The Freddy's Dead Workprint

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Freddy's Dead, one of the most controversial films in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. I recently learned that this has a work print that has a lot more footage than the theatrical cut. So, I tracked down a copy, and today we're going to take a look at it and look at everything that's included.

[00:00:15]>> [music] >> The work print for Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare has a ton of changes.

[00:00:22]The version of the movie I used for this comparison has a lot of reconstructed footage. And it inserts the work print pictures, so it's sort of consistent when you're watching. So, there's a lot of small changes, and there's a lot of big changes. I'm really just going to try to talk about everything I think is worth mentioning, so small disclaimer there. The beginning of the film has plenty of changes during John's nightmare sequence. The first changes are shots of John in the airplane in the falling house. Just a couple of extra frames here and there. Nothing too wild.

[00:00:49]During The Wizard of Oz bit, which being from Kansas, I always loved this bit in this movie. It's perfect. It's beautiful. I love it. The actual Wizard of Oz score is used here.

[00:01:02]Then when he wakes up in Springwood, we have some additional shots here. And the song "Low" by R.E.M. is featured here.

[00:01:07]There's some more character development for Maggie. There's more of her before she arrived at the clinic, a sympathy card for her recently deceased father.

[00:01:15]This gives us more backstory and expands her character a bit more. She also dreams about playing tag with her dad.

[00:01:21]And she wakes up to her mother visiting her, bringing her a birthday cake. She sort of appreciates her mother's visit, but doesn't ultimately, you know, she kind of rejects her in the end here. I do think it's a little fascinating, and it highlights some of the trauma she has, especially later in the film. Later on, Maggie's talking to Doc, and they have a discussion about the 3D glasses and dream demons.

[00:01:42]What are these? Different way to look at things. The kids have to see their problems before they can face them.

[00:01:47]These are ancient dream demons. Showing the 3D glasses here could have like teased the audiences in the theater at the time, but going forward has no real purpose, so then there's a scene with Tracy training and working out with Doc.

[00:02:00]They continue and we see a shot of John falling asleep in the office. Then a bunch of light bulbs explode. It distracts Doc long enough for her to get a shot in at him. Later on during another one of John's nightmares, he runs into other versions of himself, not just the one that we see in the theatrical cut. And then he bumps into Freddy himself with an alarm clock.

[00:02:20]THIS IS YOUR WAKE-UP CALL, SUNNY BOY.

[00:02:24]Anything with more Freddy I think you should leave in for sure. But it's okay.

[00:02:28]It's all right. I really love Freddy's dad, so nothing but respect for Rachel Talalay and everyone involved. There's also more in the town center area and Tom Arnold later on.

[00:02:39]Which I don't know if that's a good or bad thing anymore to be honest. Tom Arnold and Roseanne in this movie.

[00:02:44]There were also more shots of the kids driving around in circles and a Chris Isaak song, Don't Make Me Dream About You in the background.

[00:02:52]Don't make me dream about I think this is cool cuz later on he was in Twin Peaks and Rachel Talalay has said that Twin Peaks aired during the production of this movie and it was a huge influence on her. But this was before Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me had come [music] out, which featured Chris Isaak in it. Let's Let's just kind of skip past that because Carlos' death has a little bit of extra footage here and I like it. There's more shots of Freddy shoving the Q-tip in Carlos' ear and scratching the chalkboard. In this version, he removes the pin from his finger, licks the blood that comes out of it, and then drops the pin. And this next shot apparently made it into the trailer. It's one of the most discussed missing shots from this movie. It's when Carlos gets his soul taken from Freddy, Mortal Kombat style. And it's not the only soul suck in this work print. At one point, Maggie is looking for Carlos and Spencer and finds Freddy's workshop in the basement.

[00:03:43]She says aloud, This is Krueger's house.

[00:03:46]Another small but fun change is in this version, while Freddy is gaming, you hear the original Mario Brothers music.

[00:03:53]Dream There's a couple different added shots during this sequence, but the best part is the end when >> [music] >> he sucks his soul out and says, Game over, Game Boy. This is one of the coolest work prints cuz there's extended death sequences. [music] That's what you want out of these, especially for slasher and horror films.

[00:04:16]Although I will say there's really nothing to write home about about John's extra death sequence here. When they go back to the shelter, they have a quick conversation about how they're supposed to explain all this to people. We get back and no one remembers John or Carlos.

[00:04:31]It's like they never existed.

[00:04:35]I remember him.

[00:04:37]Why?

[00:04:38]In another scene, for a long time I wasn't convinced existed.

[00:04:43]Now.

[00:04:45]Maggie looking at the camera and saying, now, while putting on her glasses, is a scene that a lot of people recall from seeing this movie in theaters.

[00:04:53]Apparently, it was deemed a bit cheesy, [music] and honestly, it makes sense to take it out of a 2D version of the film for home video, but I do finally know the truth.

[00:05:01]It happened. The climax also has a bunch of extra shots and some extra dialogue, so much so that it's almost hard to keep track of. So, I recommend checking it out on your own if you can sometime. But in the theatrical cut, she uses the glove to kill him while she wears it and shoves it into him just using her hand.

[00:05:18][music] The last big change is that they high-five and say, Freddy's dead.

[00:05:24]>> [laughter] >> The work print and these deleted scenes are something I hope a lot of you seek out on your own after this.

[00:05:33]It's not hard to find and it's worth watching if you're a big fan like I am.

[00:05:37]Freddy's Dead is a movie I personally have strong feelings for. Some of that's for nostalgia.

[00:05:42]Some of that's nostalgia from my teen years, from when I bought this DVD set for the first time that contained all the movies.

[00:05:48]Me and my brother sat together and watched every last Nightmare on Elm Street movie.

[00:05:51]We would hit up the 24-hour Walmart at the time, get some hot fudge sundae Pop-Tarts, some Oreos, and sit in front of the TV at 3:00 in the morning and watch this [ __ ] Beautiful time. And anytime I'm presented with the option to watch more of Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, something more from this universe, I'm going to watch it. I'm going to take that opportunity. Let me know what you guys thought about this work print in the comments down below. Love to hear from you. Quick thank you to my channel members and Patreon subscribers. If you want more ecto-violence, including exclusive videos and behind-the-scenes content, become a member by clicking the links [music] in the description below.