10 Scariest Final Shots In Horror Movie History

10. A Nightmare On Elm Street

While A Nightmare On Elm Street is one of the most quintessential horror movies ever made, its climax is notoriously lacklustre. Instead of capitalising on the limitless possibilities of Freddy's dreamscape (like later films would), this original flick instead opts to pull the villain into the decidedly less imaginative real world.

Fortunately, the haunting final shot more than makes up for that finale. Waking up the next day, Nancy gets into her friend's car to go to school while her mother waves them off, when suddenly a familiar red-and-green hood clamps down on the teens and Nancy's Mum is pulled through the front door window in one final jump-scare.

It's not the startling scare that caps the movie off though, as Wes Craven's flick then cuts to the now series-defining creepy little girls playing jumprope and singing the haunting "one, two, Freddy's coming for you..." nursery rhyme that essentially became the theme tune of the entire franchise.

The horror Craven wrung out of blending dreams with reality made Nightmare one of the most unnerving flicks ever made, and this unsettling final shot proves exactly why audiences reacted so much to this imaginative horror series.