10 Opening Horror Movie Scenes That Changed Everything

3. A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Bride of Chucky Tiffany Jennifer Tilly
New Line Cinema

After franchise fave Nancy Thompson was killed off towards the end of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, the Elm Street series seemed destined to move forward with Dream Warriors survivors Kristen, Kincaid, and Joey leading the charge against Freddy Krueger.

For those hoping for this trio to drive the series to new heights, they were left extremely frustrated when the opening moments of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master completely flipped the script.

After Freddy is bizarrely resurrected in Kincaid's dream by the hero's dog's fiery piss bringing Krueger back to life - yes, really - Kincaid is quickly dispatched by Springfield's most infamous son. Immediately after this, Joey is killed by Freddy in a bonkers waterbed sequence. And with that, The Dream Master changed the game and caught audiences off-guard.

Of course, it wouldn't be too long after this that Kristen herself would be slaughtered by Krueger, and Elm Street 4 totally changed its expected direction to instead focus on newcomer Alice Johnson; a protagonist who would return to again battle Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.