You know how it is in Hollywood: when you have a proven hit on your hands but things aren’t necessarily the way you want them, just skip it and do it over again! Though A Nightmare on Elm Street already had a mediocre-at-best remake five years ago, New Line Cinema didn’t get what they wanted from the re-imagining (despite a moderate box office intake) and decided, well, it’s time to dream another dream.
Details are skim at the moment, of course, but David Leslie Johnson (Orphan) is commissioned to write a script for yet another reboot of the franchise. No producers have lined up at the moment, but Tony Emmerich, Walter Hamada and Dave Neustader will make sure things go accordingly for the studio. No actors are slated yet either and the director’s chair is currently void, but I think it’s safe to assume Wes Craven isn’t going within miles of this one, even if his life depended on it.
A new Elm Street feature would mark the tenth in the franchise and, although it’s not confirmed to be the case, I have a funny feeling the ratings success of MTV‘s “Scream” played some factor in the executives’ decision here. It would be a safe bet to expect modern social media crazes and technology products will play heavily in Freddy Krueger’s actions this time around and, though not necessarily uncalled for, it doesn’t really lend itself to a character whose universal terror is quite simplistic at its core.
Maybe not, though. To be honest, I’ve never seen any Nightmare movies beyond the original and the aforementioned remake, and I only just now realized how expansive the Krueger lore became in regards to novels, video games and a television series to boot. Suffice to say, I’m no aficionado.
I do know New Line became the company they are today thanks in large part to the red-and-black stripped wool sweater-wearing killer, so cradling their burnt baby continues to be among their chief concerns. Even if quality can only become a momentary one at times. Despite featuring a fine performance from Jackie Earl Haley in the lead and also starring Rooney Mara before breaking out in The Social Network just a few months later, the last film had some striking visuals and occasionally unsettling aesthetics but mostly defined itself from how pulse-less and undistinguished it became from every other remake created, from Platinum Dunes or otherwise, at the time.
It’s not much different these days, with the utters of Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th, featuring Krueger’s one-time enemy Jason Voorhees, continuously milked as we speak. Possibly this new movie could right a few wrongs, but it’s more-than-likely the kind of soulless decision prone to put scare fans to sleep. [Tracking Board]
