"Nightmare", also known as "(Running From This) Nightmare", is a song by American recording artist and actress

Tuesday Knight Tuesday Lynn Knight (born February 17, 1969) is an American actress, singer and designer. She is best known for her role as Kristen Parker in the 1988 film '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master'', replacing Patricia Arquette in the s ...

. The song serves as the opening song for the fourth installment of the '' Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise, '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master'', in which Knight co-starred. Although not officially released as a single or included on the original soundtrack for the film at the time, "Nightmare" has become a cult hit among horror fans and is one of Knight's most well-known and signature songs. It was released officially as a single in 2015.

Background

In 1987, Tuesday Knight released her self-titled debut album. The following year, she was chosen to replace

Patricia Arquette Patricia Arquette (; born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987) and has since received several awards, including an Academy Award, two P ...

in the role of Kristen Parker in the film '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master''. Before production wrapped on ''The Dream Master'', Knight met with director

Renny Harlin Renny Harlin (born Renny Lauri Mauritz Harjola; 15 March 1959) is a Finnish film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter who has worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood, Europe, and Cinema of China, China. His best-known film ...

and pitched the idea of writing a song for the film. She and her writing partner Michael Egizi recorded the song within two days, before playing the tape for Harlin in his car. Impressed, he handed the tape over to the music department without any further involvement from Knight. Unaware if the song would be used, she was surprised to find it serving as the film's introductory theme. The song starts just as the revitalized 1988

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

logo fades out (the first ''Elm Street'' to feature said logo), and plays over the opening credits, featuring a girl on a sidewalk, drawing with chalk. The camera pulls back from the Elm Street house to introduce Knight's character, and the song fades into Charles Bernstein's score from the original film.

Release

Due to licensing issues, the song did not originally receive an official single release or appear on the original soundtrack for the film, and Knight was never compensated for her contribution. Aside from the film, the song wasn't publicly accessible for years. An audio recording was later ripped from the film and featured on Knight's 2012 compilation album, ''Faith'', the song's first official release. In 2015, it was announced that the song had been remastered, remixed, and rerecorded, and is expected to receive an official extended play CD and digital download release before the end of the year. The album is produced by Tuesday Knight, Michael Perez and is designed by Dakota Thomas.

Track listing

Personnel

2015 Release: *Executive Producer: Michael Perez *Producer: Tuesday Knight, Michael Perez *Design: Dakota Thomas

References

External links

Tuesday Knight official site
{{authority control 1988 songs A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise) music Songs written for films Songs about nightmares Songs about Freddy Krueger