Montreal Comiccon 2014 (Day 2): Screening “I Am Nancy”

This year’s Montreal Comiccon celebrated A Nightmare on Elm Street in a minor way, with Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, and Amanda Wyss in attendance. And within the screenings of Horrorfest, Langenkamp’s autobiographical documentary I Am Nancy showed on September 14th.

It’s a little-known film that was released back in 2011, and if you’re a hardcore Nightmare fan, I’m sure you won’t want to miss this. Even me, a moderate fan of the franchise, loved it. However, I’m sure there are others who’ll find it less than appealing. And the reasons you love it or are indifferent are probably one and the same, because it’s siAna Alicmultaneously tongue-in-cheek and ernest.

We all know that Nancy is a crucial character in the first and third films of the franchise. Why else would Wes Craven make her the focal point of New Nightmare? However, she’s far, far less celebrated than Freddy — and that’s what I Am Nancy explores. And so the haters of this will hate because they’ll see it as a vehicle for Heather to draw attention to herself and her character. The lovers will see it as Heather having fun and poking fun at herself, which is how I saw it.

Heather also poked fun of con goers as she relentlessly searched for a figurine of her as Nancy. In the end, she found a couple of ugly likenesses, which she purchased, as well as her first piece of Freddy memorabilia. The fun she had with any con goer watching was when she opened the packaging and had Englund sign them.

Although there’s fun to be had throughout the film, at one point it introduces a heart-warming note of how Nightmare and its metaphor of facing your fears has helped various people in life. A fact that seems to surprise Heather as much as it touches her. There’s also a moment between Heather and Englund that’s very touching, an almost mourning for their time together in the past, kind of like when we look back on our high school years.

What’s more, I learned through a series of interviews between Heather and Craven and Heather and Jessica Craven (Wes’ daughter) that there are elements of Nancy that were greatly influenced by Jessica and her relationship with Wes.

The Verdict:

If you’ve ever watched A Nightmare on Elm Street and really liked it, then you might enjoy I Am Nancy. As mentioned, I think you’ll like it a lot more if you go into it with the mindset that Heather is just having some fun.