With films like Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino is often considered one of the greatest modern filmmakers. As such, his opinions aren’t taken lightly, and now Tarantino has taken the time to praise a fan-favorite horror movie sequel.
Of course, this particular film is a fan-favorite movie for a reason. But it’s certainly exciting to see even Quentin Tarantino can appreciate it. As revealed in an interview with Far Out Magazine, while he wasn’t impressed by the first sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, he does love A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
He began by explaining how Dream Warriors essentially tackles the same mythology of the original Elm Street film albeit on a bigger scale:
“Dream Warriors managed to click into the mythology of the first one that was exciting for audiences, but it also seemed on a slightly bigger canvas, it had slightly better actors in it, and the cast was a little bit more prestigious,” Tarantino began. “Because of part two, you were surprised by the bigness and the sense of fun.”
Tarantino added that it took no less than the first half of the film to convince him how great of a horror movie and sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors really is:
“I remember halfway through seeing Nightmare On Elm Street 3, thinking, ‘Wow, they’re doing a really good job of this. This is a better movie than I thought it was going to be. It was neat. Everything worked for the characters, for the monster, for the mythology. But you still want it to be better, even when it’s okay.”
As mentioned, Dream Warriors has always been the fan-favorite sequel of the franchise. It’s considered a perfect blend of both horror and comedy, and of course with enough ties to the original film to bring it all together.
Fans not only get to see Robert Englund deliver one of his best performances as Freddy Krueger, but Heather Langenkamp reprises her role as Nancy, and John Saxon returns as her father. In some ways, the film almost acts like today’s modern “legacy sequel,” with Nancy returning to guide a new cast of characters against Freddy.