3. Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Call it a series finale if you must but the more accurate description of Wes Craven's New Nightmare would be post-modern mess that came much too late. By the time Wes Craven decided to give his dream killer some credibility back it was already too late. The character of Freddy Krueger was just too ridiculous and had been reduced to a comedy horror cliché instead of the deadly razor fingered psycho we once new and feared. Nothing in the film was particularly new as Craven instead opted to repeat some of the scenes from the first movie completely removing any surprise for hardcore fans, and having the character kill off the cast was as bad an idea as it was in The League of Gentlemen movie, but more on that later. So bad was Wes Craven's last hurrah for Robert Englund the series went into retirement before at last regaining some cool when he battled Jason Voorhees in Freddy Vs Jason. Despite its cinematic release the film was the lowest grossing of the whole series (which is crazy) and finally laid old crispy face to rest for good. Although many fans were critical of the recent remake it at least removed the senseless humour and gave the children of Elm Street a reason to stay awake once again.