuring Gray in the body bag during the dream sequences have been regarded as iconic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Walsh</span> Fictional character

Jesse Walsh is a fictional character in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He was created by David Chaskin and portrayed by Mark Patton. Making his debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge in 1985, Jesse became the first male protagonist of the series. In Freddy's Revenge, Freddy enacts a plan to possess Jesse, using his body to kill in the real world, slowly gaining the strength to manifest his form physically. Outside of the films, Jesse has a main role in the novels. Because of the LGBT representation in a mainstream film, Jesse has developed a large fan base in the gay community and has been called a gay icon. Jesse has been observed by some scholars as a variation of the "final girl" slasher film archetype, and instead a "final boy".

1428 Elm Street, also known as [the] Elm Street House, is a fictional residential house and street address in Springwood, Ohio, and is an important location in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, where it has been the home of Nancy Thompson and her mother, later Jesse Walsh and his family, and finally Lori Campbell and her father, throughout the film series. It has also been implied to have been Freddy Krueger's home at some point before the events that take place in the films. It appears in some form in nearly all the films, as well as literature, comic books, toys, and music videos. The house, like Freddy Krueger, Nancy Thompson, Tina Gray, and Kristen Parker, were all conceived by Wes Craven.

<i>Nightmares on Elm Street</i> Comic book series set in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" universe

Nightmares on Elm Street is a six-issue comic book limited series set within the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, set chronologically between A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). It was written by comic book writer Andy Mangels and published bimonthly throughout 1991 and 1992 by Innovation Publishing. The first two issues revolves mainly around Nancy Thompson's fate following her murder by Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, while issue three through six deals primarily with the return of Alice Johnson and her son Jacob to Springwood. The comics are considered to be canonical to the franchise.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Renny Harlin (director) (1988-08-18). A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (DVD). United States: New Line Cinema.
  2. ↑ "Series FAQ" . Retrieved February 19, 2020– via Nightmare on Elm Street Companion.
  3. 1 2 "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master — Scripts". Nightmare on Elm Street Companion. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  4. ↑ "The F*ckin Black Sheep: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)". JoBlo Movie Network. 18 August 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare — Scripts | Nightmare on Elm Street Companion — Ultimate Online Resource to Horror Series A Nightmare on Elm Street". Nightmareonelmstreetfilms.com. 1990-12-19. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  6. 1 2 Lisa Wilcox (2015-10-22). "Lisa Wilcox Interview: Clinger, Nightmare on Elm Street and Star Trek: The Next Generation" (Interview). Interviewed by Fred Topel. Retrieved 2019-05-15.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. 1 2 3 Lisa Wilcox (December 29, 2019). "A Talk with Lisa Wilcox, star of Nightmare on Elm Street IV & V" (Interview). Interviewed by Midnight's Edge. Retrieved February 19, 2020– via YouTube.
  8. ↑ Ronny Yu (Director) (2003). Freddy vs. Jason (DVD). United States: New Line Cinema.
  9. ↑ Nightmares on Elm Street #3-6 (1991)
  10. ↑ Jeff Katz and James Kuhoric ( w ), Jason Craig  ( p ). Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors ,no. 1-6(2009). WildStorm .
  11. ↑ Nutman, Philip (1991-10-15). "Dead Highway, Lost Roads". In Greenberg, Martin Harry (ed.). The Nightmares on Elm Street: Freddy Krueger's Seven Sweetest Dreams. St. Martin's Press. pp. 172–239. ISBN   9780312925857.
  12. ↑ Relling Jr., William (1991-10-15). "Le Morte De Freddy". In Greenberg, Martin Harry (ed.). The Nightmares on Elm Street: Freddy Krueger's Seven Sweetest Dreams. St. Martin's Press. pp. 127–172. ISBN   9780312925857.
  13. ↑ Rhodes, Natasha (2006-02-28). A Nightmare on Elm Street: Perchance to Dream. Black Flame. ISBN   9781844163229.
  14. ↑ Venn Pictures (2016-09-05), Don't Fall Asleep : The Film , retrieved 2018-08-11
  15. ↑ Joshua Adams (March 1, 2020). "So we at "Elm Street Brats Productions" are..." Retrieved April 15, 2020– via Facebook.
  16. ↑ Bartyzel, Monika (October 25, 2012). "From Screams to Strength, the Evolution of the Final Girl". Movies.com. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  17. ↑ Patti Pauley (September 18, 2018). "ALICE JOHNSON: MORE THAN JUST A FINAL GIRL". Rue Morgue. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  18. ↑ Cody Mascho (October 3, 2017). "HH 2017: Fiends, Freaks, And Final Girls #3 – Cody Mascho on "Alice Johnson"". Horror and Sons. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  19. ↑ Joshua Anderson (June 25, 2019). "The Final Girl: A LGBTQ+ Representation". Gayly Dreadful. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  20. ↑ Brennan Klein (April 19, 2018). "Brennan Went to Film School: The Surprisingly Inspiring Message in Nightmare on Elm Street 4". Dread Central . Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  21. ↑ "The Women of Elm Street: Alice Johnson". Lady Geek Girl and Friends. 14 April 2013.
  22. ↑ Watanabe, Tommy. "The 10 Greatest FINAL GIRLS in TV & Film". Movie Pilot. Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  23. ↑ Louis, Peitzman (2013-10-17). "The 25 Fiercest Final Girls of Horror". BuzzFeed . Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  24. ↑ Perkins, Nick (April 5, 2019). "10 Best Slasher Film Final Girls". ComingSoon.net . Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  25. ↑ Jim Vorel (October 4, 2016). ""The 20 Best "Final Girls" in Horror Movie History"". Paste . Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  26. ↑ Kiste, Gwendolyn (February 15, 2014). "8 Badass Female Characters in Horror Films". Horror-Movies.ca. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  27. ↑ Blackwell, Ashlee (December 19, 2014). "The Empowered Female in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER - Cinapse". Cinapse . Retrieved February 18, 2020.[ permanent dead link ]
  28. 1 2 "Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy [Blu-ray]: Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Wes Craven, Lisa Wilcox, Alice Cooper, Andrew Kasch, Daniel Farrands, Thommy Hutson". Amazon.com. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  29. ↑ "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master — Deleted Scenes". Nightmare on Elm Street Companion. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  30. ↑ Lisa Wilcox, Renny Harlin, Robert Englund (1989). The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 (VHS) (documentary). Cummings Entertainment. Event occurs at 35:05 – via United American Video Corp.
  31. 1 2 Philip Nutman (November 1989). "Part Two: The Unseen Freddy". Fangoria . No. 88. Starlog Communications International. pp. 52–57. ISSN   0164-2111 . Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  32. ↑ Skipp, John; Spector, Craig (January 7, 1989). "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1st draft)" (PDF).
  33. ↑ Shapiro, Marc (September 1, 1989). "Coming of age on Elm Street". Fangoria . No. 86. pp. 28–31. ISSN   0164-2111 . Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  34. ↑ Briggs, Peter (1995). "Freddy vs Jason screenplay" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-05-20– via Nightmare on Elm Street Companion.
  35. ↑ Dustin McNeill (March 25, 2017). "Chapter 4: The Briggs Draft". Slash of the Titans: The Road to Freddy vs Jason. Harker Press. ISBN   978-0692033494.
  36. ↑ Gilmore, Mikal (1988-10-06). "Welcome to His 'Nightmare': How Freddy Krueger Became a Pop Icon". Rolling Stone . No. 536. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  37. ↑ "Wilcox, Lisa (Final Girls)". Dread Central. 30 November 1999. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  38. ↑ Williams, Tony (1996). "Poltergeist and Freddy's Nightmares". Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film (1st ed.). Cranbury, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 232–233. ISBN   0838635644.
  39. ↑ Muir, John Kenneth (2007). Horror Films of the 1980's. McFarland & Company. p. 685. ISBN   9780786428212.
  40. ↑ Shary, Timothy (2014-05-01) [1st pub. 2002]. "The Youth Horror Film". Generation Multiplex: The Image of Youth in American Cinema after 1980 (2nd ed.). University of Texas Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN   978-0292756625.
  41. ↑ Grove, David (2005). Making Friday the 13th: The Legend of Camp Blood. United Kingdom: FAB Press. p. 152. ISBN   1-903254-31-0.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.