Nightmare On Elm Street Star Heather Langenkamp Wants To Star In One Last Sequel
It doesn't matter how many times a slasher villain dies, they will return. Even if a long-running film series has been stretched past the point of credulity, the villain will somehow be back. "Friday the 13th" has traversed Jason Voorhees' constant returns with little explanation, eventually clarifying that he is possessed by a demon (if one prefers "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday") or that he is afflicted with a rare medical condition that allows his cells to spontaneously regenerate (if one prefers "Jason X"). "Halloween," meanwhile, has allowed Michael Myers' constant return by incessantly rebooting itself. At last count, there are at least five separate continuities across 13 "Halloween" movies.
In 1994, Wes Craven cleverly introduced an in-film reason for Freddy Krueger — the undead, claw-handed dream demon from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" — to constantly return. In "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," the filmmaker appears as himself to explain that Freddy is an ancient demon who is usually contained safely within fiction. If, however, Freddy dies or his movies become too cliché, he'll become abstract evil once again. In such a state, he will be able to manifest himself back into existence, if not in a story, then in the real world. That is Freddy's prerogative as a fictional construct. "New Nightmare" is, really, one of the best slasher movies ever made.
In the film, Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in the original, plays herself, stalked by Freddy in the real world. Robert Englund and New Line Cinema head Bob Shea also appear as themselves. Terrifyingly, Freddy is also credited as himself. And while that was the last time Nancy and Freddy faced off on screen, Langenkamp hasn't given up hope for one final showdown.
Where did we leave Freddy?
Langenkamp previously played the role of Nancy in the original 1984 "Nightmare" and the 1987 sequel "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors." In the original film, Freddy Krueger, a vicious child murderer, had been killed years before by a vigilante mob of angry parents after he was released from court on a technicality. They burned him alive. Somehow, Freddy moved into the dreams of the neighborhood's youths, and was able to continue his murdering supernaturally. Nancy was the only one clever enough to full Freddy back into the real world and kill him off once and for all. Of course, as happens in dreams, the death was inconclusive.
In "Dream Warriors," Langenkamp, now in her 20s, returned to consult with a group of teenagers in a mental hospital who are now being haunted by Freddy. She arms them with the knowledge they need to defeat the demon. Apart from Englund, Langenkamp is the one actor most closely associated with the "Nightmare" series, and Nancy has emerged as one of the franchise's central heroes.
David Gordon Green's "Halloween Ends" due for release on October 14, and it will see the final confrontation between Michael Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode. Inspired by the "final confrontation" mentality of the film, Langenkamp feels inspired. In a recent interview on Entertainment Tonight (via Bloody Disgusting), Langenkamp wanted to follow suit, returning to the series in her 50s for Nancy to confront the demon that has been with her for her whole life.
One final nightmare
One might argue that "New Nightmare," in peeling back the myth of Freddy and making a metacommentary on slasher movies was the final word on the matter. Recall, though, that Freddy did indeed return in Ronny Yu's 2003 entertaining monster mash-up movie "Freddy vs. Jason." That film also borrowed the conceit that Freddy would vanish if he was forgotten, and the story involved Freddy goading Jason into committing murders in his name so that he could regain his dream powers. Then, in 2010, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was rebooted by director Samuel Bayer with Jackie Earle Haley as the monster. Restarting a concluded story is de rigueur, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has trained audiences to accept that most stories will never end. So Langenkamp's idea to make a ninth "Nightmare" is not so far-fetched. she said:
"If Nancy could fight Freddy one last time, I would really like that. Gosh, I'd love to see a future in that. I've been really watching the 'Halloween' saga that's been out, and I love watching Jamie Lee Curtis get to play that part. You know, this age, where I think we have so much to give to those storylines. But yeah, I wish I was in control of that, but, unfortunately, it's one of those Hollywood very complicated things."
Currently, the rights to Freddy Krueger belong to the Wes Craven estate which acquired them in 2019, four years after Craven's death. And future "Nightmare" movies would have to be cleared with Craven's family, as well as with Warner Bros. who currently holds distribution on the "Nightmare" movies. It is, as Langenkamp says, very complicated.
But not necessarily impossible. As we know, Freddy doesn't like being forgotten.