Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
Craven’s meta-slasher imagines that Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy Thompson in the Nightmare on Elm Street films, becomes drawn into supernatural events swirling around the latest entry in the series. Robert Englund plays both himself and a version of Freddy Krueger that’s actually an ancient demon, awakened by the Nightmare films and now determined to break into the “real” world. More recognizable faces pop up as well to help bleed the lines between “real” and “movie” worlds, including Craven himself. It’s high-concept, but it works well in this context, and it was a creative way to put a new spin on a franchise that, in 1994, was flagging out… just before Craven’s other meta-slasher, Scream, revived the genre entirely, of course.
