10 Amazing Horror Movies That Almost Never Got Made

10. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

That's right, this list is bringing out the big guns right from the get-go with one of horror's most beloved and infamous franchises. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of those horror juggernauts that feels immortal at this point. As a titan of the slasher genre, it's hard to picture a world where this iconic IP was rejected. But rejected it certainly was, as this movie was turned down over and over. Wes Craven even famously framed and displayed one of the rejection letters in his office (as per Vulture). 

According to Craven himself, "Every studio rejected it," with Universal Pictures, in particular, disliking the script and Paramount Pictures claiming it was too similar to 1984's Dreamscape. Weirdly, the only company that showed interest was Disney (covered here by Screen Rant), offering to produce the film under the condition that it be toned down to a PG-13, family-friendly flick, which Craven stoutly refused to do. 

The movie only got moving after the far smaller New Line Cinema got involved. Although the production was far from smooth, it ultimately brought this incredible nightmare of a movie to life.