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A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
"Natural 20, bitch!" - Will Stanton
"Natural 20, bitch!" - Will Stanton
Riffed by Ronin Fox Trax
Riffers Ronin Fox, Anais
Series A Nightmare on Elm Street (Series)
Date Released June 24, 2009

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is a 1987 American horror movie and the third in the A Nightmare on Elm Street Series.  The film was directed by Chuck Russell and written by Wes Craven and Bruce Wagner.  Chuck Russel stars along side Robert England and Heather Langenkamp, who once again plays Nancy Thompson the protagonist from the original film.  Patrica Arquette also stars in her first feature film role.  The film was a critical and financial success, especially compared to the first sequel.  Critics and audiences in general responded well to the film returning to form with the mythology of Freddy while not being a retread of the original plot.  Some review the film negatively for introducing more comedic themes than the previous films, a decision Director Chuck Russel stands behind as neccessary.

Ronin Fox Trax released their riff of the film in June of 2009 and is available through iRiffs and Gumroad.  It was the first film in the series that they debuted on iRiffs, having never offered a free version.  It was also the first riff they released with alternate samples, including a "Redband" trailer with scenes and language that may be innapropriate for all audiences.

Synopsis and Preview[]

Ronin_Fox_Trax_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_3

Ronin Fox Trax Nightmare on Elm Street 3

[Spoilers Begin]

Kristen Parker makes a detailed paper mache model of 1428 Elm Street, and is haunted by nightmares of Freddy Krueger.  In one such dream she is awakened just as Freddy slashes her wrists.  Her mother rushes to check on her, and believes that Kristen was attempting suicide.  When her mother takes her to the hospital for treatment, Kristen fights with the staff to avoid being sedated.  In a panicked state she starts reciting the infamous Freddy nursery rhyme.  The rhyme is completed by Nancy Thompson, who appears in the door to calm Kristen down.

Kristen is admitted to a special wing of the Westin Hills Hospital, where all the patients are suffering from the same type of nightmares.  Other kids there include Phillip, a puppet-maker; Kincaid, a tough black kid archetype; Taryn, a former heroin user; Joey, a traumatized mute; Will, a roleplaying game obsessed kid in a wheelchair; and Jennifer, an aspiring actress.  They all attend regular support meetings with Dr. Neil Gordon and Dr. Elizabeth Simms, who try and convince them that their dreams are not real and are the manefestations of repressed feelings like guilt.  Nancy is hired by the hospital as a dream therepist and begins to help the kids, knowing from her own experience that their dreams are real and dangerous.  She is introduced to everyone by the hospital orderly, Max.

Ronin_Fox_Trax_A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_3_Redband_preview

Ronin Fox Trax A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Redband preview

Kristen has another nightmare, and in the middle of it she is able to call out to Nancy and pull her into the same dream.  Nancy is able to protect Kristen, but not without being noticed and recognized by Freddy.  Both of them are able to wake up safely, and Nancy attempts to convince Neil to prescribe Hypnocil, a contraversial drug that supresses dreams, to all the kids.  Neil refuses.

That night, Phillip has a nightmare of Freddy slashing his arms and legs and pulling out veins and tendons to use as puppet strings.  Freddy uses these strings to force Phillip to walk to a tall window and fall to his death.  The staff rules the death a suicide.

The next night, Jennifer convinces Max to let her stay up late watching tv, as she doesn't want to sleep after Philip's death.  She eventually nods off, and sees Freddy appear on one of the tv shows shes watching.  When she goes to the tv to investigate Freddy's arms break out of the sides of the set and his head grows out of the top.  He grabs Jennifer and kills her by smashing her head into the screen of the tv set, electocuting her.

Nancy gathers the surviving children and explains to them everything she can about Freddy Krueger, and how Kristen's ability to pull people into her dreams can help them.  She confides in them that they are the last children of the parents who killed Freddy.  Together, they all attempt a group hypnosis exercise to enter a dream state.  While in the dream, Nancy encourages them to use whatever special abilities they had in their best dreams to try and fight Freddy.  Because of this Kincaid shows himself to be super strong, Kristen is amazingly agile, Wil is able to walk and perform magic, and Taryn has the ability to wear leather with a mohawk while holding knives.  Joey wanders off from the others when he's distracted by an attractive nurse walking by.  When he is alone with her, she starts to make out with him before dropping the disguise and revealing that she was Freddy all along.  He ties Joey to a bed using giant tongues and holds him over a firey pit.  When everyone else wakes up, they find that Joey is in a coma.  Because of this, combined with the contraversial prescriptions of Hypnocil that Nancy and Neil both try and push through, both of them are fired from the hospital.

A nun named Sister mary Helena visits Neil and tells him the story of Freddy's origins before he was the Springwood Slasher.  She explains that a young female volunteer was accidentally left behind in the hospital in a room filled with the criminally insane.  She was raped, and in the process gave birth to Fred, the "Bastard son of a hundred maniacs."  She tells him the only way to stop Freddy now is to properly lay his bones to rest.  Because of this, Neil convinces Nancy to reach out to her father, Donald Thompson, the only living person who knows where Freddy's remains were left.  When they both attempt to get his help, Donald is unwilling.  He just wants to sit around and drink, still in denial that Freddy has any power after death.

Neil gets a page from Taryn and learns that Kristen was sedated after an outburst, and is now sleeping and defenseless in the quiet room.  Neil confronts Donald more forcefully and enlists his help as Nancy goes back to the hospital to see how she can help.  Nancy and the surviving kids all are able to go into the same dream but are instantly separated.  Taryn finds herself in a dirty back alley and fights Freddy valiantly until Freddy turns his fingers into syringes and injects her, causing death by heroin overdose.  Will is pulled into a hallway where he is attacked by a giant wheelchair covered with blades.  He stands strong and transforms himself into "The Wizard Master" before destroying the chair with magic.  He attacks Freddy with the same powers, but Freddy shrugs it off and stabs Wil.

Nancy, Kristin and Kincaid find eachother and are attacked by Freddy.  While the fight goes on, Neil and Donald drive into an old junkyard and find Freddy's bones.  Sensing this, Freddy leaves the dream world and possessed his dead body, reanimating it into a living skeleton that wounds Neil and kills Donald.  He returns to the dream world to continue the battle.

Donald visits Nancy in the dream world, explaining that he had crossed over, and not in the fakey John Edward way.  The two embrace, but Donald was really Freddy and he stabs Nancy with his glove.  Kristen prepares to fight Freddy on her own, but he is taken down in both worlds at the same time.  Nancy attacks him from behind, forcing him to stab himself with his own glove, while Neil is barely able to throw holy water on Freddy's bones and cover them with a cross.  Nancy and Freddy both die.

Neil attends Nancy's funeral and sees Sister Mary Helena in the cemetary.  He follows her, but loses sight of her and only finds a tombstone with the names Mary Helena and Amanda Krueger, revealing the nun to be the mother of Freddy.  The film ends with Neil going to sleep as the model of 1428 Elm Street sits on a nearby table.  A light turns on inside the model's bedroom window.

[Spoilers End]

Cast and Crew[]

  • Heather Langenkamp as Dr Nancy Thompson
  • Patrica Arquette as Kristen Parker
  • Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
  • Jennifer Rubni as Taryn White
  • Craig Wasson as Dr. Neil Gordon
  • Ken Sagoes as Roland Kincaid
  • Rodney Eastman as Joey Crusel
  • Bradley Gregg as Phillip Anderson
  • Ira Heiden as Will Stanton
  • Laurence Fishburne as Max Daniels (Credited as Larry Fishburne)
  • Penelopy Sudrow as Jennifer Caulfield
  • John Saxon as Donald Thompson
  • Priscilla Pointer as Dr. Elizabeth Simms
  • Clayton Landey as Lorenzo
  • Brooke Bundy as Elaine Parker
  • Nan Martin as Sister Mary Hellena / Amanda Krueger
  • Dick Cavett as Himself
  • Zsa Zsa Gabor as Herself

Quotes[]

Notes[]

External Links[]

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