10 Underappreciated 90s Horror Movies

10 years on from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger was truly dead; a succession of subpar sequels had seen to that. To see the series creator coming back to the fore to make his creation truly scary again was a truly mouth-watering prospect.

It's fair to say that Wes Craven's New Nightmare isn't necessarily the film everyone hoped it would be - but there can be little question that it took the series in a new direction that no one could have expected. And surely no one but Wes Craven could have pulled off so ballsy a move.

Taking a step outside the series, New Nightmare presents a meta-reality in which actress Heather Langenkamp (playing herself) is unexpectedly asked by Wes Craven (playing himself) to reprise the role of A Nightmare on Elm Street's final girl heroine Nancy in a new movie.

But as the project gains momentum, so too does Heather's life go into turmoil, with the sudden death of her husband and signs of disturbance in her young son. The actress comes to the horrifying realisation that Freddy - or something a lot like him - has somehow broken free of the movies, and is wreaking havoc in the real world.

It's an unusually cerebral horror movie, loaded with references and terminology that will mean nothing to those not already acquainted with the 1984 original. Some fans of the series might be disappointed by how much it pares back on the gore, not to mention the unusual redesign of Freddy.

However, in its philosophical reflections on the deeper meaning and power of horror movies, New Nightmare is fascinating; and in its intelligent dissection of the genre, it clearly paves the way for Scream.