Heather Langenkamp as ‘Heather Langenkamp’ – Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Okay, we’re about to go super meta here so bear with me, okay?
Heather Langenkamp as ‘Nancy Thompson’ is a pretty badass character, something I think we can all agree upon. She started off incredibly pure, mild, and innocent. But after dealing with Freddy, she grew into a goddamn badass who helped fight off Freddy not once but twice! Yeah, she might’ve died the second time around but she still rallied the troops, so to speak.
But what makes Heather Langenkamp as, well… Heather in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare so much more of a fighter is that she is far more aware of Freddy and his powers because she knows him from a totally different angle. This is a character that is supposed to be the real-life Heather Langenkamp, which means she understands how Freddy operates because she’s heard it all from Wes Craven himself. She has a full grasp of the mythology, the back story, you name it! And keep in mind that she knows Freddy as a character in movies. Seeing him outside of the movie world and entering the “real world” is completely distorting and mind boggling. This is supposed to be a movie character, not a malevolent force that comes at you in real life!
And even with all that, she still goes to face him. This isn’t the courage of Nancy, this is the courage of Heather. While we may all love Freddy for his charisma and inventive way of killing off annoying teenagers, it’s Heather that should really be getting our admiration.
