9 Once Terrifying Horror Villains Rendered Lame By Sequels

Wes Craven was a master of psychological horror, and with Freddy, he custom designed the perfect monster. He named him after a childhood bully, based his look off of a homeless man who tormented him and got the sleep angle from an article about teenagers dying in their sleep. All brilliant.

In the original Nightmare Freddy is a rarely seen spectre who loves to play twisted practical “gags” like slicing his fingers off, or sticking his tongue through a phone. That’s what made him the perfect villain, but the sequels immediately veered off course. Part three gave him more jokes, and while he was fun he started to feel like a stand-up comic; the stalking was the setup, and the gory kill the punchline.

Part four made him the unofficial hero, but the jokes were already getting stale. By part five he’d become a pop-culture icon, and when they started making Freddy toys and pyjamas – which is a bit dubious, given that he’s a child killer – the character had lost his power to terrify.

To be fair Wes Craven made this the plot of New Nightmare, and managed to make Freddy creepy again. Then the remake happened, which gave fans nightmares of a different variety.