10 Horror Movies You Probably Hated The First Time Round (But Loved The Second)

The Nightmare on Elm Street series always housed a cruel sense of humor, with 1987’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors featuring the first (and best) instances of blending antagonist Freddy Krueger’s now-trademark catchphrases and jokes with gloomier subject matter and visuals.

For better or worse, its sequels increasingly swapped Krueger’s original sadism for unabashed silliness. The most egregious instance is 1991’s downright cartoonish Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, which – for several devotees – was the final straw. After all, it saw the eponymous burned bad guy spoofing The Wizard of Oz and Looney Tunes (not to mention playing NES).

Once they get over how dissimilar it is to Wes Craven’s 1984 masterpiece, though, it’s common for people to value Freddy’s Dead as a commendably imaginative, largely amusing, and boldly nonconforming chapter of the saga. In fact, when it comes to pure entertainment, it’s hard to beat.

What’s more, Freddy’s Dead is deceptively dark and affective in its explorations of multiple kinds of childhood trauma. From enduring sexual abuse and excessive punishments, to witnessing school bullying and the murder of one parent by the other, there’s a ton of real-world issues examined beneath the sophomoric surface.