Six Horror Franchises to Watch This Halloween

A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the biggest horror franchises. It was created by Wes Craven while Robert Englund stars as the terrifyingly brilliant Freddy Krueger. For those unfamiliar to the character, his method of killing is different from the others.

Rather than killing his victims in the real world, he waits until they’re sleeping. It’s in the dream world where Freddy thrives and because of this, he’s difficult to kill. He also stands out due to his red and green sweater, scarred face and knife glove hand.

Oh, and he loves to use foul language when toying with his prey.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, New Line Cinema
Image: New Line Cinema

A Nightmare on Elm Street focuses on different main characters. However, the most notable one is Nancy Thompson (Heather Lagenkamp). She appears in three out of the seven movies. While that doesn’t sound like much, she is mentioned in two othres.

Although, one of the appearances is Heather mostly playing herself. This is in Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare. It’s a weird movie that blends reality with fiction. Freddy Krueger is actually an entity Wes Craven traps by releasing the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

A Nightmare on Elm Street, New Line Cinema
Image: New Line Cinema

Outside of the franchise, Freddy Krueger went toe to toe with Jason in Freddy vs Jason. He also makes an appearance in The Goldbergs Halloween special where Freddy meets his match. A remake was produced by Michael Bay in 2010 but was panned by critics and audiences alike.

In this version, Freddy is played by Jackie Earle Haley. While Jackie is a good choice for the role, ultimately the film couldn’t live up to the original. Whether we’ll see more Freddy is unclear, but it is something Robert Englund appears to be interested in.

Freddy Vs Jason, New Line Cinema
Image: New Line Cinema

Release Order

1984 / A Nightmare on Elm Street / Wes Craven

1985 / A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge / Jack Sholder

1987 / A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors / Chuck Russell

1988 / A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master / Renny Harlin

1989 / A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child / Stephen Hopkins

1991 / Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare / Rachel Talalay

1994 / Wes Craven’s New Nightmare / Wes Craven

2003 / Freddy vs Jason / Ronny Yu

Next: Hellraiser

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