Wes Craven’s original Dream Demon is heading back to the silver screen once more, as New Line Cinema is engineering a new take on A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Seemingly unperturbed by the reception of the middling 2010 reboot – which failed to impress critically or financially – we understand that New Line, “the house that built Freddy,” is keen on bringing the screen icon back for another scarefest. With David Leslie Johnson attached to write the script, studio executives Toby Emmerich, Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter will oversee the nascent reboot.
That was the last real update we got on the project and it arrived back in August of 2015. It’s been two years then since any news about the film has emerged and understandably, some fans are starting to get worried that it’s slipped into development hell. Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the case, as Bloody-Disgusting reported a few months back that the reboot is still “very much in the works,” and though it doesn’t have a director attached just yet, someone has now thrown their name into the hat and expressed interest in the job.
Swedish filmmaker David F. Sandberg, who’s been making waves lately with horror efforts like Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, spoke about what he’d like to tackle next and named two exciting franchises that he thinks could be fun to work with – one of which is Elm Street:
“I’ve been thinking about what fun franchises New Line has like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Critters. Might be fun if you took something like that in a different direction from previous instalments. Like instead of remaking Nightmare you do some continuation of it in the same world kind of thing.”
While we’re not sure if Sandberg would be a good choice for Critters, given that it’s got a more comedic and lighter tone than some of his previous horror flicks, we’d certainly love to see him tackle the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot. Then again, he notes that he’d be taking things in a different direction with these properties, so who knows? He could be a solid fit for both.
Circling back to Elm Street, though, and considering that it’s only been 7 years since Krueger stalked the silver screen, one can’t help but question whether the time is right for another rendition of the iconic franchise. Plus, the indelible slasher is a character that almost demands a compelling actor, and at this early stage, one of the biggest decisions New Line faces is who to cast as the iconic demon – someone who can hold a candle to Robert Englund’s brilliant and nightmare-inducing turns.
That decision is likely a ways off, but it’s good to know that the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot is still very much alive and with any luck, Sandberg will find himself attached to either that, or Critters – or both! – in the near future.