Quentin Smith

Article

Quentin Smith is the male protagonist in the A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot. In the film, he has a longtime crush on Nancy Holbrook, the female protagonist. He is a competitive swimmer.

He is loosely the equivalent of Glen Lantz in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. He is portrayed by Kyle Gallner.

Biography[]

Personality[]

Unlike the grumpy and often provoking Jesse Braun, Quentin is quiet, anxious, and easy-going, if not a bit geeky. He has a great love for Nancy, and also shows sympathy to Freddy Krueger after dreaming of him being burned to death by his father, and displays a strong sense of morality, which can lead to tears and anger.

History[]

Quentin's first appearance is at the diner. He is there with Jesse and one of his other friends, Paxton. It is clear he has a crush on Nancy and appears nervous around her when she attempts to serve the three. He is the one to point out Jesse’s ex-girlfriend Kris with her new boyfriend Dean, to Jesse. This causes Jesse to angrily slam a tip on the table and leave alongside Paxton. Quentin, however, stays behind for a moment to apologize for the mess and have a flirtatious exchange with Nancy. Unfortunately, Jesse interrupts, beckoning for Quentin to follow, cutting their conversation short. Quentin then leaves the diner.

A few days later, Quentin attends Dean’s funeral following his death and has a short encounter with Nancy, though the two don't speak.

The next day, he talks to her in the hallway of Springwood High School, attempting to comfort her after Dean’s death and offer her a person to talk to, albeit awkwardly. The two are interrupted by Quentin’s father, who is the principal of the school. That night, Quentin is later called by Nancy and is informed that Kris had just died.

The very next day, the two agree to meet at a library and study on sleep deprivation. Quentin had arrived before Nancy and got started on research, however he falls asleep at the desk. He experiences a short nightmare, following a child to the Kids Corner where he gets a glimpse of Freddy before being startled awake by Nancy’s hand on his shoulder. Nancy asks if he had a nightmare, and Quentin confirms. She asks if it was Freddy, Quentin doesn't respond. Seeking how tired Nancy is, Quentin offers a pill of Zoneral; a medication for ADD that he has been on sinc she was 15. Nancy refuses while Quentin takes a pill. Immediately after, Nancy notices Quentin’s necklace, which resembles a crucifix, surprised that he is religious. Quentin attempts to shrug it off and focus more on their research. He presents The Pied Piper to Nancy, a story he has seen in his dreams, which is paralleling Freddy Krueger’s actions. On top of this, Quentin discusses a scientific study on sleep deprivation: after 70 hours of no sleep, the brain will enter micronaps, a phenomenon that causes it to shut down for a few seconds. To the subject, it’s as if they’re dreaming while awake. Even more concerning, is that following this, the subject risks entering a coma.

That night, Quentin learns of Jesse’s death inside the prison. Panicked, he calls Nancy, who picks up, reporting that she just had a nightmare. Quentin decides to go to her house. While preparing to go, he takes a pill of Zoneral, though is concerned at just how little he has left. Once he is at her house, Nancy explains her nightmare revolved around a preschool named Badham. Quentin fails to recognize it, and after research learns that it shut down years ago in downtown Springwood. Nancy claims her mother is hiding something.

The following day, Nancy and Quentin search the documents inside of Nancy’s house for any link to Badham. They find a folder tucked away behind one of the drawers. After opening it, they discover a picture of themselves at this preschool. Dean, Jesse and Kris are also in this photo. They are interrupted when Nancy’s mother, Gwen Holbrook, walks in on them, demanding to know what they’re doing. After an argument between Nancy and her mother, the truth comes out: Nancy and Quentin used to attend this school and were victims of sexual abuse by Freddy Krueger, the gardener of the school and the man in their dreams. The two leave the house, with Nancy determined to find more answers, while Quentin believes they are just memories. The pair argue but Quentin concedes, however they are stopped from pulling out of the driveway by Quentin’s father, Alan Smith. Quentin chooses to leave Nancy’s car, entering his father’s car instead to go to swim practice.

While at swim practice, Quentin falls asleep in the middle of the pool, awaking in a nightmare. He immediately notices Freddy Krueger running right past him from an angry mob of parents. Cold and confused, Quentin follows the mob, who have trapped Krueger inside of a building. Krueger refuses to come out. The parents, at their wits end, resort to smoking Krueger out; a young version of Quentin’s father grabs a canister of gasoline, sets it alight and throws it into the building. The building, however, is very flammable and sets ablaze almost immediately, burning Krueger inside. The last thing Quentin sees is the burning man running out of the building, straight towards him. Quentin is then woken up after CPR is performed on him; it turns out he had drowned in the pool. With the knowledge of Krueger’s death, Quentin goes to Nancy in the Library and brings her with him to confront his father. Quentin storms into his father’s office, yelling at him for murdering Krueger and blaming his actions for why Krueger is after them now. His father believes the murder was justified, however Quentin points out that they didn’t have any actual evidence that Krueger actually did anything. Disgusted, Quentin leaves, with Nancy not far behind. Quentin slams a locker as Nancy attempts to calm him down, reasoning with him. She had learnt that Krueger wants them to go to the preschool, and maybe then the nightmares will stop. With no other choice, Quentin agrees.

Quentin makes a quick stop at the Pharmacy, needing a refill of his Zoneral medication. He approaches the counter anxiously, requesting a refill, however the pharmacist refuses. Quentin pleads as Nancy begins to experience micronaps; resulting in her leaving the car and having a nightmare inside of the Pharmacy, which leaves her with a deep gash in her arm. Quentin, hearing her screams, chooses to take her to the hospital. While the nurses are looking at Nancy, Quentin steals two vials of adrenaline from one of the nurse’s carts. After a commotion in the room Nancy was supposed to treated in, Quentin decides to instead take her out of the hospital while everyone is distracted.

Now in the road to the Preschool, Quentin takes an adrenaline vials, immediately feeling the effects. He offers the other one to Nancy, who declines. To keep each other from falling asleep, the two talk, discussing arbitrary topics, before Quentin asks Nancy out on a date. She asks what if she declines, and Quentin jokes that she should “sleep on it“. Immediately after, Quentin has a micronap, seeing Krueger right in front of the car. He jolts the steering wheel, swerving off of the road and crashing the car. Disorientated, the two leave the car as Quentin explains that he just saw Krueger. Nancy and Quentin choose to walk the rest of the way to Balham Preschool.

Behind you... Quentin, surprised by Freddy in a deleted scene. — **Behind you...** Quentin, surprised by Freddy in a deleted scene.

The pair break into the school, and begin looking around. Quentin experiences another micronap, seeing Krueger attack Nancy, but quickly realized it was just a dream. With time running out, Quentin and Nancy enter the basement, noting its weird appearance. Their search is fruitless until Nancy notices a loose board with air coming from behind it. With Quentin’s help, they remove the board and enter the “cave” their parents talked about. Its here where Nancy sees a bunch of her old drawings and Quentin finds inappropriate photos of her as a minor. Unfortunately, their parents were right. Now that they remember what happened the two fall into despair, Quentin entering into a rage over their hopeless scenario. Nancy, however, comes up with a solution. During her earlier nightmare, she was able to bring a piece of Krueger’s sweater into the real world. With newfound determination, Nancy formulates a plan to drag him out entirely and kill him. The two kiss and Quentin gives her his necklace for protection. He breaks off the blade of a paper guillotine, and waits for Nancy to fall asleep. It is Quentin, however, that falls asleep first. In this nightmare, he is brutally assaulted by Freddy; his head is smashed into a pipe and his chest is slashed. He wakes up, still alive but gasping for breath on the basement floor. Nancy, however, enters a nightmare. Seeing her struggle, Quentin desperately pushes himself up on top of her, shaking and yelling at her to wake up, but it's no use. In a last ditch effort, Quentin takes the second adrenaline vial and plunges it into Nancy's chest, waking her up and pulling Krueger out into the real world. Quentin attacks Freddy with the blade, however he is stabbed in the process and thrown across the room. Krueger then attacks Nancy, who is using a corkboard to defend herself, but is prevented from doing any damage when Quentin stabs him in the leg. Krueger backhands Quentin away, and turns his focus to him. Scared, Quentin desperately backs away as Freddy prepares for the kill, raising his glove to strike. At the last moment, Nancy comes in, slicing Krueger’s hand clean off with the guillotine blade. She then splits his throat, which kills Krueger. Quentin scrambles onto his feet and the two begin to leave the Preschool, however Nancy picks up the lamp and smashes it onto the ground, setting the building ablaze as one last good measure to keep Freddy dead.

Nancy helps Quentin out of the preschool and escorts him into an ambulance alongside EMTs. As Quentin lies there, she tells him that he can rest and that the “nightmare’s over”.

Trivia[]

He is the equivalent of the character Glen Lantz in the original Nightmare film except for several differences.
- Quentin is slightly less out-going and apparently quieter by nature.
- Quentin is initially not the boyfriend of Nancy.
- Quentin actually confronted his father about the death of Freddy Krueger.
- Quentin survived the encounters with Freddy Krueger, unlike Glen.
In one of the earlier scripts, Quentin was a vastly different character.^[1]
- Quentin was a high school blogger & ran a podcast.
- Quentin’s mother was mentioned, however she makes no appearance in the final film.
- Quentin was more outgoing, while his final counterpart is more timid & fidgety.
- There were no mentions of Quentin’s ADD or Zoneral.
Quentin appears as a playable character in the multiplayer survival horror game Dead by Daylight. He's a part of the "Nightmare on Elm Street DLC", and comes along with Freddy Krueger as a killer, and a new map - Badham Preschool.