20 Great Performances Wasted In Terrible Horror Movies

20. Jackie Earle Haley - A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

There are few acting tasks more thankless in horror than following up an acclaimed, even iconic performance that fans had little interest in being recast.

And while 2010's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street was a messy, largely "unnecessary" rehash of Wes Craven's indelible original, it's tough to argue with Jackie Earle Haley's towering performance as Freddy Krueger.

No, he's not Robert Englund, because nobody is, but even while bristling up against a slapdash script that feels like a pale imitation of the original, Haley still manages to stand out as a terrifying, menacing presence worthy of Englund's O.G.

Haley smartly doesn't merely try to reheat Englund's nachos but makes 2010 Freddy a vile antagonist all his own. 

It's just a shame that the surrounding film is such a flat misfire, ensuring that all his hard work was largely for nought, and as such he never got a second opportunity to play the part.