| Nancy Thompson (a.k.a. Nancy Holbrook) |
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| A Nightmare on Elm Street character | |
Top: Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson Bottom: Rooney Mara as Nancy Holbrook |
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| Created by | Wes Craven |
| Portrayed by | Original series: (1984–1994) Heather Langenkamp Reimagined series: (2010) Rooney Mara |
| Information | |
| Full name | Original series: Nancy Thompson Reimagined series: Nancy Holbrook |
| Occupation | Original series: High school student (former) Dream researcher Psychologist Reimagined series: Waitress |
| Family | Original series: Donald "Don" Thompson (father; deceased) Marge Thompson (mother; deceased) Reimagined series: Gwendolyn "Gwen" Holbrook (mother; deceased) |
Nancy Thompson, played by Heather Langenkamp, is a fictional character from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. She is the primary protagonist; Freddy's arch-nemesis; and final girl of A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Nancy also appears in a comic book series based on the films. In the 2010 remake, the character's name is revised to Nancy Holbrook. The franchise focuses on Freddy Krueger, a supernatural serial killer who uses dreams to murder the children of the people who burned him to death as an act of vengeance. Nancy is one of these children, and the films depict her struggle to survive her dreams and defeat the killer.
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In the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nancy is a teenage girl who has begun experiencing nightmares about a mysterious, disfigured man in a red and green sweater. The man has "knives for fingers", which he scrapes along objects in the dream. She learns that her friend Tina is having similar nightmares; Tina is murdered in her sleep later that night. Tina's boyfriend Rod tells Nancy that he saw four "invisible" razors cutting her at the same time, a revelation which convinces her that the man from her dreams is connected to the murder. Nancy begins relying on caffeine to stay awake, and eventually discovers that she can pull things out of her dream after she takes the killer's hat, labelled "Fred Krueger". Her mother explains that Krueger was a child killer who was burned to death by vengeful parents after being freed from prison on a technicality. Nancy becomes convinced that he is exacting his revenge on the children of his killers from beyond the grave. With all of her friends dead, Nancy forms a plan to face Krueger alone and pull him into the real world, where he falls victim to a series of booby traps she has set up. Nancy finally defeats Krueger by taking back the energy she has given him and stripping away his power.[1]
Although Nancy does not appear in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, she maintains a presence when a new family moves into the house where she battled Freddy Krueger. Teenager Jesse Walsh, who inhabits Nancy's old room, and his girlfriend Lisa discover Nancy's old diary—which chronicles the events of the first film. It tells them of the murders of Nancy's friends, and also reveals Krueger's strengths and weaknesses. This helps Jesse and Lisa conquer Freddy in their own struggle with him.[2]
In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Nancy is re-introduced as the new intern at Westin Hills Mental Institution, where she meets the last surviving children of the parents who killed Freddy Krueger. When she realizes the children are falling victim to Freddy, Nancy begs that they be prescribed Hypnocil, an experimental drug, which she has been using to suppress her dreams, in an effort to protect the teenagers from Freddy. In a therapy session, Nancy uses hypnosis to put everybody to sleep and teach them how to use their "dream powers" to their advantage. However, she and Dr Neil Gordon are fired when Hypnocil is blamed for a patient falling into a coma. Neil and Nancy learn that in order to defeat Freddy they must lay his bones to rest; Nancy contacts her father, Donald Thompson, to find out what the town's parents did with Freddy's remains. As Neil and Donald go to bury Freddy's bones, Nancy returns to Westin Hills and rejoins the patients in the dream world, where they use their dream powers against Freddy. Freddy tricks Nancy when he appears to her as Donald, and stabs her in the abdomen with his clawed glove. After rising a final time to stab Freddy with his own glove before he can kill Kristen, Nancy dies, and Krueger disappears as Neil covers Freddy's remains in holy water and a crucifix, and buries them. Kristen then states that she intends to place Nancy into a "beautiful dream."[3] Nancy's tombstone is seen briefly in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.[4]
To some extent Nancy reappears in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. The story, which is set in the "real world", focuses on actress Heather Langenkamp being stalked by a malevolent entity. Over the course of the film, Heather learns from Wes Craven that the entity was locked in Freddy Krueger's character throughout the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. With the film series being ended after Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare the entity has been set free, and wants to cross over into the real world in the form of Freddy Krueger. It views Heather as an enemy, seeing her as Nancy, who originally defeated him. In order to battle the entity, who has kidnapped her son Dylan, Heather enters the dream world, where she traps him in a furnace and destroys him.[5] Though she only appears in flashbacks during Freddy's introduction in Freddy vs. Jason, she maintains somewhat of a presence: her former home is now occupied by Lori Campbell.
Rooney Mara portrays Nancy in the 2010 remake A Nightmare on Elm Street, where the character's surname is revised to Holbrook.[6] In the remake, Nancy's backstory is altered and connected more intimately with Freddy's; as young children, she and the other children of Springwood were victims of the paedophile school janitor Fred Krueger before their parents sought revenge on him and he later became a supernatural entity plaguing them in their dreams. Though Nancy and her love interest Quentin (Kyle Gallner) believe they have defeated Freddy, at the end of the film he returns and captures her mother (Connie Britton).
Nancy's spirit appears in the story "Asleep at the Wheel" from the 1991 short stories collection The Nightmares on Elm Street: Freddy Krueger's Seven Sweetest Dreams, appearing in the dreams of the character Ian to warn him that Freddy is real and not just an urban legend or the result of mass hysteria.[7]
While not always considered canonical to the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series, Nancy returned in the Nightmares On Elm Street six issue comic book series published by Innovation Comics in 1991. In the story, Nancy teams up with several other characters from the film series, including Neil Gordon, Jacob Johnson and Alice Johnson, to fight Freddy in his nightmare world. The events of this series were meant to fill in the time period between the A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare films. The series was written by Andy Mangels. The first two issues of the story explain to the readers about Nancy's life in between parts one and three. After the events of part one, Nancy had been sent to an institution by her father until she was "rational" again. Around the time she was in college after she was released, her father sold 1428 Elm Street to the Walsh family in Freddy's Revenge. In college, she studied psychology and sleep disorders, and made two friends in her roommates Cybil Houch and Priscilla Martin. After Nancy was fatally wounded by Freddy at the end of part three, Kristen had dreamed her soul into the Beautiful Dream, the good side of the dream world, where Nancy now acts as its agent as Freddy acts as an agent for the nightmare realm. In the story, Freddy begins targeting Cybil and Priscilla in an attempt to get to Nancy. He actually succeeds in killing Priscilla and Cybil's husband, James, before Nancy rescues Cybil. She is then reunited with Neil Gordon and the three of them realize that it might be impossible to fully destroy Freddy since he is pure evil, but it is possible to weaken him. Freddy is stopped and weakened by the dream-selves of unborn children, such as Cybil's unborn daughter, in a realm in the Beautiful Dream. The next four issues, titled Loose Ends, deals with the characters from previous Nightmare movies teaming up to defeat Freddy again. Here, Nancy is reunited with the soul of her father, who Freddy uses to try to kill her but is unsuccessful. Nancy defeats Freddy and manages to stop his plan of using Jacob Johnson to break into the real world with help from Neil Gordon and Devonne, a psychotic former accomplice of Freddy's.
Nancy makes an appearance in the final issue of the crossover comic series Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors. In a battle against Freddy Krueger, Dream Master Jacob Johnson summons the spirits of Freddy's past victims, including Amanda Krueger and the Dream Warriors. Nancy also appears, reuniting with Neil Gordon to help him read the Necronomicon's passages needed to banish Freddy. With Freddy defeated, Nancy leaves Neil and returns to the afterlife with the other spirits.[8]
Nancy Thompson is a playable character in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Released in 1989 by Monarch Software and Westwood Associates, Nancy and the Dream Warriors are on a quest to stop Freddy Krueger. As each character has a dream power, Nancy has the ability to freeze enemies.[9]
In his book Horror films of the 1980s, John Kenneth Muir[10] references Nancy Thompson, stating the following:
In his book Horror Movie Freak, Don Sumner[11] (2010) also notes how Nancy was a different "final girl" despite following the rules of avoiding sex, drugs, and juvenile behavior. He mentions that "the stereotypes of the victimized female screaming in terror and hiding in the closet do not apply to Nancy as she sets out to trap Freddy and attack him with all of the vigor of a killer herself. Her active role and anti-victim posture broke the mold of the horror heroine..." In her book Visions of the Night: Dreams, Religion, and Psychology, Kelly Bulkeley[12] compares Nancy Thompson to Dorothy Gale in Wizard of Oz in that "Nancy ultimately finds in her dreams the deep resources of personal strength to overcome an evil that the adult social world had failed to defeat." Nancy's death in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is even given some interpretation. In her book Phallic Panic: Film, Horror and the Primal Uncanny, Barbara Creed [13] notes that as "Nancy embraces her father's/Freddy's body and tells him that she has always loved him she is torn apart by his finger-blades. The point is that it is dangerous for children to want the love of their parents--disappointment, even death, is the final result."
The documentary The Making of Nightmare on Elm Street features a segment concerning the casting of Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson. According to Sara Risher, Langenkamp was chosen because Wes Craven wanted a "young girl who was smart-looking, obviously pretty, vulnerable, but clearly had a good head on her shoulders." Langenkamp herself said that she identified with Nancy Thompson the most, stating that Nancy "had a great sense that she could solve problems without anybody's help at all. I try to be like her, actually." In the same documentary, Langenkamp also characterizes Nancy as the "good girl" whereas the Tina Gray character is contrasted as giving the feeling that "she wasn't going to make it."
In her documentary I Am Nancy, Heather Langenkamp laments how Freddy Krueger became an iconic character while Nancy Thompson disappeared into the background. To explore why this phenomenon occurred, Langenkamp visits six horror conventions, and tries to discern why the villain became the celebrated figure. After interviewing several attendees, Langenkamp learns that while Nancy Thompson's impact on fans is subtle, she still represents strength and intelligence in the hearts and minds of many. For the advertising campaign, campaign buttons were given out that displayed "I am Nancy". A Facebook page allowed Nancy fans to share their artwork, photographs, and sentiments about the character. The film won a Best Editing Award at the Amsterdam Film Festival. In addition to interviewing Nancy fans, the documentary also features interviews with Wes Craven, Robert Englund and Jessica Craven (Wes Craven's daughter). Langenkamp learned from Craven that:
When developing her documentary, Langenkamp also learned that Nancy Thompson is considered a gay icon. Although Nancy Thompson is heterosexual, Langenkamp shared her theories of why gay and lesbian audience members would be drawn to the character:
Even today, Nancy Thompson remains integral to the Nightmare on Elm Street mythos. In the short film "KRUEGER (A tale from Elm Street)", produced by Chris .R. Notarile and Blinky Productions, it is established why Freddy Krueger was so fixated on Nancy Thompson. The film revolves around Donald Thompson interrogating Freddy Krueger for the murders he has committed. Nancy becomes an unconventional bargaining tool that seals Donald Thompson's doom.[15]
In Wes Craven's original script for A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nancy Thompson was initially named Nancy Wilson. In the scene in which Tina, Nancy, and Glen are at Tina's house, Nancy describes a dream in which Freddy Krueger leered at her obscenely. Soon afterwards, when conversing with Glen, Nancy shows an earlier interest (at least when compared to the actual film) into why her and Tina dreamed of the same individual. While Nancy's character differs little than the actual film, the original script has scenes that emphasize her headstrong nature.[16]
The biggest change was in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors script.[17] Nancy was closer to her personality in the first film. She was not a dream researcher, nor did she have the mature and calm demeanor portrayed in the actual film. Instead, Nancy was brazen and street smart—at times heading straight into a potentially dangerous situation. Nancy's stubbornness was evident in that she had traveled through five states in search of her missing father, Donald Thompson (named "John" in the script). When first attacked by Freddy Krueger, Nancy tried to physically fend him off with her bare hands—despite being shocked from dreaming again after a five-year time period. This contrasts with the actual film, in which she used a broken mirror shard to injure Freddy. While Nancy cared about the Westin Hill patients, the age disparity between her and the teenagers was not as emphasized. In fact, some of the teenaged patients and hospital workers initially mistake Nancy for a patient. Thus, Nancy was not written as acting maternal. Instead, Nancy acts more like a big sister to the patients. There are instances in which Nancy fights back against the medical authorities, dismissing Dr. Neil Gordon's (named Neil Guinness in the original script) insistence that she has Delayed Stress Syndrome. As with the first movie, Nancy dismisses any attacks on her sanity—as she knows that Freddy Krueger is real.
With regard to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Heather Langenkamp stated her viewpoints about Nancy Thompson's characterization:
In an early script for the 2010 remake, Nancy Holbrook is portrayed as the opposite of Nancy Thompson. Even though Nancy is present at a party, she is a wallflower that prefers to drink her beer in seclusion. In her initial scenes, especially at Dean's funeral, Nancy Holbrook is portrayed as a nervous person that chips the dried paint from underneath her fingernails. She shies away from confrontations, even though she knows what Kris Fowles means when Kris describes seeing four slashes to Jesse Braun. Yet, Nancy shows a tough side when she headbutts Jesse in surprise. The original script is meaningful in that it has a teenaged Nancy confront her child self in the film's conclusion. It juxtaposes the teenaged Nancy's attempts to escape Freddy Krueger in the dreamworld. This gives Nancy the strength to pull Freddy into the real world, and proceed to beat him with a baseball bat before setting him on fire again. This differs from the actual film in that Nancy takes a more active approach in defending herself from Freddy's assaults.
When casting for the film, producer Brad Fuller felt they would be doing a disservice to the character by casting a buxom blonde actress. As he stated:
Mara clarifies earlier reports that Nancy was gothic, stating that the character should not be pigeonholed based upon her attire. Although she is highly respectful of Langenkamp's performance, Mara noted how the remake differed from the original:
She even discussed director Samuel Bayer's conception of the character:
In the first shot of Nancy, she is wearing a high school jacket with her dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Throughout the movie, her hair gets a white streak after her nightmares. She usually sleeps in her trademark white pajamas although the original (and German release) poster depicts her as sleeping naked.[21][22] Originally terrified through her experiences, she later grows courage throughout the movie which helps her defeat Freddy. Most of Nancy's outfits have a trace of pink, ranging from her sweater vest to her sleeping attire at the sleep clinic.
In the third movie, her hair is much lighter and more curly—though the gray streak is still evident. Nancy's outfit at the film's conclusion looks similar to the one worn during her first encounter with Freddy Krueger. Nancy is once again wearing something pink and knitted with tannish slacks. Her trademark white pajamas appear at the end of Wes Craven's New Nightmare. They are slightly different as this time they are long sleeved (with the sleeves rolled up) and do not feature any design on the chest. In this movie she has much darker hair than she did in Dream Warriors. Again, she gets a white streak in her hair and requires a bandage in the same place where Freddy sliced her in the original Nightmare, making her appearance in this movie much more similar (than in the third movie) to her appearance in the first movie.
For Nancy Holbrook, there is a different style and appearance altogether. In the film, the only time that Nancy is wearing pink is when Freddy has her wear a dress similar to her childhood outfit. Perhaps to complement Nancy Holbrook's withdrawn demeanor, her outfits are in solid colors — with a brown shade that complements her dark hair. In contrast to Nancy Thompson, Nancy Holbrook wears boots throughout the remake. Although there are moments when Nancy Holbrook pins her hair back similarly to Nancy Thompson, Nancy Holbrook often lets her hair cover her face.
Nancy Thompson is the only character featured in several A Nightmare on Elm Street merchandise. Kristen Parker is only featured in Screen Grabs: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (a diorama released by Mezco Toys in 2007). Debbie, in mid-transformation as a cockroach, is featured as a Cinema of Fear 4 action figure (released by Mezco Toys in 2009).
In 2008, Mezco Toyz Cinema of Fear Series 2 released a Nancy Thompson action figure—which recreates the famous bathtub scene in the original film. Within the same year, the Mezco Toyz Cinema of Fear Series 2 also released the diorama Screen Grabs: A Nightmare on Elm Street. The diorama recreates the bedroom scene in which Freddy creeps along the wall above a sleeping Nancy. McFarlane Pop Culture Masterworks released an A Nightmare on Elm Street 3-D poster, with Nancy featured prominently as the central figure. In 2002, NECA released an A Nightmare on Elm Street Snowglobe. The female within the globe resembles Nancy, with a stalking Freddy Krueger forming the globe's outside base. However, the product information never confirms if it is actually the character. In 2004, NECA also released a lunchbox and thermos set with the poster image from A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Since May 2011, there has been an online petition for manufacturers to create a Nancy Thompson doll. When compared to the existing movie merchandise, it is assumed that the desired doll would stand alone (without a stalking Freddy Krueger).[23]
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