10 Exact Moments Directors Knew They Wouldn't Make Movie Sequels
6. Wes Craven Didn't Like How Nightmare On Elm Street 2 Treated Freddy
When Wes Craven first brought Freddie Krueger to the screen, in A Nightmare On Elm Street, it was the birth of one of cinema's most recognizable horror villains. He was a deceased child killer who set about murdering a set of teenagers in their dreams. It was a revolutionary take on the slasher movie model. The film was a huge commercial success, and naturally, moves were made to produce sequel.
Producer Robert Shaye approached Craven to film the sequel, but the director was not happy with the script. He disagreed with how Krueger's character was being developed. To Craven, the idea of Freddie coming more into the real world by possessing the main character, Jessie, seemed to diminish the villain's threat on screen. In the end he declined to direct the film, although he did make suggestions to improve the script.
But, that was not the end for Craven's involvement with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. He would come back to co-write the script for the next sequel, Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, and would eventually direct another Freddie Krueger film in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which was released in 1994.