No, you shouldn't have changed Freddy Krueger's face.
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00:00It's not a crime to make a mistake, movie directors are only human after all.
00:04From scenes that came off as too brutal and unsettling, to misguided casting decisions,
00:09and even standing too close to the camera while smoking a cigarette, mistakes happen
00:13throughout the entire landscape of Hollywood, with horror movies being absolutely no exception
00:18at all.
00:19So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 9 Horror Movie Mistakes Confirmed
00:24by the Creators.
00:269.
00:27The Sequel Tease in A Nightmare on Elm Street A Nightmare on Elm Street is without question
00:33one of the most iconic horror franchises in the history of the genre.
00:37Terrifying audiences back in 1984, the movie introduced the world to Freddy Krueger, who
00:42would do his best to make sure no one watching the film would sleep easy again.
00:46Of course, the movie has gone on to have 8 sequels and or reboots since the original
00:51movie, but that wasn't always the plan.
00:53It was always Wes Craven's vision to end the first movie with Nancy defeating Freddy
00:57and simply going off to school in the bright sunshine the next day, never having to worry
01:01about him again.
01:02Founder of New Line Cinema, Robert Shea, had different ideas, however.
01:06He wanted a hook for a sequel and so suggested Freddy pick the kids up and drive away.
01:11The compromise agreed upon was how the film ultimately ended, with the kids trapped in
01:15the car with Freddy's unmistakable stripes decorating the roof.
01:18This was a compromise that satisfied no one, in particular Craven.
01:22This was a mistake in his eyes because he was forced to change a huge part of his movie.
01:27In his own words, it was the only part of the movie that wasn't him.
01:318.
01:32A Crew Member in the Shot in The Descent
01:35One of the simplest tools to implement in a movie, with potentially the biggest upside,
01:39is the use of foreshadowing.
01:41Since audiences don't know what they're looking for yet, certain clues and hints can be dropped
01:45by the director for later events in the movie to great effect.
01:49It was thought that Neil Marshall masterfully made use of this technique during The Descent
01:54in 2005.
01:55The group of women who make the titular descent into an unknown cave system are eventually
01:59chased by beings known as Crawlers, though it would appear that one could be seen in
02:04a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment before they were ever even introduced to the film properly.
02:09What actually happened, however, was that for the briefest moment, there was a crew
02:12member caught on camera.
02:14So there was no clever intentional foreshadowing at all, just someone who was supposed to be
02:18behind the camera getting caught in front of it.
02:21Still, for those who haven't listened to Marshall confirm exactly what happened on
02:24the DVD commentary, this could add another layer to the already creepy movie.
02:29It would have almost been better had the director kept his mouth shut and taken the credit for
02:33this stellar work.
02:347.
02:35Going Too Weird in Grindhouse
02:38There are so many things that automatically come to mind when you think of Quentin Tarantino.
02:43Mr. Blonde dancing in the warehouse in Reservoir Dogs, Mia and Vincent in the dance competition,
02:49and even the now over-memed scene of Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
02:53are all great examples.
02:54What you wouldn't typically go to is Grindhouse, the legendary director's ill-advised double
02:59feature released with Robert Rodriguez.
03:01Comprising of the latter's Planet Terror and the former's Death Proof, there weren't
03:05nearly as many people interested in these stories as either man was used to.
03:09According to Tarantino, the mistake he and Rodriguez made was that they assumed fans
03:13would be on board with whatever they did.
03:15They had taken audiences on wild journeys before, and they had always been followed.
03:20But not this time.
03:21The movie ended up losing money, bringing in just $24.5 million at the box office against
03:27a budget of $53 million, and it was a hard lesson for Tarantino to learn.
03:31At least he was able to recognise that mistake and learn from it, going on to make one of
03:36his finest ever pieces just two years later in Inglourious Basterds.
03:406.
03:41Not Focusing on the Xenomorph in Prometheus
03:45There's a habit in Hollywood to take any successful franchise and give it sequels,
03:50prequels, reboots, and any other possible way of milking it for all it's worth until
03:54fans are utterly tired of it.
03:55Some of these franchises are forced to go in a different direction in an attempt to
03:59keep things fresh, which is exactly the plan for Prometheus in 2012.
04:03Since the incredibly popular first two movies of the franchise, things had steadily declined.
04:08Prometheus was released a whole 15 years after Alien Resurrection, and to say that fans were
04:13underwhelmed and even a little annoyed would be an understatement.
04:16The direction the movie went in was to essentially leave the iconic Xenomorph behind in favour
04:21of focusing instead on the Engineers.
04:23This was just one mistake made by the movie, but the only one that Ridley Scott has openly
04:28admitted to making.
04:29After four movies, he thought that audiences were tired of the Xenomorph, and that moving
04:33on would have been the best for the franchise.
04:36The immediate and passionate reaction to the movie from fans proved just how wrong he actually
04:40was.
04:415.
04:43Not having any sequels at all for Halloween
04:46It is the hallmark of any successful movie that a number of sequels will ultimately be
04:50made off the back of it, and in the horror genre, this is taken to more extreme lengths
04:54than usual.
04:55A Nightmare on Elm Street isn't the only franchise to have an absurd amount of sequels.
05:00Alongside Friday the 13th and Hellraiser, Halloween has made it into double-digit numbers,
05:05with Halloween Ends set to take the total up to 13 before 2022 is done.
05:10Any reasonable person can see that this is too many, but in the eyes of John Carpenter,
05:15even one sequel to his original 1978 movie was too many.
05:19After directing the original, Carpenter co-wrote the first sequel three years later, and in
05:232014 admitted that the franchise should have ended with just one movie.
05:28He felt that there was no more story to tell after the first 90 minutes, but whether on
05:32the back of fan demands or producer demands, Michael Myers kept returning.
05:37Carpenter even tried to end the franchise himself with Halloween II, seemingly killing
05:41off the man behind the mask, but the money kept coming in, and so did the sequels.
05:464.
05:47Putting the best line of the movie in the wrong place in Halloween
05:50Most sequel movies that come out 40 years after the original movie, with however many
05:56released in between, are inevitably just as tired and pointless as the previous few.
06:00However, in 2018, Halloween proved that trend could be broken.
06:05The eleventh movie in the franchise proved to actually give Halloween the shot in the
06:09arm these sequels are supposed to do, and was so enjoyed by audiences that one of the
06:13movie's would-be most iconic lines completely passed them by.
06:17This particular bit of dialogue was added into the movie in such a last-minute fashion
06:21it came after test audience screenings, meaning the director had no way of knowing exactly
06:26how it would play out in the cinema.
06:28In reality, while the audience was still screaming at what came before, no one could hear Jamie
06:33Lee Curtis' Laurie utter,
06:35"'Happy Halloween, Michael.'"
06:37Director David Gordon Green absolutely stands by the line, but has admitted that it was
06:42a mistake to put it in the film where he did, in the middle of what was described as a ruckus
06:46from the audience.
06:47Had the line been put in before test screens, he would have known this and could have made
06:51the change before its theatrical release.
06:543.
06:55The tree scene in The Evil Dead
06:58Shock value is one of the biggest tools at the disposal of any horror movie in the modern
07:03day.
07:04Whether it's a jump scare, something particularly gory, or even something so awful and vile
07:08it was put there with the sole intention of offending audiences, Tom Six built an entire
07:13franchise in the human centipede on the latter, and we can all agree that trilogy isn't exactly
07:18the height of cinematic brilliance.
07:19It is also something that Sam Raimi came incredibly close to doing with one scene in particular
07:24in The Evil Dead.
07:25The scene is iconic even now after 40 years in which a woman in the woods is attacked
07:30by tree branches.
07:31They pin her arms and legs down, rip her clothes off, and slide up her leg and into
07:36her body.
07:37It's disturbing, a little too much so, even for the man who directed the scene.
07:41Confessing that he felt the scene was a little too brutal, Raimi regrets making it how he
07:46did.
07:47It was never his intention to offend, only to scare and to entertain.
07:50He came a little too close to the knuckle with this moment, and has never been tempted
07:54to go that far ever since.
07:562.
07:57Smoking too close to the camera in Halloween
08:00It's quite often the case that the devil is in the details with regards to any movie.
08:04The most meticulous thought and effort could sometimes be put into something that, chances
08:09are, audiences may not even notice anyway.
08:11Such tiny details are usually there for a reason, even if it isn't quite obvious at
08:16first.
08:17Incredibly eagle-eyed viewers may have felt that way about the iconic scene in 1978's
08:22Halloween when Michael Myers hides behind the bushes only to be revealed by Annie that
08:26he isn't there at all.
08:28While she is making fun of Laurie for being scared of nothing, a tiny, barely noticeable
08:32wisp of smoke can be seen floating across the shot.
08:35Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but those that did may have questioned exactly
08:39what it was or what it meant.
08:41The truth?
08:42As told by the man himself on the DVD commentary, the mysterious smoke was the result of director
08:47John Carpenter lighting a cigarette too close to the camera and nothing more.
08:51No subtle foreshadowing, no subconscious commentary, just a director who couldn't wait for a smoke.
08:571.
08:58Freddy Krueger's Change in Appearance in Wes Craven's New Nightmare
09:02Movie characters go through changes all the time.
09:05Whether an evolution of their character on a personality level, a change in costume,
09:10or even a drastically different appearance, these changes will always happen.
09:15Particularly susceptible to such alterations are movie franchises and characters that have
09:19been around for many years, with those behind the scenes feeling the need for shaking things
09:24up somewhat.
09:25Even the great Freddy Krueger wasn't immune from this.
09:28Ten years after his debut, Freddy came to screens again in Wes Craven's New Nightmare,
09:32with the director signing off a new, almost revamped look to one of the most classic horror
09:38movie characters of all time.
09:39He was essentially modernised and made to look somewhat slicker for the new release,
09:43and Wes Craven believed this to be a mistake in hindsight.
09:47While Freddy was certainly still recognisable, and potentially even more realistic, there
09:51was just no need to change what had been working for the past ten years.
09:55If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
09:57The charred face was an iconic image, and there was absolutely no need to change it.
10:01There weren't exactly major consequences to it, but still a mistake in the eyes of
10:05most fans, and even Wes Craven himself.
10:08And that concludes our list.
10:10If you think we missed any, then do let us know in the comments below, and while you're
10:13there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
10:16Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias
10:20just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
10:22I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day and I'll see you real soon.