Elm Street: The Last Nightmare is a 2019 American slasher film and a direct sequel to A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) that serves as a homage to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). The film is directed by James Wan and is written by David Leslie Johnson, who both collaborated on The Conjuring Universe.
The film stars Heather Langenkamp who returns to the series as Nancy Thompson. The film also stars Bailee Madison, Maude Apatow, Dylan Minnette, Skyler Gisondo, Claudia Lee, Logan Miller, Haley Lu Richardson, Jon Bernthal, John Saxon, Jonah Bobo and Robert Englund who also returns as Freddy Kruger.
The film was released on November 8, 2019 and was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.
The film deals with Nancy Thompson, now a successful author of a self help book which forces the town of Springwood to forget about Freddy Kruger haunting everyone in their sleep. But a brutal act of violence concocted by a bullied teen resurrects Kruger, causing a domino effect of deaths to a group of high schoolers who caused the boy's humiliation as Nancy and her family including her teenage daughter join forces to stop him once and for all
The film received positive reviews from critics and fans of the original 1984 film who deemed it as the best sequel to the Nightmare series and praised Heather Langenkamp's tour-de-force performance as Nancy. As a result, Elm Street: The Last Nightmare became a major box office smash, grossing in over $455 million dollars, making it the highest grossing film in the series since 2003's Freddy Vs. Jason.
Plot
The film opens up on the ending of A Nightmare On Elm Street after Nancy defeats Freddy Kruger, Nancy slowly walks out of her house as police enter the scene of Marge's death and collapses on the lawn outside as the sun begins to rise. Elsewhere at a ranch house far from Springwood, a pregnant woman painfully gives birth to a baby boy who mysteriously but gorily claws it's way out of her stomach with a razor bladed glove similar to Freddy's glove, implying that Freddy is far from finished with Nancy.
18 years later in 2003, Nancy becomes a famed writer of a self help book titled "Forget About The Nightmares, Dream Of The Good Things" which became number 1 on the best seller list.16 years later in 2019, Nancy is now in her late 40's and had retired as a writer and became a guidance counselor at Springwood High School. She becomes a go to counselor for students like Casey Walker, the school's social butterfly and blogger.
Cast
- Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson-Walsh: The survivor of the first film. Some time after the first film, she became a successful novelist and her book "Forget About The Nightmares, Dream Of The Good Things" became an overnight sensation and was placed on the best seller list. After retiring from her career, she became a guidance counselor at Springwood High School.
- Bailee Madison as Casey Walker: The new protagonist of the film and Springwood High's notorious blogger.
- Skyler Gisondo as Trey Friar: The boyfriend of Casey Walsh.
- Jonah Bobo as Jake Hearst: A classmate of Casey who gets pushed to the boiling point due to a prank pulled on him, causing him to resurrect Freddy before selling his soul to him in exchange for revenge. He serves as the secondary antagonist of the film.
- John Saxon as Donald Thompson: The retired police chief of Springwood who is Nancy's father and now committed to Westin'
- Jon Bernthal as Lee Burroughs/Robert Kruger: The sheriff of Springwood police and the father of Abby who holds a secret to Freddy's past.
- Robert Englund as Freddy Kruger: The film's antagonist
- Haley Lu Richardson as Bailey White: Marcus's ex-girlfriend and the most popular girl at Springwood High
- Logan Miller as Marcus Daniels: Jake Hearst's bully and Bailey's ex-boyfriend
- Claudia Lee as Alice Mitchell: A student of Springwood of
- Maude Apatow as Abigail "Abby" Burroughs: Casey's best friend and the daughter of Sheriff Lee Burroughs
- Dylan Minnette as Ricky Stevens: Marcus's second in command and boyfriend to Abby