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,
00:12mistakes happen throughout the entire landscape of Hollywood,
00:15with horror movies being absolutely no exception at all.
00:18So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here,
00:21with 9 Horror Movie Mistakes Confirmed by the Creators.
00:259. The Sequel Tease in A Nightmare on Elm Street
00:30A Nightmare on Elm Street is without question one of the most iconic horror franchises in the history of the genre.
00:36Terrifying audiences back in 1984, the movie introduced the world to Freddy Krueger,
00:41who would 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 eight sequels and or reboots since the original movie,
00:51but that wasn't always the plan.
00:52It 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,
01:00never having to worry about 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,
01:14with the kids trapped in the 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.
01:26In his own words, it was the only part of the movie that wasn't him.
01:31Number 8. A crew member in the shot, in The Descent.
01:35One of the simplest tools to implement in a movie,
01:37with potentially the biggest upside, is the use of foreshadowing.
01:41Since audiences don't know what they're looking for yet,
01:43certain clues and hints can be dropped by 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 in 2005.
01:55The group of women who make the titular descent into an unknown cave system are eventually chased by beings known as crawlers.
02:02Though it would appear that one could be seen in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment
02:05before they were ever even introduced to the film properly.
02:09What actually happened, however, was that for the briefest moment,
02:12there was a crew member caught on camera.
02:14So, there was no clever intentional foreshadowing at all.
02:17Just someone who was supposed to be behind the camera, getting caught in front of it.
02:21Still, for those who haven't listened to Marshall confirm exactly what happened on the DVD commentary,
02:26this 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 this stellar work.
02:34Number 7. Going 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,
02:46Mia and Vincent in the dance competition,
02:48and even the now over-memed scene of Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood are all great examples.
02:54What you wouldn't typically go to is Grindhouse,
02:57the legendary director's ill-advised double feature released with Robert Rodriguez.
03:01Comprising of the latter's Planet Terror and the former's Death Proof,
03:05there weren't nearly as many people interested in these stories as either man was used to.
03:09According to Tarantino, the mistake he and Rodriguez made
03:12was that they assumed fans would be on board with whatever they did.
03:15They had taken audiences on wild journeys before,
03:18and they had always been followed, but not this time.
03:21The movie ended up losing money,
03:23bringing in just $24.5 million at the box office against a budget of $53 million,
03:29and it was a hard lesson for Tarantino to learn.
03:32At least he was able to recognise that mistake and learn from it,
03:35going on to make one of his finest ever pieces just two years later in Inglourious Bastards.
03:406. Not Focusing on the Xenomorph in Prometheus
03:44There's a habit in Hollywood to take any successful franchise and give it sequels,
03:49prequels, reboots, and any other possible way of milking it for all it's worth until fans are utterly tired of it.
03:55Some of these franchises are forced to go in a different direction in an attempt to keep things fresh,
04:00which 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,
04:12and to say that fans were underwhelmed and even a little annoyed would be an understatement.
04:16The direction the movie went in was to essentially leave the iconic Xenomorph behind
04:20in favour of focusing instead on the engineers.
04:23This was just one mistake made by the movie,
04:26but the only one that Ridley Scott has openly admitted to making.
04:29After four movies, he thought that audiences were tired of the Xenomorph,
04:33and that moving on would have been the best for the franchise.
04:35The immediate and passionate reaction to the movie from fans proved just how wrong he actually was.
04:41Number 5. Making any sequels at all for Halloween
04:45It is the hallmark of any successful movie that a number of sequels will ultimately be made off the
04:50back of it, and in the horror genre, this is taken to more extreme lengths than usual.
04:55A Nightmare on Elm Street isn't the only franchise to have an absurd amount of sequels.
04:59Alongside 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,
05:12but in the eyes of John Carpenter, even one sequel to his original 1978 movie was too many.
05:18After directing the original, Carpenter co-wrote the first sequel three years later,
05:23and in 2014 admitted that the franchise should have ended with just one movie.
05:27He felt that there was no more story to tell after the first 90 minutes,
05:31but whether on the back of fan demands or producer demands, Michael Myers kept returning.
05:36Carpenter even tried to end the franchise himself with Halloween 2,
05:40seemingly killing off the man behind the mask, but the money kept coming in, and so did the sequels.
05:46Number 4. Putting 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,
05:55with however many released 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 11th movie in the franchise proved to actually give Halloween the shot in the arm
06:09these sequels are supposed to do, and was so enjoyed by audiences
06:12that one of the movie'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 how
06:27it would play out in the cinema. In reality, while the audience was still screaming at what came
06:31before, no one could hear Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie utter,
06:35Happy Halloween, Michael.
06:36Director David Gordon Green absolutely stands by the line, but has admitted that it was a mistake
06:42to put it in the film where he did, in the middle of what was described as a ruckus from the audience.
06:47Had the line been put in before test screens, he would have known this and could have made the change
06:52before its theatrical release.
06:54Number 3. The tree scene in The Evil Dead
06:57Shock value is one of the biggest tools at the disposal of any horror movie in the modern day.
07:03Whether 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.
07:12Tom Six built an entire franchise in The Human Centipede on the latter,
07:15and we can all agree that trilogy isn't exactly the height of cinematic brilliance.
07:19It is also something that Sam Raimi came incredibly close to doing with one scene in particular in
07:24The Evil Dead. The scene is iconic, even now, after 40 years, in which a woman in the woods is
07:30attacked by tree branches. They pin her arms and legs down, rip her clothes off, and slide up her
07:35leg and into her body. It'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 did.
07:46It 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 to go
07:54that far ever since.
07:56Number 2. Smoking too close to the camera in Halloween
07:59It'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. Such tiny details are usually there for a reason,
08:14even if it isn't quite obvious at first. Incredibly eagle-eyed viewers may have felt
08:19that way about the iconic scene in 1978's Halloween, when Michael Myers hides behind
08:24the bushes only to be revealed by Annie that he isn't there at all. While she is making fun
08:28of Laurie for being scared of nothing, a tiny, barely noticeable wisp of smoke can be seen
08:34floating across the shot. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but those that did may have
08:38questioned exactly what it was or what it meant.
08:41The truth? As told by the man himself on the DVD commentary, the mysterious smoke was the
08:46result of director John Carpenter lighting a cigarette too close to the camera and nothing
08:51more. No subtle foreshadowing, no subconscious commentary, just a director who couldn't wait for
08:56as smoke. 1. Freddy Krueger's change in appearance in Wes Craven's New Nightmare
09:02Movie characters go through changes all the time. Whether an evolution of their character on a
09:07personality level, a change in costume, or even a drastically different appearance,
09:12these changes will always happen. Particularly susceptible to such alterations are movie franchises
09:18and characters that have been around for many years, with those behind the scenes feeling the
09:22need for shaking things up somewhat. Even the great Freddy Krueger wasn't immune from this.
09:2810 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 movie
09:38characters of all time. He was essentially modernised and made to look somewhat slicker for
09:42the new release, and Wes Craven believed this to be a mistake in hindsight. While Freddy was
09:47certainly still recognisable, and potentially even more realistic, there was just no need to change
09:53what had been working for the past 10 years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? The charred face
09:58was an iconic image, and there was absolutely no need to change it. There weren't exactly major
10:02consequences to it, but still a mistake in the eyes of most fans, and even Wes Craven himself.
10:08And that concludes our list. If you think we missed any, then do let us know in the comments below,
10:12and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe, and tap that notification bell. Also,
10:16head over to Twitter and follow us there, and I can be found across various social medias just by
10:21searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have a magical day,
10:26and I'll see you real soon.