A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

"If you think you'll get out alive, you must be dreaming."

1987 1h 36m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

68%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 2,140🍅68%Rotten Tomatoes●49Metacritic★6.7IMDB · 99,216

HorrorThrillerFantasy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A psychiatrist, familiar with the knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger, helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.

“If you think you'll get out alive, you must be dreaming.”

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Cast

Heather Langenkamp
Nancy Thompson
Craig Wasson
Neil Gordon
Patricia Arquette
Kristen Parker
Robert Englund
Freddy Krueger
Ken Sagoes
Kincaid
Rodney Eastman
Joey
Jennifer Rubin
Taryn
Bradley Gregg
Phillip

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Chuck Russell
Writers: Chuck Russell, Wes Craven, Frank Darabont
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $45M — a 10.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

39 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Chuck Russell, shot by Roy H. Wagner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Terry Stokes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Heather Langenkamp and Craig Wasson and Patricia Arquette carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chuck Russell directs. Roy H. Wagner behind the camera. Angelo Badalamenti scores. Terry Stokes cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $45M — a 10.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
339 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Part of the "A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Chuck Russell, shot by Roy H. Wagner. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Terry Stokes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Heather Langenkamp and Craig Wasson and Patricia Arquette carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "If you think you'll get out alive, you must be dreaming.".
10IMDB entry: tt0093629 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 28 themes, including "dreams", "nightmare", "sadism", "psychopath".
12Released under 30 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Roy H. Wagner
Original score: Angelo Badalamenti
Editing: Terry Stokes
Costume design: Camile Morris
Makeup / hair: Kevin Yagher
Sound: David Lewis Yewdall
Stunt coordinator: Rick Barker
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,450,000
Box office: $44,793,222
Return: 1007% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes: 68% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 49/100
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 99,216 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 4 nominations total

Part of

A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection

A slasher film series revolving around people who are stalked and killed in their dreams by Freddy Krueger.

Also by

Chuck Russell

Stills · wallpapers

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andre Gonzales2023-04-17
★ 8/10
My favorite out of the entire series. Nothing like going after a bunch of teens who are locked up in a psychiatric hospital for bad nightmares. Freddy has a field day with this one. Welcome to prime time bitch!
kevin20192025-10-10
★ 7/10
"A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" is an extremely engaging film despite the fact that it is in the very nature of sequels that each new entry in any franchise won't match the rapidly declining standard set by the previous film and none of them will ever be as good as the original anyway because the format is bound to be played out and looking desperately tired by now. However, it is very refreshing to find out this current entry in the increasingly lucrative series is inexhaustibly imaginative and visually creative when it could have been nothing more than a disappointing exercise in trotting out all the usual standbys used in the preceding two films.