A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

October 4, 2021

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Film and Plot Synopsis

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors picks up a year after the events of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Teenager Kristen Parker is relentlessly pursued in her dreams by Freddy Krueger. When her mother mistakes an injury that she received in her dream as a suicide attempt, Kristen is placed in a psychiatric hospital with other troubled teenagers. In the hospital, she meets Nancy Thompson, the lone survivor of the first Elm Street film. Nancy and Kristen rally the other kids in the hospital to combat Freddy in his dream world as the dream warriors that they can be. But will it be enough to stop the deceased child killer?

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’ Movie Summary

The summary below contains spoilers.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

It is 1987, approximately one year after the events of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Teenager Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette) dreams that she is being relentlessly pursued by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). She manages to wake herself up and goes to the bathroom. Once there, she realizes that she is still in the dream and is attacked by Freddy, who causes her to slice her wrist with a straight razor. Kristen survives the encounter, but Kristen’s mother Elaine (Brooke Bundy) believes that Kristen is suicidal. Elaine commits her to the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital where she is placed under the care of Dr. Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson).

At the hospital, Kristen still fears for her life if she falls asleep and fights with the orderlies who try to sedate her. However, the new intern therapist, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), calms her down. Nancy earns Kristen’s trust by reciting part of Freddy’s nursery rhyme that Nancy remembers from her experience with Freddy in the first film. A short time later, Nancy is introduced to the rest of Dr. Gordon’s patients. Phillip Anderson (Bradley Gregg) is a habitual sleepwalker. Roland Kincaid (Ken Sagoes) has serious anger management issues and constantly gets into fights. Will Stanton (Ira Heiden) is confined to a wheelchair due to a prior suicide attempt. Jennifer Caulfield (Penelope Sudrow) is an aspiring actress who constantly burns herself with cigarettes. Taryn White (Jennifer Rubin) is a recovering drug addict. The youngest of the group is Joey Crusel (Rodney Eastman) who is so traumatized that he is unable to speak.

One night at the hospital, Kristen is attacked in her dreams by Freddy. However, she unwittingly pulls Nancy into her dream which allows both to escape. Once back in the real world, Kristen explains that she has had the ability to pull people into her dreams since she was a young girl. Kristen and Nancy’s escape causes Freddy to focus on the other patients in the hospital. Over the next two nights, Freddy throws Phillip off a roof after making him dream that he is a puppet and kills Jennifer by smashing her head into a television.

His name is Freddy Krueger. He was a child murderer before he died, and after he died… well, he became something worse. Nancy Thompson

Soon after, Nancy reveals that the patients in the group are the last of the Elm Street kids, the surviving children of the people who joined together to kill Freddy when he was alive years before. Dr. Gordon and Nancy encourage the remaining patients to attempt group hypnosis so they can experience a shared dream. Once in the dream, they each discover their dream powers. However, Joey wanders off in the dream world and is captured by Freddy. Freddy does not kill him, but prevents him from awakening, which leaves him comatose in the real world. As a result, Dr. Gordon and Nancy are terminated from the hospital.

A short time later, Dr. Gordon is approached by Sister Mary Helena (Nan Martin) who tells him that Freddy is the son of Amanda Krueger, a woman on the hospital staff who was accidentally locked in a room with hundreds of mental patients who took turns raping her continually. Sister Mary tells Dr. Gordon that the only way to stop Freddy is to lay his bones to rest in a grave. Dr. Gordon and Nancy approach Officer Donald Thompson (John Saxon), Nancy’s father, and ask him where the vigilante parents hid Freddy’s remains. However, Officer Thompson refuses to help them. Nancy rushes back to the hospital after she learns that Kristen has been sedated, but Dr. Gordon remains with Officer Thompson in order to convince him to help them.

Once at the hospital, Nancy convinces the other remaining patients to participate in group hypnosis again to help Kristen while she is sedated. However, when they are hypnotized, Freddy separates them. Freddy kills Taryn and Will, but Kristen, Nancy, and Kincaid find each other. The trio finds and rescues Joey. However, they are not able to defeat Freddy even with their dream powers due to Freddy becoming too powerful. Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon convinces Officer Thompson to show him where the remains are. In the dream world, Freddy senses that the remains have been found. Freddy takes possession of his own skeleton in the real world and kills Officer Thompson before incapacitating Dr. Gordon.

Subsequently, Freddy returns to the dream world and attacks Nancy and the others. The silent Joey uses his dream power voice to send Freddy away. Nancy sees her father who tells her that he is crossing over. However, Officer Thompson is revealed to be Freddy in disguise. Freddy stabs Nancy and prepares to kill Kristen, but Nancy rises up and stabs Freddy with his own glove. Dr. Gordon awakens in the real world and places Freddy’s bones into a hole. He then douses them with holy water and drops in a prayer cross. The act appears to destroy Freddy in the dream world. Nancy dies from her wounds. Kristen holds onto her as she passes and promises to dream her into a beautiful dream.

At Nancy’s funeral, Dr. Gordon sees Sister Mary in attendance and attempts to follow her to talk to her. He loses sight of her in the cemetery but finds a tombstone that reveals that Sister Mary has been dead for some time. Additionally, the tombstone reveals Sister Mary’s original name of Amanda Krueger, Freddy’s mother. That night, Dr. Gordon goes to sleep at home with Kristen’s miniature version of Nancy’s Elm Street house on his nightstand. As he falls asleep, the lights go on in the little house symbolizing that Freddy is not truly gone.