The franchise’s final outing scored a pretty impressive cameo in the form of the first movie’s returning star Johnny Depp, only to waste this with a bizarre in-joke. When the franchise began, the slasher series didn’t need celebrity cameos to maintain the attention of its audience. In director Wes Craven’s original , the terrifying figure of Freddy Krueger was what kept viewers invested, and the fantastical dream sequences where he hunted down his victims were the slasher movie’s primary draw rather than anything more gimmicky.

Unfortunately, this didn’t last. The franchise grew increasingly goofy and over-the-top as the series continued, and the parade of proved that the saga of Freddy Krueger was on its last legs. By this sixth installment, the lore of themovies had become impossible to navigate, the character of Freddy himself had descended into cringe-worthy self-parody and, most egregiously, even the A-list cameos didn’t make sense. This was evidenced in the sequel’s weakest gag, Johnny Depp’s franchise return.

Johnny Depp Is In Nightmare On Elm Street 6 – But Not As Johnny Depp

Before he became a major movie star, Johnny Depp played a notable supporting role in the original. By the time arrived he was a global superstar, prompting Depp to make a cameo in the slasher sequel. Depp played an actor in a parody of the infamous “Your Brain on Drugs” PSA but, bizarrely, the part went uncredited.

Since was meant to make fun of his newfound fame, it was strange and pointless to see him listed in the credits as ".” This strange decision seems to undermine the very purpose of a celebrity cameo, obfuscating the actor's involvement. As such, it's difficult to come up with a concrete explanation for the oddity.

Why Johnny Depp Has A Different Name In The Freddy's Dead Credits

It is not clear why Johnny Depp used the pseudonym Oprah Noodlemantra in This is the only known instance of the actor using this fake name, and his real name doesn't appear anywhere else in the credits of What makes this striking is the fact that, although his character is named simply “Teen on TV,” the “Your Brain on Drugs” PSA that the scene parodies typically had celebrity hosts. As such, it would have made perfect sense for to credit Depp by his real name, or even to say that Depp played “Johnny Depp” in a meta-gag.

This sort of meta-humor went on to define both Craven’s reboot of the series,(which salvaged the franchise’s reputation after ), and his later movies. However, it is nowhere to be found in , making Depp’s cameo another wasted opportunity in the sequel. Like , Depp’s cameo doesn’t feel thought through and instead watches like an instance of producers trying to capitalize on a big name without writing them a clever cameo, an issue that went on to sink this entire outing.