What does the original Nightmare's ending mean to you?

[Lambert 79]

This thread will probably contain SPOILERS.

I would like to ask everyone here what they thought was significant about the movie's ending.

In my opinion, the reason why Nancy was able to defeat Fred in the way that she did was because she stood up to him, looked him in the eye, like no other character did. She faced her fear, didn't run, and was able to gain control over him.

Tina was the opposite. She ran as fast as she could with no intention of facing him. She allowed the terror to control her, and we see the result.

[Luke-Abbott]

To me (in my opinion), I thought Freddy was just having the "last laugh" in the end.

When you hear him say "What??" when Nancy asks for her friends to come back and apparently knows his "secret", his tone of voice is kinda like: "What the hell are you on?" He's killed her friends, their dead and gone, not coming back. So, maybe he saw this as a way of having one last "laugh" with her, by making her believe her friends and family were back.

Remember when Nancy said in NOES3 that "he killed my friends and family", Freddy DID kill the people that had some meaning in Nancy's life and will soon enough come for her.

[Saruman]

Originally posted by Luke-Abbott
To me (in my opinion), I thought Freddy was just having the "last laugh" in the end.

When you hear him say "What??" when Nancy asks for her friends to come back and apparently knows his "secret", his tone of voice is kinda like: "What the hell are you on?" He's killed her friends, their dead and gone, not coming back. So, maybe he saw this as a way of having one last "laugh" with her, by making her believe her friends and family were back.

Remember when Nancy said in NOES3 that "he killed my friends and family", Freddy DID kill the people that had some meaning in Nancy's life and will soon enough come for her.

That basically sums it up for me. Freddy was just fucking with her. After Nancy beats him Freddy comes back to kill her mother. I wish Nightmare had of ended after the original. Freddy should have been unstoppable.

[Lambert 79]

Now that's why I like getting into discussions like these. I never thought about the end so far as why her friends were still alive, or appeared to be. It makes perfect sense as soon as her mother dies a second time. Everyone Nancy thought was safe, there only to fool her.

How depressing.

[Zeptron]

Yeah, I think the whole ending sequence was a dream, & in it, Nancy was no longer fearful of Freddy, so he couldn't hurt her; however, once he scared her with the possessed car & Marge's death, he got his power back, & he would continue to haunt her until 1 of them was dead. At least that's how I see it.

[ERIN_LoJ]

One of those endings open to interpretation. Based on what followed in the sequels - It doesn't make sense that Freddy really did win at the end since obviously Freddy was conquered...otherwise he wouldnt have been able to come back for Jessie after a resurrection, he would have stayed on . We also do know that Nancy's friends and mother really were killed off, which wouldn't have fit with them being alive at the end (ignoring the mother grabbed through the paperish door).

But if you look at the movie alone and ignore any sequels, Lukes theory on freddy having the last laugh could be right. Then again, the whole theme of the movie was that Nancy figured out the way to official beat him, and since she did that, him just mysteriously coming back doesnt make much sense. I guess I'm adding it up to the very ending being another dream.

Or else just a ploy to confuse the hell out of the audience ;)

[Lambert 79]

I'm afraid to watch the sequels because in them Freddy has more dialogue and is less scary, but I learned from a website that the original glove was stolen, and could not be used for the sequel. Damn thieves!

[!MorganOnyx!]

Yeah I pretty much agree with everyone. Everyone that died really did die, Nancy defeats Freddy. The sequence at the end where she goes to school with her friends and Freddy takes control of the car before pulling her mother threw the front door window, was a dream.

P.S - CRAVEN has always noted that he really liked the original PHANTASM. The ending is a blatant rip off of PHANTASM'S ending. It may have meant nothing at all to CRAVEN and was just used for a FRIDAY THE 13th style "last gasp scare".

[Shatter]

Originally posted by Luke-Abbott
To me (in my opinion), I thought Freddy was just having the "last laugh" in the end.

When you hear him say "What??" when Nancy asks for her friends to come back and apparently knows his "secret", his tone of voice is kinda like: "What the hell are you on?" He's killed her friends, their dead and gone, not coming back. So, maybe he saw this as a way of having one last "laugh" with her, by making her believe her friends and family were back.

Remember when Nancy said in NOES3 that "he killed my friends and family", Freddy DID kill the people that had some meaning in Nancy's life and will soon enough come for her.


Originally posted by !MorganOnyx!
Yeah I pretty much agree with everyone. Everyone that died really did die, Nancy defeats Freddy. The sequence at the end where she goes to school with her friends and Freddy takes control of the car before pulling her mother threw the front door window, was a dream.


Freddy feeds on fear and when Nancy refused to fear him then he couldn't draw power from her. So he had to find a way to scare her again.

When Nancy wanted the people that Freddy killed back, this was his way of doing it to mess with her.

In Dream Warriors when they go to save Joey she says "Let him go!" To which Freddy replies, "Your wish, is my command." And proceeds to let him go, in to the flaming pit below him.

Now that I think about it, the reason behind Freddy developing a dark sense of humor may have been a way to mock his victims and further feed on their emotional energy.

[fear's soul]

just a tease. from an idea a shmoe here made (duke nukem's horror talk) that's proply just to make us act like this, it means nothing more then a joke, and we're the butt

eat your fear

[Cronos]

Originally posted by Luke-Abbott
To me (in my opinion), I thought Freddy was just having the "last laugh" in the end.

When you hear him say "What??" when Nancy asks for her friends to come back and apparently knows his "secret", his tone of voice is kinda like: "What the hell are you on?" He's killed her friends, their dead and gone, not coming back. So, maybe he saw this as a way of having one last "laugh" with her, by making her believe her friends and family were back.

Remember when Nancy said in NOES3 that "he killed my friends and family", Freddy DID kill the people that had some meaning in Nancy's life and will soon enough come for her.

thats exactly what i got from it

[Wolfman]

I haven't seen any of the sequels except New Nightmare, and it sucked.

My interpretation? You're not supposed to know what happened. The ending suggests that the whole movie was just a dream (which, I believe, the Director's Commentary supports), but then with the "shock" at the end, you're not sure.

More than any other horror movie in recent memory, you're not supposed to know what is real and what is a dream in the first Nightmare. I think Craven put in the "WTF" ending just to have a "WTF" ending.

Remember, no one was considering sequels when they made the first movie, so anything that happens in those sequels is just some type of justification of the ending.

[teenkiller]

Here's my take on it:

Earlier in the film Glen told Nancy about the Balanese way of dreaming. If you face some kind of monster you turn your back on it. Showing that you're not afraid of it you take away all its energy and it disappears. Nancy tried this at the end of the movie and sure enough FREDDY himself dissipated. However you can't BEAT FREDDY. Best you can do is fight him to a draw as it seems he will NEVER die. So FREDDY decided to give Nancy the illusion that her mother and friends were alive and well again only to later give her the horrifying truth. FREDDY was pretty much telling her "You may have won but I'm going to get the last laugh."

In real life CRAVEN actually wanted a happy ending where nothing goes wrong. Bob Shaye actually wanted a twist ending to leave it open for a sequel which CRAVEN believed was a spit in the face to what was supposed to happen: Have Nancy win. However, since Bob Shaye helped CRAVEN so much and was the only man to give him a shot at making the movie (all the other movie companies said it wasn't scary enough) Wes decided to compromise and put the twist ending in as a sign of gratitude.
Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.