Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare is far from the best Nightmare On Elm Street sequel, but it is the franchise outing with the most celebrity cameos. Released in 1984, the original Nightmare On Elm Street managed to revive the slasher sub-genre by adding a supernatural twist to proceedings. Directed by Wes Craven, A Nightmare On Elm Street told the twisted tale of Freddy Krueger, a child killer who was murdered by a vengeful mob but soon returned to haunt the dreams of their offspring. Offing said offspring one-by-one, Freddy invaded the nightmares of teens and killed them in increasingly spectacular fashion throughout the franchise’s subsequent cinematic outings.
However, as the series wore on, Freddy Krueger gradually grew less scary and more humorous, although this comedy became intentional from the fourth film onward. The character became the star of the franchise and soon viewers were flocking to see Freddy dispense of victims with a quip or a silly flourish, removing any sense of fear from proceedings. Although not as hated as the 2010 Nightmare On Elm Street remake, the sixth film in the series Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare is among the corniest and least scary outings of the slasher franchise.
Freddy's Dead isn't totally without its charms, but it's often considered one of the series' worst entries. However, perhaps to distract from its lack of effective horror, the filmmakers did manage to nab a lot of cameos for the surprisingly starry sequel.
Roseanne Barr - Ethel
Controversial comedian Roseanne Barr has a brief cameo early in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, with the Roseanne star cropping up in Freddy’s now-abandoned hometown of Springwood. Well, not totally abandoned. The town’s children have all long since been killed by Freddy, meaning it is now an adults-only ghost town by the time the main characters arrive there. It is a potentially intriguing idea unfortunately never revisited in the later movies like 2003’s face-off film Freddy Vs Jason. Barr plays a crazed childless woman whose many years spent without seeing any children make her a touch over-affectionate toward the teens stranded in the small town.
Tom Arnold - Childless Man
Then married to Barr, actor Tom Arnold crops up as her partner in the same sequence. He is less child-crazed than her (although more crazed in general) during his brief role, and more concerned about the presence of the kids potentially bringing back Freddy. The cameo came about because the pair were real-life fans of the franchise and desperately wanted to be in one of Freddy’s films. It's nice they got their wish, even if it was a lesser installment.
Johnny Depp - Guy On TV
Future Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp cut his teeth with a role in the original Nightmare On Elm Street, with his character Glen earning the movie’s most memorably gory death. He crops up for the best of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare’s many cameos, playing a young actor (credited as Oprah Noodlemantra) in a parody of one of the then-ubiquitous “this is your brain on drugs” PSAs. A smirking Depp gets smashed with a pan to the face from Freddy after smugly warning Breckin Meyer’s young stoner not to do drugs, meaning the actor managed to nab two of the franchise’s best moments even in one of Freddy’s worst films.
Alice Cooper - Edward Underwood
In the early ‘90s, shock rocker Alice Cooper was a hot commodity in Hollywood, appearing in the likes of Wayne’s World for a cameo. However, the star, who also provided a stellar theme song for one of Jason Voorhees’ later, funnier Friday the 13th movies, was sick of donning his trademark stage makeup for roles. As a result, he took the brief cameo role of Edward, Freddy's abusive adoptive father, in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare so he could be part of horror history without relying on his recognizable stage appearance.