9 Horror Movie Remake Deaths That Were Way Better Than The Original

2. Nancy's Mother - A Nightmare On Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street Marge Gwen
New Line Cinema/Platinum Dunes

They may have different names, but hey, they're essentially two versions of the same character, meaning Nancy's mother is fair game here.

In Wes Craven's iconic A Nightmare on Elm Street, we have Ronnie Blakley as Marge Thompson, the mother of central protagonist Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). By the time the Elm Street IP was dismally revisited and that first film remade in 2010, Marge had been swapped out for Dr. Gwen Holbrook (Connie Britton), who was the mother of that film's Nancy (Rooney Mara).

The Elm Street remake may have been a critical dud, but one thing that it did have going for it is in how it disposed of Nancy's mom during its shocking 'dream sequence' closing shot.

For both the original and the remake, the film ends with Freddy Krueger returning in a dream to take out Nancy's mother. The thing is, that final shot of 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street looks absolutely awful. There, Marge - well, a horrendous-looking dummy of her - is pulled through a window in the Thompson household's front door by Freddy.

By time the 2010 picture rolls to a close, there's no such dummy downfall for Connie Britton's Gwen. Instead, Krueger appears in a mirror and stabs his bladed fingers through the back of Gwen's head and out of her eyes.

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.