Kristen Parker

The role of Kristen Parker was played on film by the lovely Patricia Arquette in Dream Warriors, and then by singer Tuesday Knight in the next film The Dream Master.

Biography (Film)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Kristen Parker was a lifelong lucid dreamer who frequently built models out of popsicle sticks and fantasized about being an acrobat or a beach babe in order to escape her neglectful mother and her mother’s various abusive boyfriends. When she came under attack by Freddy Krueger, she attempted to stay awake by drinking diet soda, playing loud music late into the night, and eating coffee grounds.

Kristen’s attempts failed, and after a particularly horrific nightmare and subsequent suicide attempt, she was thrown in Westin Hills asylum. There she met Nancy Thompson, a previous survivor of one of Krueger’s attacks who had also had an alcoholic mother. They first met when Nancy saved Kristen from being eaten by Freddy, who had taken the form of a giant snake. Kristen felt that the caring, relatable Nancy was the mother she had always wanted. Kristen discovered that she had the power to pull people into her dreams and could become a super-fast acrobat.

Although Freddy Krueger was defeated by Neil Gordon and the efforts of her fellow Dream Warriors, Nancy was killed by Krueger, and Kristen was released from the asylum dejected and broken.

Dream Warriors (Dokken Music Video from 1987)

Kristen was haunted by the events that had taken place and still had nightmares about Krueger. She was able to summon her favorite band, Dokken, to defeat him.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Although now integrated into the public school system and possessing friends and even a boyfriend, Kristen was still paranoid that Freddy might someday return, and frequently summoned Kincaid and Joey whenever she had a particularly scary dream, much to their chagrin. Kristen told her friend Alice Johnson all about it, and even passed on her powers to her so that someone else could defeat Krueger if she failed. She was eventually slain by Freddy by being burned alive.

Comics

Kristen appears in Mad Magazine 274’s parody of Dream Warriors, where Freddy, in snake form, succeeds at eating her. However, he gets heartburn from eating her and then takes Pepto Bismol to relieve the pain:

Kristen has a small, silent cameo in Wildstorm’s Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash: The Nightmare Warriors, where she helps fight off Deadites.