I Am Nancy

Actress Heather Langenkamp discusses the unique experience of performing as teen heroine Nancy Thompson in Wes Craven's movie.

This "sequel" to 'Never Sleep Again' is an off-beat mockumentary mostly following Heather Langenkamp around several conventions and interacting with the often unusual and quirky fans of the series. I'd seen this when it came out but I'd completely forgot about it. I expected the documentary to look a little bit deeper into the character and the conventions of the genre but it's more of a special feature you'd get on a DVD release of the film. It mostly follows Heather's frustration with taking a back seat to Freddy's fame, It's worth seeing for fans of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series and of Heather Langenkamp. It is at times funny, at times quite serious, but it's worth your time to watch the original documentary instead.

I have watched this documentary 8 times and I still laugh every time! If you are a true "A Nightmare on Elm Street" fan I don't know how you could not watch this film. There was so much thought put into it by Heather and Arlene (the star and director) and they really to a great job honoring the fans that were so open to share their stories.

Heather is on a mission in this movie to see what Nancy (the heroine) means to fans. We all know and love Freddy, but without Nancy who would Freddy have to battle? Nancy is the strongest of the Nightmare on Elm Street leading ladies and should be honored as such. What surprised me when I first watched the film was how it was so funny, and yet it really took a look at the more serious side of the Nancy story and how the courage of Heather's character has helped other people. There are also some wonderful interviews with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, and Jessica Craven (Wes' daughter) exploring the legacy of NOES and the character of Nancy.

I have become very passionate about this project and I feel like it is actually pretty hard to put into words of how amazing it actually is. The best thing I can say is it is worth watching… again and again and again! So after you leave this page go and buy your copy now. Go ahead, I'll wait!

An airy, if scatterbrain low-rent looking doco of Heather Langenkamp lamenting over her Nightmare on Elm Street character Nancy... and her lack of merchandise, or iconic air compared to the influential pop-culture fandom of her co-star Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger. Freddy this, Freddy that... but what about Nancy? Most of time is spent sitting around chatting to horror fans, and hanging about at a horror convention, while naturally having fun with the concept of what Nancy, and the Nightmare films mean to them. Sometimes listening to these stories can be up-lifting, other times awkward, yet Heather has a genuine interest that is infectious.

There are some amusing segments, especially Heather's quest in finding a Nancy action figurine and her interaction with Robert Englund when she does, but when Wes Craven/and his daughter are separately interviewed by her. This is when it becomes a little more focused, and meaningful on discussing the cultural recognition, and importance of Nancy in the "Nightmare on Elm St" universe. While their interviews come on towards the backend, they do anchor the documentary and there's something just soothing about listening to Wes Craven wax on.

You're proud of playing Nancy and brag on endlessly about why she is so great. It's just 73 minutes of people praising her. Who cares?

You know when you watch a DVD commentary and the participants point out how great every person and thing is. That's this doc. It's the same on the Michael Jackson's This Is It DVD extras where everyone of the featurettes are people praising Michael!

I'll give this a 4 because I enjoyed the convention footage. Those are always fun to watch. And Heather trying to search for a Nancy toy. I agree. There should be toys of ALL the Nightmare characters. That'll make a great collection.

I have been looking forward to this since seeing the preview on the Never Sleep Again DVD. I thought it looked like a great premise - Heather Langenkamp investigates the place Nancy holds in the Elm Street legacy by talking to fans at major horror conventions. However, the preview clip provided on Never Sleep Again really says it all: there is not much more to it than that, spread out over 90 minutes. Anyone that is interested in seeing this already knows why the character Nancy is so great, and that Nightmare is the greatest horror film of all time, so those folks don't really need a 90 minute documentary that reiterates those points. Anyone who doesn't concur with those notions won't be convinced by this documentary in any case. That said, there are a couple of interesting bits and pieces here: the interview with Wes Craven's daughter is intriguing, as is the discussion between Wes and Heather. However, too much of the documentary is nothing new, and the somewhat schmaltzy 'inspirational' latter third made me cringe. All in all, it is not a bad documentary, it just isn't a great one. Too often, it feels a little meandering and pointless. When it is aiming towards a point, it feels forced. A must-have for completists only. For everyone else, there is always 'Never Sleep Again'.