‘Freddy’s Dead’ Almost Had a Very Different Ending, According to a New Video Interview With Its Director [Watch]
Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare was marketed as the definitive end of Freddy Krueger—but according to its director Rachel Talalay, the film originally closed on a very different, far more open-ended note…
In a new interview video, Talalay reveals to fans that the original script for the sixth Nightmare on Elm Street film actually featured an alternate ending that was not only written, but filmed. It would have seen the supernatural demons that empowered Freddy Krueger leave his body after his death and transfer into another character, suggesting the birth of a new Freddy-like figure. The final line of the script read simply: “The cycle continues.” You can watch that interview video in full below.
Turns out, the moment was removed during post-production. As Talalay says, the team struggled to tease Freddy’s return since it conflicted with the promise made in the film’s title. The footage was removed, and Talalay has since said it appears to be lost, with no known copy surviving.
The alt ending is one of the franchise’s most intriguing alternate histories. And we all know how fans tend to turn on anyone brave enough to pick up an icon’s baton (looking at you, Roy.)
Talalay also recently reflected on Freddy’s Dead and its legacy during an appearance on Dread Central’s Development Hell, where she talked about the film’s tone, which has often been described—and dismissed.
“I don’t like when I have to read that the film is campy because it’s seen as a negative,” Talalay said. “I think there’s got to be a better word to describe having humor and having energy… I think when people say about Freddy’s Dead that it’s campy, they mean it as a negative. So, my relationship to the word is curious and worried when I read that.”
While we spoke, she also recalled the unusual cultural moment surrounding the film’s release, which included a now-infamous promotional stunt in Los Angeles.
“I think the weirdest Freddy thing was Mayor Bradley in Los Angeles declaring Freddy Krueger Day before Freddy’s Dead came out,” Talalay said. “It’s probably in the mayoral records. We gave a funeral to Freddy there at the Hollywood Cemetery, and there were coffins and we all mourned Freddy… I have no idea what Mayor Bradley was thinking then.”
Listen to that conversation here:
Categorized: News
