Dream,After Dream: What happened to Nancy after ANOES?

As someone who absolutely loves the character of Nancy, I often wondered about what happened to her after the car drove off into the foggy morning and the credits rolled. I hoped she would have returned in the first sequel , and was saddened to see that she did not. Like Halloween II, I wanted to see what happened immediately after. I wanted to know what happened to my Nancy. When her return in Dream Warriors occurred , I remember feeling such elation ,goosebumps, and love .
However……

What happened to Nancy after the original Nightmare on Elm Street?

When she woke up the next day…..having lost her boyfriend…her mother…and most likely, her sanity…what happened next? 

             Oh,The schoolyard stories that would have been told about Nancy....she too could easily have become a playground song ALA Lizzie Borden and the jump-rope song. What her situation must have looked like to the outside world. The game of telephone that would have been played with the telling of her story would certainly have led to exaggerations of the facts.In the first sequel she and her house is already a playground gossip story. "She went crazy when she saw her boyfriend get murdered across the street." "her mother killed herself in our living room". Did Marge burn to death in reality? Would be a fitting revenge for Freddy .

             I’ve occasionally thought that the “morning fog” that Nancy sees outside in her final dream moments is actually the smoke from her Mother’s burning body influencing her dream as it fills the house. So that would place Marge still on the couch drinking herself to death. Maybe she passed out with a cigarette there and accidentally toasted her own marshmallows in her drunk stupor.

At what point in the film do you think Nancy actually entered the final nightmare? I always figured Nancy was deep in the dream the moment she started building her booby trap survival items...in five minutes....

But the movie can be looked on as having many dream possibilities :

• Nancy is slipping in an out of the dream state near the end,as she has been awake for roughly seven days. This would account for those random moments where things that could only happen in a dream are occurring in real time. The unplugged phone ringing.Nancy sensing Glens death as it happens. 

• Nancy slips into a dream midway through the movie some time after the visit to the dream clinic and the last half of the movie is in a dream even though our Final Girl doesn't acknowledge or is aware of the fact.

• The entire movie is a dream -Nancy is dreaming the whole thing.And perhaps even in a loop. Glens car drives off into the fog at the end only to reemerge back at the beginning, pulling up to school on the first day of the film.

If Nancy was in a dream, were any of her family or friends sharing the dream for real? Or was this just Freddy tormenting Nancy in her mind? Did her Father really see his ex wife burning alive under Freddy or was he just an element of Nancy's imagined dream? 

         If so , that means he would still think his daughter has lost her mind when the Mothers body was found and she woke ranting and raving that "it was Fred Krueger,Daddy." The whole lot of the parents seemed to be in denial .Understandably so at first. Ive entertained the idea that the children who were taken by Krueger had their memory hidden by the parents. Marge says the line " ..where he used to take HIS kids" ..so if Nancy did indeed have a sibling....Maybe Marge feels as if she no longer claims that child as hers after it has been tainted by Krueger's touch. 

        But when his daughter starts using the name Fred Krueger, this should have triggered an alarm in Lt Thompson. It felt as if the family had done their best to hide the history.So for Nancy to know what Krueger looked like,wore,the glove details should have been extra alarming. Though they act as if they are shocked to hear their daughter talk about someone they know all too well but have tried to hide from her. Both parents seem to react strongly to Nancy's description of Krueger when at the funeral for Rod.If Nancy is deep in the dream at this point, her mind wouldn't have the answers to put in her parents mouths

        I recall hating the theatrical ending when I first saw it. It felt wrong to me. The movie deserved better than the over the top final scare. I think New Line's Producer Bob Shaye was interested in the lets give them one last good scare before the audience leaves the theater Something to send them off screaming, laughing , and talking about "that last scene". I wonder how much of it was sequel oriented?Even in the year NOES was released , were sequels to horror movies the norm?Sure Friday the 13th was tossing out one a year, but other than Halloween II , where there many others at that stage? Heck, New Line barely paid for the first one , so I would be surprised if they were thinking about doing a sequel at that point. 

       I've always been a fan of the non sequel set up ending that was filmed but eventually cut.The quiet eeriness. The theatrical ending has its charm, and works as a final wtf jump scare emotional release moment to send the audience on it's way. But I'm more of a fan of the subtle version that creeps you out with its Is he or isn't he still out there ?The jump-rope girls telling us that - yes he is still coming for us.

Though ,there is one camera shot in an outtake that works well for me. A closeup on the car window as Nancy looks out at her Mother.Nancy then sits back in her seat ,revealing Freddy grinning at the wheel. 

       However, I've softened on the theatrical ending over time and hundreds of viewings. I've tried to reconcile it as Nancy asked for her Mother and Friends again. She wanted them alive again in her mind, not taunting corpses in the corner. Not dead and butchered every time she saw them .And she got it .If only for a moment. But Freddy was having none of that and with some of his last remaining strength , he snatched Marge from Nancy's happy dream.So now, maybe , every time Nancy dreamed of her Mother, she would only see the burnt remains. Dreams of her childhood would be tainted by the constant vision of her Mothers corpse. Although Nancy has defeated and weakened Freddy , he still has just enough energy left to reach out for one last scare. He causes the car to startle her, letting Nancy know he’s not gone yet, feeding her fear that he feeds on. And although she has her friends alive again in her mind( though dead to the real world) Freddy still takes one last something away from her by snatching back her Mother.

     But what when Nancy wakes? She has lost so much in such a short time at such a young age in such an unimaginable horrifying way. It would leave anyone unstable. Let alone the now constant threat in her mind that it could happen again the very next time she falls asleep. Nancy would be sure to have sleeping issues. Never being able to rest properly. Always afraid to go to sleep. And how would she process all that she has experienced? Post traumatic stress disorder would be assured.(though there is nothing really post about it as she is still under real threat of Fred in her mind)

      Her Father would only see things as a cop. He never believes Nancy . What would he think of his ex-wife being found dead in a locked house with his daughter? For all we know, Lt Thompson could have been across the street dealing with Glen’s death all while Nancy was fighting Freddy and only arrives to break into the house and wake Nancy after smoke is seen coming from his old home across the street. Since he would have been part of the waking world, He could very well have found Nancy asleep upstairs and Marge dead in her bed. Never having actually seen Freddy. And left thinking his daughter may have had something to do with his ex wifes death.

      He probably thinks his daughter is completely crazy. And now having to care for his daughter full time , he would be unprepared to cope with a child who is losing her mind in grief and terror.Nancy would still wake into a world where all her close friends and Mother are now murdered. This would be overwhelming in its sadness. And add to that no one would listen to or believe her in the real threat of Freddy, she would be all alone.Her Father would be off working long hours as a cop and have no desire to support her “fantasy”. He would most likely have her admitted to a hospital, kicking and screaming and raving all the way.

     Though in her dreams Freddy is not strong enough to terrorize Nancy, she would still be thinking about him and fearing his return. Feeling his presence in every shadow.This fear would keep the home Freddy fires burning just enough, that he wouldn’t fade away. She would always be afraid of the dangers of sleep.Her mind never allowing for her to rest because she never knows if the next time she lays to rest if it will be her last. While inside the hospital, Nancy is sure to have exhibited experiencing normal night terrors under the influence of the memory of Freddy to such an extent that under supervision it would lead to her at least being prescribed the Hyp-no-cil. Eliminating the intense dreams she is experiencing that the Doctors feel are affecting her mental state. .And for her, eliminating the real threat of Freddy for the time being.

     And now that the dreams have been removed from the equation, Nancy can sleep, mourn and begin the healing process. But what next for our girl? When she is allowed out of the hospital, would anyone who knew her in school want to associate with her? Would she have anyone to talk to about her friends passing? How many years would have passed? I picture Nancy going straight into college after her release from the hospital. Not wanting to stay at home with Daddy, who most likely developed his own drinking problem during these post movie years. Unable to solve the major crimes of these kids deaths, his own ex-wife's mysterious death,Lt Thompson probably started to make mistakes on the job. Missed shifts, anger issues, procedural mistakes ( Ive often wondered if it could have been Lt Thompson who forgot to sign the search warrant in the right place-not a law an order watcher so couldn’t tell you who is responsible for these matters) .His behavior , leading to his demotion or dismissal and leading to his becoming a security guard.

     Because of her intense experiences, Nancy would find herself adept at dream studies and research. Seeking knowledge about all types of dream control, symbols,rituals etc. Herself having a unique perspective on the dream state,perhaps she sought to do research to find the answers on how she could control her dreams if Freddy ever returned. Leading her to seek out a career in Psychology and dream studies. Her insight giving her the skills to maybe even advance quickly through the courses. Her own experiences might also lead her to seek out kids who are experiencing awful dreams as she does truly understand what they might be going through. Though, would she suspect Freddy might be at work before she meets Kristin Parker? Would enough years have passed that she would not connect the random “suicides” of Springwood's teenagers with the possibility of Freddy’s return? Would Nancy not know how many parents were involved in Freddy’s death and therefore not think that he would be seeking out the other children?

      Did Nancy try to question her father as to who the other parents that were involved in their suburban vengeance on Freddy? Would he have told her anything, or deny it, fearing that it would only fuel his daughter’s insane fantasy? I always appreciated the sense of history that was given to the lives of the adults. How their involvement in this has damaged their lives and themselves. Marge disappeared into the bottle. The Thompson's divorced. Tina's parents were divorced with the Mother often abandoning her daughter for personal needs.Glen's father looked like a shouter, and the type to smack his kid (and wife) around when angry. The Parker's(from Dream Warriors) appeared divorced with the mother self involved in her dating and life style activities avoiding the reality of her daughters pain to the point she even makes jokes about it.

            Would Nancy have sought out newspapers and news footage of Freddy? To try to learn as much as she could about him or would she been afraid to, fearing that knowledge would give Freddy power, she would have more to fear the more she knew about him. It's implied in Dream Warriors that she really hadn't learned much more about Krueger than the basic information her Mother had told.

            At some point she did learn that they had hidden Freddy's remains .Though, where that information came from is questionable. Her Father wouldn't talk. Her Mother was dead. Unlikely Glen's parents would be willing to even talk to Nancy after what happened to their son.I can see Glen's father easily blaming Nancy for bringing this sadness upon his family.Though in the original script there is a line where Glen's father tells Lt Thompson that he believes it was Krueger who killed his boy but the movie never gives any indication that he thinks this. Did she get this information from Tina's Mother?I could see Nancy  visiting Mrs Grey and talking about Tina.And Nancy being the type to ask THE questions.  Tina's Mom might let slip what she remembers about that night. 

           Could Nancy even find anything in a newspaper that would be helpful? Odds are no one knew much of Krueger before his capture, and learned less after.

Just a few thoughts on the matter……. 

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