10 Film Franchises That Became Something Else Entirely

Freddy Krueger remains one of horror's greatest ever monsters, despite several decades' worth of attempts to neuter him.

First stalking us in our dreams in the original 1984 Nightmare movie, Freddy has been back eight times across various sequels, reboots, and spin-offs, and yeah, he's changed a bit over the years.

He started out as a genuinely frightening villain, able to assault people when they were at their most vulnerable. His disfigured face and iconic bladed glove weapon soon became classic horror iconography.

Over time though, the character became less of a relentless killer and more of a punchline. He started cracking jokes, dressing up in funny costumes, and pulling very odd faces. He wasn't scary anymore, which was a crying shame.

Wes Craven did his best to revitalise his creation in his New Nightmare film, but that couldn't undo years of damage done to the character. Once Freddy's edge was blunted, the films really started to go down hill to the point where there are now more bad Nightmare films than good ones.

Expect the next one to be a full-blown buddy cop movie where he and Jason Vorhees go on a road trip.