10 Horror Movie Characters Whose Personalities Suddenly Changed In Sequels
3. Freddy Krueger - A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Perhaps no major horror icon has undergone as blatant a character change as A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund).
The first two Elm Street films were considerably darker than the rest of the series even with their inherently heightened premise, Krueger being a sadistic serial killer first while buffeted with occasional flecks of savage black comedy.
But starting with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Freddy was not-so-subtly retooled into a campier, more wise-cracking antagonist, cemented by Freddy's infamous quip while killing Jennifer (Penelope Sudrow) - "Welcome to prime time, bitch!"
Dream Warriors, a generally fun and creative film, really only got the ball rolling, as the subsequent sequels increasingly turned Freddy into a goofy, cornball caricature of his former self.
By the time he's eating the souls of teenage boys off of pizzas, it's fair to say that Freddy has strayed far from his original terrifying persona.
Robert Englund still gives it his all of course, but in the pursuit of bigger box office success the producers reworked Freddy into a sillier, less imposing character.