October 1, 2015

Last month, it was reported that New Line Cinema has dreams of conjuring up another remake to the late, great Wes Craven’s seminal horror classic A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Like most fans, I took and accepted the news with much trepidation and skepticism, especially considering the general fan consensus regarding the 2010 Platinum Dunes reboot. But look, Freddy’s been everywhere at this point. In sequels, in spoofs (FREDDY’S DEAD), to television (FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES), Craven went meta with him in the pre-SCREAM ‘NEW NIGHTMARE,’ and he’s even battled ‘FRIDAY THE 13TH’s big baddy Jason Voorhees. What else can be done with him cinematically? With respect to Craven’s most well known creation, maybe this time around, the studio will take their time and give us a worthwhile re-interpretation of the Freddy Krueger legend.

Here are the facts – The studio has tapped screenwriter David Leslie Johnson to pen the script. His previous credits include ‘ORPHAN’ (a twisted little horror film I rather liked a lot!), a few episodes of ‘THE WALKING DEAD’ and ‘MOB CITY,’ as well as ‘RED RIDING HOOD,’ ‘WRATH OF THE TITANS’ and the upcoming ‘THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST.’ While fans want Robert Englund to return as Freddy Krueger, it’s highly unlikely at this point as Englund himself has admitted to being “too old” to tackle the scarred villain yet again.

Rather than pull out my pitchfork though, I’m going to remain cautiously optimistic that this could turn out great. Freddy Krueger is an amazing character; one of the few cinematic villains of the last several decades that continues to be a huge part of the pop culture zeitgeist. Everyone knows who Freddy Krueger is. So if he has to return again, here’s 5 things we hope to see in the new ‘NIGHTMARE.’

INVENTIVE KILLS

The most fascinating aspect of Freddy Krueger and the main thing that sets him apart from all the other “slashers” of the 80’s horror boom is that he attacks you in your dreams. And in the dream world, anything goes. It’s fairly unique for your tormentor to know exactly what you’re afraid of and turn it against you. In DREAM WARRIORS, he turns a puppeteer into a life-size puppet by pulling out his own veins. In THE DREAM MASTER, he transforms a girl terrified of roaches into a giant roach. Even if you want to go back to the original film, Tina (Amanda Wyss) gets sliced and diced while floating against the ceiling, and Glen (Johnny Depp) gets sucked into a bed and somehow gets regurgitated into an enormous gusher of blood! The kills in all the Nightmare films have always been wildly imaginative and that’s what we want to see in a new NIGHTMARE. Something we couldn’t possibly imagine, and Freddy relishing gleefully in his mayhem. Go big. Go crazy. Or go home!

GOOD CHARACTERS / REAL KIDS

The key to any horror movie is really loving the characters, that way when they meet their untimely demise, it really hurts. And for the most part, I’ve always loved the Elm Street kids. None of them are responsible for their tormentor’s wrath. They are suffering for the sins of their parents. I sincerely can not remember a single detail about any of the “kids” in the Platinum Dunes remake. However, Nancy (played brilliantly by Heather Langenkamp) is one of the best “final” girls we’ve ever had in this sort of genre movie. The DREAM WARRIORS gave us a whole group of really talented, funny and likable teens. By the time we kick off THE DREAM MASTER, I already know and love Joey, Kincaid and Kristen and don’t want to see anything bad happen to them. We need good characters and real kids. Not adults playing new kids. Somewhere out there is the next Patricia Arquette or Johnny Depp. Let’s meet that caliber of teen actor in the new NIGHTMARE.

NO MORE ORIGINS

At this point, we’ve seen variations on Freddy’s “origin” story several times. It’s doled out as backstory in the original. It gets expanded upon (in a really great way) by Part 3 incorporating his mother into the mix. We get glimpses of his conception in THE DREAM CHILD and more of his origin in FREDDY’S DEAD. Point being, we really don’t need to see Freddy get burned up yet again. My absolute favorite introduction to Freddy in the series is the opening sequence of Part 3 Dream Warriors. Freddy is “full on Freddy” at this point. He’s in his prime. He’s hiding in the shadows and closing in right behind Kristen. So when she gets stuck trying to run away in that sludge and we see Freddy racing down the hallway behind her in slow-mo, it is on! We know who Freddy is. Let’s just kick off with him right in the middle of what he does best like they did in DREAM WARRIORS and jump right into this new story. And you know what, while we’re at it? Don’t change his look. Keep the Freddy make-up and design we all know and love!

NEW UNIQUE CONCEPTS

One of the biggest missed opportunities in the 2010 remake was the introduction of micro-naps, a concept that we’ve never seen in any of the previous NIGHTMARE films in which a person suffers a temporary episode of sleep in the middle of their regular life. Suffering from mere exhaustion, a micro-nap can last between 1 and 30 seconds. This was interesting, unique and new. And the idea that Freddy might be able to sneak up on you in your regular life through a micro-nap is a terrifying idea never fully realized. So let’s see more of that, or something along those lines. There are no real rules when it comes to sleep, so let’s bend the rules. Surprise us, show us something completely radical like this concept. It will keep even the most well versed of Freddy fans on their toes!

A DIRECTOR’S VISION

Wes Craven wasn’t dubbed a “Master of Horror” prior to A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Sure, if you kept your finger on the pulse of up and coming talent within the horror genre, you no doubt were familiar with THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT or THE HILLS HAVE EYES. But it was really Wes and his vision that made A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET as great as it was. Get someone with a vision to be behind the camera for the new NIGHTMARE. There’s never been a shortage of directing talent in the horror genre; filmmakers like David Robert Mitchell showed us his modern day version of NIGHTMARE with his indie hit IT FOLLOWS. So it’d be fun to see someone really take what we know about Freddy and really roll with it. Ciaran Foy illustrated a nightmare-esque environment in his debut feature CITADEL which continues through on SINISTER 2. Or imagine someone like Jennifer Kent (THE BABADOOK) or Ti West (THE SACRAMENT) tackling a NIGHTMARE film. I can’t imagine what that’d even look like! And that excites me. Get a director with a unique vision to bring back Freddy in style!

Source: http://www.thewrap.com/new-line-is-developing-updated-nightmare-on-elm-street-movie/