Women in Horror: Top 30 Female Horror Movie Characters

Heather Langenkamp in New Nightmare (Photo: New Line Cinema)

18. Heather Langenkamp (Herself, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare)

You have to know going in that Nancy Thompson is going to be somewhere on this list. She appears in two different movies which are considered to be among the best in the series. We’ll definitely be seeing her popping up somewhere later on in this slideshow.

But I’m not forgetting about Heather Langenkamp. Not the actress herself (though I love her, too)— I mean the fictional version of Heather from Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. In this unique sequel in the Elm Street series, Freddy Krueger manages to invade our real world. That includes terrorizing Heather Langenkamp, the actual actress who appears in the first and third movies.

New Nightmare is a very unique concept from Wes Craven. It reintroduces the horror of Freddy in a completely different way, separating it from some of the sillier sequels. Playing an alternate version of herself, Heather Langenkamp tries to keep not only herself safe, but her son as well. It goes without saying that if Langenkamp were not involved, I wouldn’t want to see this movie happen. Seeing her sort of reprise her Elm Street role is a big part of making that concept work so well.