10 Awesome Versions Of Movie Sequels We All Wanted

9. Peter Jackson's A Nightmare On Elm Street 6

Ghostbusters 3
New Line Cinema

By the turn of the 1990s, the Nightmare on Elm Street series seemed to be fizzling out. 1989's fifth instalment The Dream Child was poorly received, and Robert Englund's once-terrifying antagonist Freddy Krueger had become a figure of fun.

However, whilst that horror franchise was on the wane, one notable horror director on the rise was 29-year old New Zealander Peter Jackson, who had won legions of admirers with his ultra-low budget and low brow breakthrough movies Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles.

Peter Jackson Freddy Krueger
Twitter

Recognising his potential, New Line got Jackson and co-writer Danny Mulheron to work on a sixth Nightmare. Their script, A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: The Dream Lover, acknowledged how Freddy's popularity had diluted his power by showcasing a weakened dream demon who can no longer hurt or scare anyone.

It even showed the kids of Elm Street taking sleeping pills so they could beat up Freddy in the dreamworld, for fun. But of course, Freddy would eventually recover his power, becoming truly scary once more.

Alas, New Line jettisoned Jackson's work, and made 1991's Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Perhaps ironically, that film couldn't have cared less about making Freddy scary again, and wound up the goofiest Nightmare by a country mile.

Still, years later Jackson would reunite with New Line for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which turned out alright for everyone.

Contributor
Contributor

Ben Bussey hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.