Best Horror Movies: ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Star Heather Langenkamp on Why Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Is the ‘Best Final Girl of All Time’

This essay by Heather Langenkamp on her favorite horror movie of all time is one of several contributed as part of Variety’s 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time package.

The first horror movie that I ever saw was “The Wizard of Oz,” and it had the best final girl of all time, Dorothy. And I used Dorothy a lot when I was thinking about playing Nancy in “Nightmare on Elm Street” and her journey and bravery and the way she approached her problems. But those flying monkeys terrified me, and I still think about them today.

I talked with “Nightmare on Elm Street” director Wes Craven about it. I said to him, “This reminds me so much of how Dorothy’s character is developed here, and especially when she gets to the castle: the Wizard and they’re fighting the Witch and all of these parallels between the Witch and Freddy.”

When I was growing up, it played every Thanksgiving on TV. It would be the big event that our family would sit down and watch. My kids weren’t as enamored with it as I was. It spoke to me in ways that I don’t think it spoke to them.

Heather Langenkamp is an actor who has appeared in “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” available on 4K UHD Blu-ray on Oct. 15, and “The Midnight Club.”