Alice Johnson

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Alice Johnson is the best friend of Kristen Parker, whose death passes dream powers to Alice. Alice becomes Freddy Krueger's next target because she can unconsciously pull others into her dreams, creating a loophole for Freddy to kill anyone she brings in. As his victims die, their abilities transfer to her, allowing her to fight back with both waking and dreaming strengths. She eventually defeats him by granting all his victims the power to escape his body and enter the positive dream gate. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Alice suppresses her trauma but begins having nightmares after becoming pregnant with Jacob Daniel Johnson. Freddy plans to be reborn in Jacob's body, feeding him victim souls. Due to her pregnancy, Alice shares her powers with Jacob, who can blur the boundary between worlds while awake. When Alice nearly loses, Sister Mary Helena urges Jacob to use the stolen souls against Freddy. After Freddy's demise, Alice gives birth to Jacob several months later.

In Their Own Story

Alice works as a waitress and daydreams constantly to escape reality, her grief over her mother's death turning her father Dennis into an alcoholic while her brother Rick masks his pain with gregariousness. In the first film, she appears in Kristen's dream as a child on a beach shortly before Freddy kills Kristen. Alice then becomes the Dream Master, accumulating powers from victims like Dan Jordan and her own brother Rick as they are picked off. In the second film, she shares abilities with her unborn son Jacob, who can call an awake Alice or let her enter his dreams physically. The original script for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare planned to kill Alice early to make Jacob the protagonist, but this was scrapped; the final film leaves their fates ambiguous.

Reader's Guide

Alice returns in Innovation Publishing's 1991 Nightmares on Elm Street comics, where she faces Freddy again after her father dies. Neil Gordon sacrifices his body to join Nancy Thompson in the "Beautiful Dream," allowing Dan's spirit to occupy it and reunite with Alice and Jacob. In Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: Nightmare Warriors, a sleeping Jacob can call an awake Alice, who physically enters his dream; she later sacrifices herself from a terminal illness to pass full powers to him. In Philip Nutman's 1991 short story "Dead Highway, Lost Roads," set years after Dream Child, Alice is married to Steve Segel and lives near the mall built over 1428 Elm Street to keep watch. After a car pileup involving serial killer Karl Stolenberg, Freddy traps her in a "dead highway" dream. Six-year-old Jacob, staying with Yvonne in Wisconsin, enters the dreamworld to help, enlisting Karl and an anthropomorphic armadillo named Joe Bob. They defeat Freddy together, though Karl perishes. In Natasha Rhodes' novel Perchance to Dream, Alice goes missing after her son Jacob is institutionalized at Westin Hills for hallucinating foster parents as Freddy. Jacob sees visions of his mother suffering in the dream world, possibly killed by Freddy or just an apparition.

Did You Know?

• Alice was conceptualized by writers William Kotzwinkle and Brian Helgeland specifically to feature a developed character arc evolving her from an introvert to a proactive heroine.
• In the original script for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, Alice was set to be killed early in the film to make Jacob the main protagonist, but this version was scrapped entirely.
• Alice covers her dresser mirror with pictures of friends so she would not have to see her own reflection due to her timidity.
• In the short story "Dead Highway, Lost Roads," Alice lives near a shopping mall complex built over 1428 Elm Street to secretly keep watch on Freddy.
• Lisa Wilcox confirmed that producers never attempted to call her back for the sixth film, though they did contact her about using footage of Alice in the end credits.