Editorials
Celebrating ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’ 28th Anniversary!
Twenty-eight years later, the message behind Chuck Russell’s 1987 cult classic A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors still rings clear: parents need to listen to their kids. The second feature, Freddy’s Revenge, gets sidetracked using Krueger as a metaphor for the person inside of Jesse, desperate to get out, and loses steam when it breaks its own rules and has Fred out in the open, roaming a pool party instead of dreamland. The third installment, however, puts the fear back in Freddy, by getting back to basics, and reiterating the lesson that the original film sought to teach — the consequences of pushing a child’s concerns aside; and dismissing their woes as immature and fleeting.
As the opening credits roll, we dream Dream Warrior Patricia Arquette using the power of cocoa powder, soda, Dokken, and paper mache to stop herself from nodding off. It’s quite obvious that this isn’t the first time sweet little Kristen has used this questionable combination to stay awake, and as her mother enters her room all dressed up and ticked off, it soon becomes clear that this also doesn’t mark the first time her mom has come home late. When her mother, Elaine, demands an explanation for her antics, Kristen reveals that she’s only trying to avert her bad dreams, and the man with the burnt face that waits for her in the realm beyond consciousness. It’s obvious that Elaine has heard this all before, and she has much more important matters to attend to, like the man she’s brought home, waiting downstairs, calling to her to join him in drunken negligence. Despite her pleas, Kristen’s mother leaves her in darkness, doomed to meet the shadowy figure with razor fingers yet again, who’ll steal her sleep, and her youth.
Kristen’s latest dream puts her in her own bathroom, where Freddy smiles back at her from her mirror. Suddenly, her appliances spring to life, as her sink begins to grow, and razors pop out from the handles, and, to her horror, extend like arms reaching out to grab her. As Kristen screams in sheer terror, she awakens, and sees her mother entering the bathroom. As reality settles, we see what’s really been happening, or at least what Kristen’s mother sees: Kristen, wrists slit, holding a razor, and crying for help. As soon as her little outburst occurs, Kristen’s mother ships her off to the psych ward, where she meets other teens like herself, who also suffer from terrible nightmares. At the first sign of real trouble, Elaine throws her hands up in the air, abandons her responsibilities, and blames the victim, by concurring that Kristen has brought all of this drama on herself, and therefore can only fix it herself. While it is true that Kristen must find the strength within her own mind to conquer the demons that plagues her thoughts, without the aid of another, she’ll be just like the rest of the poor souls Krueger has claimed: paralyzed in fear and unable to shake herself awake.
Enter Nancy Thompson; the sole survivor of Fred Krueger. She may have been absent in the second film, but Nancy returns to the third installment with a role that’s both appropriate and necessary, as the helping hand. Through the use of booby traps and bravery, Nancy managed to outsmart Krueger in the past, and now she’s back to teach other kids how to do the same. Although she starts as the intern at the ward, it’s not long before she’s helping the children work through their fears, simply because she’s the only one who will take their issues seriously. Kids are dying left and right, but the other authority figures keep ignoring their cries and sedating them, only further putting them in harm’s way. It’s not until Nancy steps in and begins listening to the kids that things begin to change for the better.
Slowly, as Nancy ushers in the aid of Doctor Neil Gordon, the origin story of Freddy Krueger is revealed, as the ghost of Fred’s mother, Amanda Krueger, tells of how she was kidnapped and tortured many moons ago. While she was working as a nun at the institution, Amanda was accidentally locked in with the rest of the maniacs over the holidays, and was viciously raped hundreds of times, until she was pregnant with evil himself. Upon her rescue, she gave birth to Freddy, who went on to wreak havoc and ruin countless lives, just as his fathers had before him. However, this startling revelation isn’t the only expansion that Dream Warriors adds to the franchise. Not only does the third installment offer a background for its infamous villain, but it also shows the true strength of his powers. Freddy’s been known to play with people’s dreams, and distort the R.E.M. cycle to his liking, within the parameters of a dream world, but the third film is the first time that he uses his skills on dry land, so to speak. Sure, there’s been cliffhanger endings, that leave the film open for a sequel and leave the viewers to debate what really happened, but for the most part, Freddy never displayed real power in actual reality until he exerts force at the junk yard. As he causes the cars around Neil and Nancy’s dad Donald to come to life, Freddy’s bones gather and rise, creating a walking skeleton that attacks the men, proving that he not just the ghost of a man who was burned alive, but the spirit of evil, living on long beyond the afterlife. This doesn’t just make the series more frightening again, but it also gives the franchise room to grow.
Even with these major accomplishments, Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont still aren’t done. The writing duo also use Dream Warriors to hand over the torch to a new female lead, and declare Kristen the new lead of the franchise of the house that Freddy built. With Nancy’s passing, as she dies romantically in Freddy’s arms; for they always were characteristic of dramatic lovers, Kristen is placed on the throne in her place, as Craven’s newest Scream Queen. It’s a shame that Arquette didn’t come back to revive the role in the fourth film, but Kristen lives on, regardless.
After all of the other gems that Dream Warriors offers, there’s one last theory that it subtly tosses around. Nancy tells the little warriors that they’re the last of the Elm Street children, and that’s why Freddy Krueger makes appearances in all of their dreams. Aside from the severity of their nightmares, most of the kids are dealing with their own individual problems, too. Taryn is an ex-junkie, Will is paralyzed from the waist down, and Joey hasn’t spoken in years. What if these kids all experienced a traumatizing childhood that led to their demise because their parents were part of the ones that helped to burn Fred Krueger alive years ago? Maybe the reason why Kristen’s mom drinks and brings home strange men is because she, too, can’t cope with her nightmares. She can’t forgive herself for what she’s done, and neither can the rest of the parents, and as they slowly unraveled in front of their young, the kids acted out, got in in trouble, got hurt, and wound up at the psych ward. After all, if they truly are the last of the Elm Street kids, chances are they at least know someone who has suffered in some way from the thrashings of Freddy Krueger. Either way, the message remains, year after year, brightly lit from the screen, and only growing more relevant: listen to your kids. Even if you think they’re only going through the motions of young adulthood, remember what its like to be their age, and how every breakup, every petty fight with a friend, and every night terror can feel like life and death. They may lash out, they may curse your name, but in the end, children crave attention and discipline, for it is their parents that shape them, and keep them out of the darkness, away from strange forces that seek to hurt them in the blackness of night.
We’re now officially in the back half of 2026 now that July is here, but what a year it’s been for horror so far. The sequels and reboots are still holding strong at the box office with films like Scream 7 and Scary Movie, but it’s also been a year where new voices are shattering records in unexpected ways.
Markiplier eschewed conventional production and distribution channels with his feature adaptation of Iron Lung, for example. We’re also still in the midst of Backrooms and Obsession-mania, with the former back in theaters with bonus footage and the latter extending its box office reign. Liminal horror has exploded, and low-budget indie horror is seeing just as much, and sometimes even more, success as big studio-backed fare.
All of which to say that 2026 has been a hell of a year so far for the genre, and it’s only getting warmed up. Still on the way are Evil Dead Burn, Insidious: Out of the Further, Resident Evil, Clayface, Whalefall, and Werwulf, just to name a few.
Also catch up with the Best Horror Books and Best Horror Games of the year so far.
Here are the ten best horror movies of the year (so far).
10) Chime
Horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa is back with one of his most haunting yet, though one that’d likely be higher on this list if it were more accessible. The 45-minute feature was initially produced and distributed as an NFT before receiving a theatrical run earlier this year, with no plans to distribute digitally or on home media. It spins a somewhat cryptic tale, introducing a culinary teacher, Takuji Matsuoka (Mutsuo Yoshioka, Never After Dark), whose classroom becomes disrupted by a strange sound that leads to violence. It’s a quiet but haunting unraveling, one that leaves no aspect of Matsuoka’s life untouched, in true Kiyoshi Kurosawa style. That it defies any easy explanation also ensures Chime embeds itself under your skin.
9) Send Help
Sam Raimi’s splatstick return to form is a delightfully deranged two-hander that doubles as infectious catharsis for anyone who’s ever had a bad boss. Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange) and Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) face off when their characters are shipwrecked on an island, prompting a bid for survival in more ways than one. While O’Brien often matches her, It’s McAdams who shines as she deftly handles everything that Raimi, working from a script by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (Freddy vs. Jason), throws at her. Send Help is full of vibrant personality, packed with all of Raimi’s signatures, making for one of the most entertaining films of the year.
8) Mārama
New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard’s gothic tale begins in familiar fashion, with Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne) arriving in Yorkshire upon invitation to learn more about her parents, only to find the remote manor haunted. Just when Stappard’s period horror story feels doomed to succumb to familiar gothic trappings and jump scares, though, its true horror emerges. The more Mary uncovers about her heritage and her Māori culture, the clearer it becomes that this grim home is built on violence and exploitation. Stappard’s vision comes into its own when it leaves behind its gothic influences and embraces its Māori identity; few scenes are as powerful as when Osborne’s Mary performs a haka in response to her vile oppressors, heralding in a righteous bloodbath.
7) Touch Me
Writer/Director Addison Heimann draws from retro Japanese horror, exploitation cinema, and perhaps even hentai for his campy, psychosexual sophomore feature. A toxic friendship plagued by trauma, codependency, and addiction gets tested to the extreme when Brian (Lou Taylor Pucci), a hip-hop-loving, tracksuit-sporting alien, gets between them. Olivia Taylor Dudley and Jordan Gavaris have an easy rapport and play off each other well as directionless, depressed Millennial besties prone to ignoring their problems until they become insurmountable. But it’s Pucci’s inspired, childlike take on the chicken nugget-loving extraterrestrial with tentacled secrets of his own that steals the show. Heimann has a lot on his mind with his sophomore feature and neatly condenses it all into a quirky, eccentric psychosexual camp odyssey that leans heavily into humor.
6) Backrooms
Director Kane Parsons translates the vast liminal labyrinth of his web series to the big screen in his feature debut, one that instills existential dread with its atmospheric horror and narrative. The ‘ 90s-set horror movie introduces a protagonist with a serious chip on his shoulder over life’s many disappointments, who then discovers his furniture store harbors a hidden door that leads to an endless labyrinth. It’s not just the incredible production design that instills a disorienting sense of doom and terror, but the lead characters’ palpable and profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Parsons exudes impressive confidence and control as he methodically entrusts his quiet worldbuilding and talented leads to carry the dramatic weight. While Backrooms does deflate by the film’s cryptic, cliffhanger-y end, it’s arguably the most effective and scariest yet at capturing the uncanny valley of generative AI.
5) Leviticus
Writer/Director Adrian Chiarella uses an It Follows-like supernatural entity that relentlessly stalks its prey as a launchpad to immerse audiences in the horror of constantly living in fear for simply existing. A conversion therapy ritual among a deeply conservative community plunges a pair of erstwhile lovers into a nightmarish bid for survival when it summons a force that takes the shape of those whom the afflicted desires most. Chiarella refines the horror mechanics and metaphor with much sharper precision, ensuring that the scares and emotional gravity of the young couple’s terrifying predicament reach their intended impact. It’s the central layered performances by Joe Bird (Talk to Me) and Stacy Clausen (Thrash) that clinch emotional investment in their heartbreaking plight, ensuring that the social horror cuts deep.
4) Redux Redux
The McManus Brothers, writer/director duo Matthew and Kevin McManus (The Block Island Sound), dials up the intensity of a classic revenge story by setting it within a multiverse, where Irene Kelly (Michaela McManus) seeks to snuff out every single iteration of her daughter’s murderer, Neville (Jeremy Holm). The more she stalks and slays every world’s Neville, the more she risks losing her humanity entirely. Through a narrative foil in Mia (Stella Marcus), Redux Redux smartly bypasses repetition as it explores the moral complexities and vulnerabilities of Irene’s extremely violent quest. Holm becomes utterly terrifying in the climax, ensuring that no matter whether Irene loses herself to vengeance for good or not, it’s justified if it means ridding the world of this sick maniac.
3) 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Director Nia DaCosta takes the reins in the second entry in writer Alex Garland and original director Danny Boyle’s trilogy, picking up from the previous conclusion that saw Spike (Alfie Williams) fleeing from the infected straight into the welcoming arms of Sir Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). From here, DaCosta presents a stark contrast between humanity’s best and worst. The former sees the tender studies of Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) make poignant strides toward humankind’s future, while the latter unleashes more pain and bloodshed courtesy of the Jimmies. The dual paths of light and dark collide in one epic conclusion, an inspired confrontation between good and evil on a stunning set piece of heavy metal insanity. Yet it’s DaCosta’s handling of both extremes that impresses most, teeing up one epic conclusion to this trilogy.
2) Obsession
Sketch comedian turned horror filmmaker Curry Barker (Milk & Serial) wrings blood-curdling terror from a classic Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment scenario in a way that no one could have ever anticipated. To say that it’s taken the box office by storm would be a massive understatement; Obsession is the top horror movie of the year in terms of gross. It’s not hard to see why, either. While Monkey’s Paw scenarios often yield predictable outcomes, and this outcome is practically telegraphed from the start, Barker manages to surprise with the journey itself. And it’s one insane journey paved with blood-soaked violence and no shortage of nightmare fuel. What truly sets it apart, though, is leads Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette as the central pair undone by one vicious wish. Expect to see a lot more from breakout Navarette.
1) Hokum
A surly, traumatized writer must break free from his self-imposed shackles of guilt when confronted by a wicked witch haunting a quaint Irish inn in the latest by writer/director Damian McCarthy (Oddity). Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for an atypical but rewarding protagonist, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Channeling Stephen King, this creeper plays like a traditional campfire tale in mood and style, infusing genuine scares with a sense of magic and heart.
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