PopHorror Let's Get Scared
As a kid in the ’80s, I grew up on the south side of Chicago. My mother had me when she was only 17, which ultimately meant that we both had to grow up together. My mother was the hardest working woman I know. She was my first hero in life… and my second was Nancy Thompson.
Growing up, I didn’t have many strong female role models to look up to. I had nobody to really guide me, and I had to bare witness to a lot of things that a young child shouldn’t have to see. However, I have no regrets about the way I was raised. Without my parents being so young and so busy trying to make ends meet, I would have never met the fictional character Nancy Thompson.
One night when I as 4 years-old, my mom was working a midnight shift, leaving me with my dad. He was beyond exhausted from work, so he sat me in front of HBO to watch A Nightmare On Elm Street: Dream Warriors (1987)… Nancy Thompson appeared on screen, and a 30 year bond was instantly formed!
In case you didn’t know, Nancy was the main heroine of Wes Craven’s horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street. You know, that flick starring the guy who looked like a burnt-up weenie. The psycho with the infamous Christmas sweater, the brown fedora, and the world’s sharpest fingernails… Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). The real star of the movie isn’t that beloved villain we all know, but it is actually Nancy Thompson, played by Heather Langenkamp.
The movie starts with Nancy as a 15 year-old girl having re-occurring nightmares. Come to find out, her friends were also having the same horrible dreams, all starring the same evil, burnt-up adversary. Suddenly, Nancy’s friends start dying in their sleep, and her parents treat her as if she is a mental patient. She starts to question her own sanity… that is, until she pulls the guy’s hat out of her dream.
There is no denying it. Nancy’s mother realizes she must tell her daughter the truth, that years ago, that a fedora-wearing, knifed glove-wielding, filthy child murderer was arrested for killing 20 kids, but got off on a technicality, so the parents of the town burned him alive. Nancy now knows she isn’t crazy, and she figures out that the teens are paying for their parents’ sins. In the end, she finds herself isolated, realizing all she has is herself if she wants to survive. Nancy uses her wit and courage to be the ultimate final girl, defeating Freddy Krueger in the end.
No, seriously, go back and watch it… the films are not about Freddy, your favorite fun pal of the ’80s who even had his own merchandise: kids’ pajamas, a talking doll, and even a 900 number. A Nightmare on Elm Street is a true survival story! The tale of a young woman who, when backed into a corner and left all alone, realizes that, in the end, she is all she needs. She not only survives, but kicks Freddy’s ass!
I grew up my whole life repeating the “Be Nancy” mantra. I was severely bullied, depressed and even suicidal. I felt I had nobody in the world, and every day was a living hell. I had my long ponytail cut in science class, my shoes tied together on the bus, nobody to eat lunch with and was terrorized every day by the bullies. Every day I wanted to kill myself, but what stopped me was Nancy.
My home life was no better. My mom was always working, and my dad was both verbally and physically abusive. I felt I had nobody in my life who cared about me. But Nancy Thompson cared. Nancy was my best friend and my hero. I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street once a day and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors twice a day, every day, for 10 years. I wanted to be Nancy with all her strength and beauty, and her courage to stand up for herself. She was a real bad ass! I knew that when I grew up, this was who I would aspire to be. My cousins and I would re-enact the mirror scene from Dream Warriors, falling off our Grandma’s couch. I would make all my friends walk the streets, holding hands singing the Elm Street song. I was their leader. We were the Union Ave. Dream Warriors, and I was Nancy. I could be Nancy.
I will never forget the day my dad took me to see Wes Cravens New Nightmare when I was 9 years-old. My grandfather had just passed away, and other than Nancy Thompson, he was the most important person in my life. Between that and the constant bullying I received both at school and at home, I sunk into a deeper depression. What started to pull me out of it was that my hero, Nancy Thompson, was returning to the Nightmare universe. I sat in that packed theater as the only kid staring at the giant screen, watching as my hero came onscreen and defeated Freddy for the last time.
Nancy brought me such strength. For whatever reason, I have always held on to that “Be Nancy” spirit. I never knew what it was called. It didn’t have a name. It was a feeling that I was not alone in the world, and that I could do anything I put my mind to. When you meet a monster – whether in your dreams or in real life – you have the power to turn your back on it, to take its power away and show that it doesn’t affect you. You diminish it. It’s nothing, it’s shit!
I have also learned that when times are hard for others, you should be there for them. You can help guide them by leading the warriors to the pit of Hell, protect them, let them learn from you, and then in the end, die on the sword to save them. After all, in the end, you must allow the next generation of warriors to go on.
So, I ask you, who wouldn’t look up to that?
In 2014 when my own Freddy came haunting my dreams, I thought that was going to be it for me. Note that by this time, “Be Nancy” had been coined by my friend, Jude Herdman, in the amazing documentary, I Am Nancy. I didn’t have the “Be Nancy” spirit in my head. I didn’t have the strength to fight, but my fellow dream warriors lent me their strength. They lifted me up when I couldn’t stand, and one particular dream warrior by the name of Heather told me to fight on, to not give in… that I truly am Nancy!
Almost dying changes you as a person. It shakes you to the core. It changes every fiber of your being and makes you realize what is important in your life. I believe I was saved, not only by a team of highly trained surgeons, but by Nancy Thompson herself, and the “Be Nancy” spirit we all should have. I think knowing I had people rooting for me made me fight to survive, and made me determined to not go into that beautiful dream.
I live every moment of my life knowing that if I had not seen A Nightmare on Elm Street at 4 years-old, or grew up with Nancy as my role model, I would not have the life I have today. In fact, I know I wouldn’t be alive today! I would not have the friends, the boyfriend, the career or the strength that I have. Nancy Thompson has had the greatest impact in my life, more than anything else in this world. Nancy Thompson saved my life… and for that, she will always be my hero!
I am so thankful to be a real-life Final Girl and for the “Be Nancy” spirit that got me there.
What can I say? “I’m into survival…”
Writer and Director of Don’t Fall Asleep: The Untold Nancy Thompson Story.
Creator and Director of FredHeads: the Documentary.
