10 Reshoots That Actually Improved Horror Movies
6. A Nightmare On Elm Street
Ah, A Nightmare on Elm Street; the movie that made sleep the enemy, thereby ruining the circadian rhythms of an entire generation of film fans.
The canon ending to Wes Craven's masterpiece sees Nancy seemingly defeat Freddy Krueger in the real world, waking up to find her friends and her mother, Marge, all still alive.
She gets in her friend's car, ready to go to school, only for it to be revealed that Freddy is still alive. The gloved villain bursts through the front door of Nancy's house, grabbing her mother by the throat, seemingly killing her.
A great ending, one that shows just how powerful this demonic force truly is. However, things could have gone differently, were it not for some studio interference.
Craven initially wanted the movie to end on a more positive note, with Nancy and her friends genuinely having survived their ordeal. Producer Robert Shaye had other ideas; he wanted a twist ending, one that wasn't so smiles and rainbows. Craven relented, and the scene with Marge was added in.
Sorry, Mrs. Thompson, but fate just didn't want you to live.