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(How Do YOU Halloween?) A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: Alice in Nightmareland Deserves Her Flowers

By. Davalyn Baker

By the time I developed a conscious, A Nightmare on Elm Street was considered the cult classic series that was known more for its over-the-top, campy death scenes that feature funny one-liners by the series’ antagonist Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) than it was for the actual frights and scares of the first film, created by director, Wes Craven. In fact, unlike most kids that loved watching horror in the 90s, my first experience with Freddy was the syndicated brief-lived anthology horror series Freddy’s Nightmares. At this point, my memory is fuzzy, blurred and darkened by time and age, but what I can remember is there being a moment when those red and green stripes appeared on the television mimicking the SMPTE color bars.

Those combined colors terrified me and my cousin, who had to be in his late teens at the time promised nothing would happen to me and sent me off to bed but eventually had to give in and come join me in the room to comfort me because those colors didn’t sit well with me. I had to be about four or five years old because I do remember the world around me feeling incredibly large and almost everything seemed like a threat.

Especially Freddy.

Later, my first Freddy film was the fourth installment, The Dream Master, and this film introduced one of the most underrated final girls in horror: Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox). Alice’s storyline and development get ignored when the talks of final girls start, mainly because both 4 and 5 in the Nightmare on Elm Street installments are widely disregarded as the biggest disappointments in the series. I think that’s an unfair assumption considering The Dream Master and The Dream Child is what really put Freddy Krueger at his cult icon status. The films were ridiculous, the deaths campy, and most people watched the films rooting for the villain and his over-the-top kills. The final installments (not including The Final Nightmare, even I have standards) are fun and proof that suspending belief is the key to enjoying a movie about a nightmare demon terrorizing teenagers. Robert Englund gets top billing – was anyone going to see the films in the 80s for anyone other than Freddy? Although the series gets sillier and Freddy provides comic relief with his kills, he does get meaner and colder towards his victims as well. Some of the more physically gruesome kills happen in The Dream Master and The Dream Child which involve a woman being turned into her biggest fear – a cockroach or another scene where a woman is being force-fed her internal organs. So yes, Freddy is hilarious, but he takes his evil to frightening levels.

And neither one of these films is Freddy’s Dead, okay?

In many ways, Alice has all the characteristics that would be considered anti-final girl. She starts as a mousy hanger-on, who doesn’t have much of a personality. This isn’t an insult, it’s intentional. Alice spends most of her time daydreaming where she is more outspoken, flirting with her crush Dan or standing up to her alcoholic father. She carries the torch in the battle against Freddy when Kristen Parker (originally Patricia Arquette and newly Tuesday Knight), the last of the Elm Street children, is finally murdered by Freddy. As the story progresses, Alice becomes more confident and secure with herself, but it happens at the cost of her close friends and her brother, Rick. Although it’s mainly out of survival, Alice blossoms and defeats Freddy not once but twice. And unlike Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), Alice manages to escape Freddy’s power and clutches with her son, father, and best friend, Yvonne (Kelly Jo Minter).

Freddy's got jokes, but Michael Myers has thirteen movies' worth of questionable decisions to answer for. Bee Delores put herself through the entire HALLOWEEN franchise in three days and came back with ten lessons, including a spirited defense of Rachel Carruthers and some choice words for HALLOWEEN 5.

Because of my history with the movie, I have a soft spot for The Dream Master. The first Freddy kill I ever witnessed was Freddy attacking Sheila (Toy Newkirk) in trigonometry class with the proposition of “Wanna’ suck face?” Sheila’s response is a fierce “No,” but Freddy is the villain. A child killer is not going to care about someone’s consent. He sucks the complete life from Sheila which results in it looking like an asthma attack in real life. It terrified me as a child, I remember turning off the television and deciding I wasn’t quite ready for Freddy. It would take becoming a teenager and watching far more gruesome movies to finally venture into the world of Springwood, Ohio, and the Elm Street kids but it’s been a blast.

Despite the criticisms, The Dream Master and The Dream Child are fun movies. I think that the writers worked with the content they had and gave Alice Johnson her own standalone story. Alice is someone that had to learn how to stand on her own two feet, because she lost her protectors. In her follow-up story, she is the protector when she becomes pregnant with her son, Jacob, upping the stakes for survival. It’s an original idea and despite any inconsistencies or plot holes, the movies are a great watch. All you have to do is strap yourself in and enjoy the ride! Lisa Wilcox spoke openly about how she read the script and saw so much of herself in Alice, claiming it as her favorite role. Alice is empowering and tough, but she earned her top spot in the fight against Freddy. She lost her core group of friends, her brother, the love of her life and instead of giving up, it only makes her stronger. There’s a beautiful story of willpower, courage, and finding your voice in Alice Johnson.

Unlike most people, I enjoy the entirety of the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Every first of October, I get in bed on a Saturday and watch the entire series. My grandmother introduced me to Freddy, she thought he was hilarious. As a kid, I thought she was crazy for finding the humor in these films. But I get it now.

And if you want to have a great time for a few hours on a Saturday, you’ll get it too. A Nightmare on Elm Street 1-5 is currently playing on HBO Max and Freddy’s Nightmares is currently on TUBI (for free!)

Some horror traditions are best shared with the people who understand why you're laughing. Pleatherface found his people at a midnight screening of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, where shouting at the screen and doing the Time Warp are all part of the experience. His How Do YOU Halloween? essay is a love letter to the beautifully weird community that keeps the tradition alive.