8 Films That Were Supposed To End The Series (But Got Sequels Anyway)

How long until the next one: Three years

Number of movies after this: Three (one sequel, one crossover and one remake)

How they tried to end it: Freddy Krueger dies

After the franchise descended into total absurdity and wasn't remotely scary anymore, New Line decided to conclude the Nightmare on Elm Street series by killing off Freddy. That was the entire basis of the marketing campaign, with the posters showing Freddy's gravestone and date of death (even though he pretty much "dies" in all of these movies). 

Freddy's blown up at the end and it's implied that he really is gone now. There's no ominous sequel hook; he's just dead. Three years later there was Wes Craven's New Nightmare, a weird little spinoff which doesn't take place in the Nightmare on Elm Street film universe. But then he officially comes back in Freddy vs. Jason when he possesses Jason Voorhees and frees himself from hell. At least they tried to come up with some sort of logical way to bring him back, but the whole idea of Freddy's Dead being the "final nightmare" was a complete lie.