10 Smartest Decisions In Slasher Horror Movie History

8. Nancy Turning Her Back On Freddy - A Nightmare On Elm Street

A Nightmare On Elm Street
New Line Cinema

You could argue that the smartest decision surrounding A Nightmare on Elm Street was actually New Line Cinema's decision to produce the picture in the first place.

At that point in time, New Line was largely a distribution house rather than a studio that developed films. Taking a chance on producing Wes Craven's 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street, that decision proved to be so smart that the studio was given the nickname of 'The House that Freddy Built' - with that debut Elm Street offering proving to be a huge hit.

To look more closely at the narrative of A Nightmare on Elm Street, though, and the prime smarts on show are the ones used by Heather Langenkamp's Nancy Thompson.

Firstly, Nancy has the wherewithal to bring Freddy Krueger's trademark fedora hat out of her dream and into the real world. Secondly, Nancy wisely booby-traps her home ahead of a plan to bring Freddy out of her dream and into the real world.

The smartest decision of all? Well, that would be Nancy, in the film's final battle, opting to simply turn her back on Robert Englund's Krueger. Having realised that Freddy thrives on fear, Nancy ignoring him renders him powerless - and thus the creepy bastard vanishes into thin air!

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 day job, 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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.