While the horror renaissance shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon, there’s one horribly scarred visage that’s been absent from screens for a long time. I’m talking, of course, about Freddy Krueger. Since the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street failed to impress critics or attract audiences, we’ve seen relatively little of the horror icon. Sure, he’s popped up in Mortal Kombat and in a blink-n-you’ll-miss-it cameo appearance in Ready Player One, but perhaps a sign of how much he’s missed was the excitement that greeted his appearance on The Goldbergs.
It’s long been rumored that Freddy would be returning to screens in some form or another, with many creative forces in horror (and Englund himself) having pitched ideas for what the next Nightmare might be, but we still haven’t had a sniff of a project actually moving into production. That might change very soon though, as The Conjuring 2 writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick – who was hired by New Line Cinema to pen a reboot – has explained in an interview that it’s a matter of when, not if, the franchise will return.
“It’s still happening. Nothing is percolating just yet. The Conjuring universe is sort of first and foremost on [New Line Cinema’s] horror burner. Everybody wants to see Freddy again I think, so I think it’s inevitable at some point.”
While sentimentality is thin on the ground in Hollywood, it’s perfectly understandable that New Line might have a soft spot for everyone’s favorite razor-fingered wisecracker. After all, the Elm Street movies were huge hits for the studio in its earliest days and to many, New Line’s still known as “The House That Freddy Built.”
But what could a new Elm Street look like? Well, with the 2010 reboot a failure, I’m of the opinion that they should head back to the source material Halloween style and do a sequel to the original movie. Robert Englund proved in The Goldbergs that he’s still got the chops to play the character, and it’d be interesting seeing this quintessentially 80s villain trying to relate to the dreams and fantasies of teenagers in 2019.
I say bring back Freddy in a reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, and sooner rather than later!