Thirty-five years ago, New Line Cinema decided to end one of its most precious franchises, and it spoiled the ending right in the title. 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare left little doubt about what had to happen to everyone’s favorite crispy-skinned, razor-gloved dream invader. Freddy was going to die because this was “The Final Nightmare.” Which is exactly what happened. Only, that wasn’t the original plan.
In a video posted this week, the film’s director, Rachel Talalay, revealed that the original script for the film had a different ending. One that she actually filmed but, very quickly, cut in the editing. It would have seen the demons that made child molester and murderer Fred Kruger so powerful leave his body and go into another’s. “The cycle continues” was the final line of the script.
You can see the script page and a few screenshots of the footage in the video below. Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for the heads-up.
As mentioned in the video, while the initial thought was to give the film that classic, open-ended horror film coda, everyone involved quickly realized they couldn’t. The film was called Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and they didn’t want fans to feel like they’d been lied to. So, the footage got cut. And, as Talalay said, has since been lost to time. She has no idea where it is.
Which, honestly, might be a good thing. As she mentions in the video, Wes Craven returning to do the highly underrated and well ahead of its time New Nightmare was a much better workaround to bring Freddy back, even if audiences didn’t quite embrace it. And, of course, he’s come back a few times since, in Freddy vs. Jason and 2010’s god-awful remake.
The one throughline in all those films, however, is that Freddy is always Freddy. He’s not some new person, a boy no less, who gets possessed. That would very much undercut the biggest selling point of the series—Freddy himself. So while we’re glad this scene got cut, it’s still pretty fascinating to think about.
How do you think things would’ve changed if Freddy’s Dead actually ended this way? Can another person have Freddy’s powers and be as interesting? Let us know below.
Also, as our own sort of extra ending here, can you believe it has been over 15 years, and there hasn’t been another Nightmare on Elm Street movie? We’re guessing it’s some sort of rights issue, but it’s just maddening. Horror is so popular these days that these iconic characters—including Freddy Krueger and his on-screen rival, Jason Voorhees—would seem to be guaranteed box office. The people involved need to suck it up, make the deals, and give the fans what they want. Awesome horror movies with these legendary characters. Okay, now, we’re done.
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