Women in Horror: Top 30 Female Horror Movie Characters

Nancy – Photo from New Line Cinema

2. Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp, A Nightmare on Elm Street)

I love you, Heather Langenkamp! Truly a pure gem for the horror community, Langenkamp is universally a fan favorite of the genre. She is the star of three separate films in the Elm Street franchise. Not coincidentally, these three are certainly the best films of the whole series. I guess you could see Langenkamp was the special ingredient that added so much to these flicks.

It was the first movie that got me to fall in love with Heather first. The violent deaths of her friends were truly haunting, and I was rooting so very hard for Nancy to survive. Her wit comes into play when she outsmarts Freddy at the end of the film to defeat him. Sure, as the sequels would prove, the nightmare wasn’t truly over. But turning her back on Mr. Krueger remains a very powerful horror movie moment.

Nancy comes back in the third movie in the series. As Freddy is terrorizing new teenagers, Nancy tries to help finally vanquish the dream demon. Reprising the role really gives Dream Warriors an edge, being a completely awesome third movie in a series— a rare feat. She doesn’t make it to the fourth film, and her demise will always be one of the most heartbreaking deaths to come from horror.