The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is arguably the biggest series in slasher horror, defining the genre back in the 1980s. Killer dream maniac Freddy Krueger would become an overnight pop culture icon, but this transition into stardom eventually marked the downfall of the series. One planned finale, however, would've commented on how much of a joke Freddy had become to give him back his ethereal edge.

Peter Jackson of all people penned a Nightmare on Elm Street script in which no one was afraid of Freddy Krueger anymore, and the result could've been the best film in the franchise yet. It sadly wasn't made, instead "replaced" with easily the worst film in the franchise yet. Here's how Peter Jackson's Freddy flick would've turned audiences' expectations completely on their head.

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Peter Jackson's The Dream Lover

The title for the future director of The Lord of the Rings was A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: Dream Lover. This naming convention followed the previous three movies: Dream WarriorsThe Dream Master and The Dream Child. By this point in time, the once beloved franchise had definitely seen better days, and the same could be said for Freddy himself. While he was initially a grisly, disturbing figure in the first and, arguably, the second movies, he had quickly become a borderline comedic killer who was quick with the quips. His methods of killing teenagers had also transitioned from gruesome to downright hysterical, with the murders essentially being darkly humorous comedy sketches. In the real world, the character had similarly transcended the status of a horror villain, with Freddy Krueger child Halloween costumes existing in the same world as Nightmare on Elm Street rap videos. Though he was much more vocal than fellow slashers such as the lumbering Jason Vorhees, this gift of gab had become his horror's undoing.

Peter Jackson planned to touch on all of this, all while giving the burned killer his claws back. In the script for Dream Lover, the children of Springwood, Ohio, no longer feared Freddy Krueger. Instead of cowering from him, teens would intentionally take sleeping pills to go into the Dream World and casually beat up the now powerless Freddy. Through differing events (some reports state that Freddy would muster up the strength to kill one of the kids, while others say that one of the adults of Springwood came to fear Freddy again), Freddy would begin regaining his power, and thus, his legend. This would have likely been a sendoff to the franchise as the sixth film eventually was, restoring the series to its former glory while saying goodbye. Unfortunately, this fascinating concept was not to be at New Line Cinema, becoming an unmade horror classic.

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Peter Jackson Would've Changed Nightmare on Elm Street For the Better

Freddy Stalks His Prey In Wes Cravens New Nightmare

New Line would eventually pass on Jackson's ideas, perhaps wanting to make a movie with more built-in finality for a franchise that had now become half-past long in the tooth. Sadly, the result of this was Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, which was a disappointing end to the franchise and a terrible movie in general. A crossover with the Friday the 13th movies would finally come about years later, but even this couldn't quite revitalize the magic. Before that movie, there was the semi-sequel New Nightmare, which took some of the meta-commentary concepts from Jackson's script to a higher level. In that movie, which was set in the real world, the true Freddy was a sort of demon that was trying to escape from the realm of fiction into reality.

These meta concepts made for a great movie, with many considering New Nightmare to be the true finale of the series. However, the film likely wouldn't have been made if Dream Lover had gotten the green light. By that point, the meta commentary would've seemed trite as well, as that sort of story can also be told once for a franchise. Thus, it took one potentially great send-off for Freddy being rejected to give audiences another nightmare entirely.

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