In 1984, Wes Craven started a horror franchise that is soon to get a cinematic facelift, much like the one that “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th” recently received.
The next franchise that is waiting for a cinematic retelling is “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” As it stands right now, there are a couple of ways this can go, since the film is nowhere near being done. It could either be really good, really bad or something that is all around forgettable. However, there are some things that lend some hope to the future of this remake.
Wes Craven is coming back into the fold, at least as a writer for the characters and their development. This means the master behind the best “Elm Street” slasher will still have some creative license within the remake. It could mean that at least some of the characters will be as finely crafted as they were in the original (at least in terms of the three biggest characters).
Sadly, Robert Englund will not be rejoining the cast as the maniacal dream slayer. Before now, it was rumored that Robert Knepper (from “Prison Break” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still) would be claiming the role of Freddy Kruger. Honestly, this would have been a pretty bad choice. He just doesn’t have a menacing aura about him. The new and confirmed choice for Kruger now is much better. The new Freddy, unless things change, will be Jackie Earle Haley. Haley was recently in film with his role of Rorschach from “The Watchmen.” This menacing anti-hero to flat-out villain jump isn’t that hard to make and the two characters have very similar senses of humor as it stands anyway. As I see it though, the darker the humor the better it will be for the fans of the franchise.
One of the worst things that they could do is a shot for shot remake but if they retell the story effectively and cast correctly, this could easily be the best “Nightmare” that’s come to film in, well, ever. However, to bide your time while you’re waiting for this remake to come out in 2010, you can always look for the previous films. If you want to see the best ones, watch “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” and “Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare.” These are easily the best the series has to offer since they are the three that make a good cohesive story and the master dark dreamer Wes Craven directs them.
Regardless, I hope you’re looking forward to this as much as I am. Sweet dreams.
If you want some interpretations of scary dreams, you can contact Jonathan Gronli at jon.gronli@gmail.com. Just make sure the dreams aren’t reality.