Halloween and the 10 best horror movies to watch on Shudder

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 18: Freddy Kruger is seen at the Royal Melbourne Show at Melbourne Showgrounds on September 18, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. The Show has been taking place in Melbourne since 1848 and is Victoria’s largest and longest running annual public entertainment event, expected to attract around half a million visitors. (Photo by Enzo Tomasiello/Getty Images) /

10. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

After the abysmal box office performance of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (which Wes Craven was not involved with), a third installment of the franchise was looking doubtful. However, Craven came back on board as co-writer for The Dream Warriors, believing it would be the final sequel.

The Dream Warriors opened in February 1987 and immediately became the #1 box office draw. It ended the year as the highest grossing film for New Line Studios.

In addition to the return of Heather Langenkamp as Nancy, NOES3 featured Patricia Arquette and Jennifer Rubin in their feature film debuts, “Larry” Fishburne, and a cameo appearance by Zsa Zsa Gabor.

The plot was simple, but effective. The children of the parents responsible for torching Fred Krueger years earlier are now committed to Westin Hospital, and are all suffering at the hands…er, knives of Freddy.

Luckily for them, our old friend Nancy is a therapist there. They learn that they can utilize “dream powers” that more or less render them superheroes. After two of the teens are killed in their dreams, the remaining dream warriors go after Freddy to end him once and for all.

While Dream Warriors more or less kept the scary component of the Elm Street movies intact, it also started the franchise on its road towards high camp.

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