10 Iconic Horror Movie Characters Done Dirty
5. Freddy Krueger
While the original A Nightmare on Elm Street run saw Freddy Krueger go from a spine-chilling sinister presence to a figure of parody and slapstick, that's nothing when compared what was done to Freddy in the 2010 Elm Street redo.
From Wes Craven's 1984 original Elm Street film, through Freddy's Dead, Dream Warriors, The Dream Master, The Dream Child, The Final Nightmare, New Nightmare, and even Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy Krueger was always presented as a child killer. While obviously that in itself is utterly abhorrent, the 2010 movie went even more disturbing by making Krueger a child molester.
Granted, if looking to truly bring a sense of terror and dread to Freddy, you want to make him as dislikable as possible, but still, this just felt like a step too far for a character who fans had long become familiar with across the prior 25 years. There were various ways to make Jackie Earle Haley's Freddy Krueger slightly different to Robert Englund's iconic take on the character, and that tweak was certainly not it.
On top of that, the use of CGI to create the burned visage of Haley's Freddy was so horrendously done that it became laughable.