{"id":8042,"date":"2016-06-15T16:05:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T20:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=8042"},"modified":"2025-10-26T00:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T04:28:07","slug":"did-nightmare-on-elm-street-originally-have-a-happy-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2016\/06\/15\/did-nightmare-on-elm-street-originally-have-a-happy-ending\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Nightmare on Elm Street Originally Have a Happy Ending?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/movie-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the Movie urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">MOVIE URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: Wes Craven&#8217;s original ending for A Nightmare on Elm Street was dramatically different than what made it into theaters. <\/p>\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t seen A Nightmare on Elm Street, you might not want to read this one. You are spoiler warned!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/nightmareelmstreet.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?t=legenrevea-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=B001G8XOMG&#038;ref=tf_til&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The low-budget horror film, written and directed by Wes Craven, was a massive success upon its release in 1984 and a sequel was quickly rushed out for release the next year (the series ultimately became a successful film franchise).<\/p>\n<p>However, when Craven wrote the film, he never intended it as the beginning of a franchise, and in fact, Craven&#8217;s original ending for the film had a happy ending!<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p> The film&#8217;s protagonist, Nancy Thompson, sees basically all of her friends and her mother killed by the evil Freddy Kruegger, who attacks you in your dreams and if you die in your dream you also die in real life. Craven wanted the film to end with Nancy defeating Freddy by basically refusing to believe in him. <\/p>\n<p>The next day would then open with the revelation that it was ALL a dream, and Nancy&#8217;s mother and her friends were all still alive. Here are two screen shots of that original ending&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/elmstreetend1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/elmstreetend2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>However, the head of New Line Cinema (who financed the film &#8211; the first time the independent movie distributor actually produced its own film) Robert Shaye insisted that the ending be done in such a way to set up a sequel. Shaye compelled Craven to have Craven&#8217;s original ending modified into a &#8220;twist&#8221; ending, where what Nancy THINKS is the next day is actually still part of the nightmare, with Kruegger pulling her mother into the house and having Kruegger posess the car she and her friends are driving in and having the film end in that shocking fashion.<\/p>\n<p>They ultimately filmed four versions of the ending &#8211; the happy one, the twist one and two compromise versions (mostly the twist ending, but with slight changes). They went with the twist ending. Craven decided not to do the second film, although he later returned to the film franchise for a few of the sequels. <\/p>\n<p>The legend) is&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: True<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to check out <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/movie-legends-history\/\">my archive of Movie Legends Revealed<\/a> for more urban legends about the world of films.<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bc&#114;&#x6f;&#x6e;in&#64;&#108;&#x65;&#x67;end&#115;&#x72;&#x65;ve&#97;&#x6c;&#x65;&#x64;.c&#111;&#x6d;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the Movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Wes Craven&#8217;s original ending for A Nightmare on Elm Street was dramatically different than what made it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[11],"tags":[2542],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-25I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5153,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/09\/25\/was-nightmare-on-elm-street-seriously-inspired-by-the-1970s-pop-hit-dream-weaver\/","url_meta":{"origin":8042,"position":0},"title":"Was Nightmare on Elm Street Seriously Inspired by the 1970s Pop Hit &#8220;Dream Weaver&#8221;?","date":"September 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Was Nightmare on Elm Street seriously inspired by the 1970s pop hit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movie Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5025,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/08\/29\/did-house-party-nearly-star-dj-jazzy-jeff-and-the-fresh-prince\/","url_meta":{"origin":8042,"position":1},"title":"Did House Party Nearly Star DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince?!","date":"August 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: House Party nearly starred DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movie Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/djjazzyjefffreshprince.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6039,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2015\/07\/03\/was-the-ghostface-mask-from-scream-first-discovered-in-an-abandoned-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":8042,"position":2},"title":"Was the Ghostface Mask From Scream First Discovered in an Abandoned House?","date":"July 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the Movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: The mask used in Scream was discovered in an abandoned house during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movie Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Scream-Ghostface-mask","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Scream-Ghostface-mask.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4201,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2012\/12\/28\/did-chinatown-originally-have-a-much-different-ending\/","url_meta":{"origin":8042,"position":3},"title":"Did Chinatown Originally Have a Much Different Ending?","date":"December 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Robert Towne's original ending for Chinatown was about the complete opposite of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movie Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5852,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2014\/02\/10\/was-the-score-for-the-amityville-horror-just-the-rejected-score-for-the-exorcist\/","url_meta":{"origin":8042,"position":4},"title":"Was the Score for the Amityville Horror Just the Rejected Score for the Exorcist?","date":"February 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Lalo Schifrin re-used his rejected score for The Exorcist for The Amityville\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movie Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9113,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2018\/12\/24\/sesame-street-bert-ernie-its-a-wonderful-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":8042,"position":5},"title":"Were Sesame Street&#8217;s Bert and Ernie Named After It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life?","date":"December 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far. TV URBAN LEGEND: Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie were named after George Bailey's two best\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/berts-and-ernies-display.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8045,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8042\/revisions\/8045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}