Thrill Fiction is proud to present guest blogger Ross Tipograph. His contribution is welcome because Gore Vidal won’t speak to me. The following are Ross’ views and all hate mail should be directed to him.
Or just leave a comment.
A Nightmare on Elm Street1984 is the definition of ghoulish.
Let’s begin by first discarding the recent remake, released April 2010, a plague to cinemas around the globe. It was poorly written, with acting performances to make even the least movie-savvy watcher cringe and a script that attempted to rewrite history – the history of a man named Fred, who knows only one true creator: Wes Craven.
In 1984, the first Elm Street came out and started a revolution. Nancy, Glen, Tina, Rod, and the poor Springwood parents: the gang was all here. These unsuspecting victims played prey to a child-killer: Freddy Krueger – more evil than Jason more mysterious than Michael and wittier than Chucky could ever dream of being. Freddy is menace and cinematic legend.
He kills you in your dreams. That was the thought I had to wrap my head around upon my first viewing. It was amazing and impossible and horrifying. By this time, I was already obsessed with Scream 1996and I knew most of the ‘50s-‘70s classics like the back of my DVD binders. Elm Street was the cherry on top of the cake and oh what a cherry.
It opens with the black and red flickering New Line Cinema logo. It’s also eerily silent until the first moment of Charles Bernstein’s masterful score sets the chilling and original mood. It is an ambient electronic pulse like an alien invasion accompanied by a growing growl and a woman’s choral vocals. Then the image: the Man’s dusty boots, his bag of knives, the shrill piercing sounds of the score grow louder. The sharpening of a knife, the booming title card, a jump in the opening credits with a mock childhood theme that is both crude and scary. Here a movie and a legend are born in the span of one minute. That’s all we need to know what we’re in for.
It’s genius. Throw a bunch of ‘80s (cliché) high school students into the midst of what would be the most harrowing experience of any young (or grown) person’s life – a dream killer. A Nightmare. The students are plucky but deaths are more entertaining. We begin with Tina then Rod then they all start to drop like flies until it’s all up to Nancy Thompson to save the day – after her friends and boyfriend are viciously slashed.
The dream sequences most definitely hold up to today – and to think, it was all without CGI. It was Craven’s brilliant direction that keeps us teetering insanely between dreams and reality, cutting quick to the knifed glove slashing through a sheet, set to the sound of a girl’s scream, or the mechanically over-stretched arms of the villain in a dark alley, or a tongue popping out of a phone’s receiver. There are almost no explanations – except that there is nowhere to hide. It’s very surreal and very unprecedented.
It’s interesting: the sequels came in truckloads, and yet Freddy remained an icon. With the exception of Dream Warriors1987 the sequels were abysmal. Freddy evolved into comedy and the filmmaking devolved into a poor excuse for stale popcorn. Even Craven’s return to the series, his own New Nightmare1994(more of a re-vamp than a sequel, really), poked fun at the Freddy phenomena. There’s no getting around the fact that this character is forever cemented in gold.
For fans of the series, seek out and find Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, a horror-comedy mockumentary about serial killers from 2006, featuring a cameo from our own dear Robert Englund.
Due to a lousy summer, a horrendous World Cup campaign and the new Tory government with their Liberal turncoat coalition partners my spec screenplay Freddy's Return is being pushed back to October 5th. This will coincide with the DVD and Blu Ray release of the remake.
I'd like to thank all who voted. For all of you who haven't voted the poll hasn't closed. The wait will be worth it.
Read more Thrill Fiction: A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
[Stop Press! I am about to write a feature length spec screenplay. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Return is my response to the lethargic lacklustre studio remake. Horror is chaos and I will spare no sentiment. I would like your support. Click the poll on the sidebar to do so. I appreciate.]
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors 1987 opens with a quote from Edgar Allen Poe. Not all the sequels used epigrams. Some of those that did – Freddy’s Dead1991 – resorted to the superficial. The epigram became quasi-traditional in the Elm Street films so it is appropriate that this most definitive documentary on the franchise opens with one.
Early to rise and early to bed
makes a man healthy and wealthy
and dead.
James Thurber
A good documentary will best a great blog. Moving pictures communicate in a more visceral form to seduce its audience. Its very nature lends itself to better access. Documentary is supplement to the subject. A documentary made by fans is a love letter. Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy 2010 is what Romeo would have filmed of Juliet - but he killed himself before the technology was invented.
Co-directors Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch are more than mere fans. They made His Name was Jason 2009 a film which serves as harbinger for this DVD. Never Sleep Again is split over two discs. The first is the four hour feature. Disc 2 has four more hours of extras that include extended interviews and featurettes. There is not a minute wasted.
The feature is a congregation of Elm Street alumni assembled to reminisce for our viewing delight. Conspicuous by absence are Johnny Depp Patricia Arquette and Kelly Rowland. I didn’t expect any of those three to participate but I was surprised at the absence of Bradley Gregg (Phillip in Dream Warriors). His death was gnarly. It was memorable. It is mentioned in this doc. So wherefore art thou Bradley?
He’s alive and well and can be found on his website with nary a mention of Elm Street.
The legacy is of eight films and each is allotted the same amount of time (approximately 40 minutes). There are good nightmares (A Nightmare on Elm Street1984 Dream Warriors). There are the bad (The Dream Master 1988 Freddy’s Dead 1991Freddy Vs Jason2003). There are the worthy failures (Freddy’s Revenge 1985The Dream Child1989 Wes Craven’s New Nightmare 1994). Never Sleep Again does not differentiate; the recollections make the bad interesting and the good more enticing.
Robert Englund should change his name to England because he is a bit of a luvvie. His breakout role – in industry terms - was in V a 1983 TV show. The irony is the 2010 remake is currently being broadcast on ABC (in the States and Syfy in the UK). He’s not in that either. However he does take centre stage in this doc as well he should. Englund is one of only two people who were involved in all eight movies the other being Robert Shaye – who tried to bump him from Freddy’s Revenge.
Jsu Garcia is credited as Nick Corri in the original. It’s an idea his agent had because it was taboo to be Latino in 80s Hollywood. It was a lesson already known to Ramón Estévez. Incidentally his son Charlie Sheen wanted the Johnny Depp role.
There are anecdotes, justifications, denials, accusations, resentments, gossip and genuine love for the series and for the fans. Ken Sagoes who played Kincaid tells a story of how Heather Langenkamp stood up to director Chuck Russell for the young actors on the set of Dream Warriors.
“… that’s why I love her to today.”
Ken Sagoes
She really has become Nancy.
Disc 2 has a featurette Horror’s Hallowed Grounds presented by a goofy Sean Clark. At separate points he’s joined by cast members including Amanda Wyss and Heather. It is twenty-odd minutes of visiting the locations of the original and is actually good fun. Once again this shows the dedication of the alumni to the fans which makes Sean’s antics forgivable.
For the Love of the Glove documents fans that have taken the franchise to industry – cottage or otherwise. These men and women hand craft and market the most famous prop in Gen-X horror. Through their own endeavours they have become part of the wider Elm Street mythos.
There’s also a preview of Heather’s own upcoming documentary I Am Nancy where she visits conventions and mingles. The cream of the featurettes is Freddy in Comics and Books. This is where the writers outside of the motion pictures tell of their work in expanding the Elm Street Universe. I’m currently writing (on spec) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Return. I will be one of them.
Never Sleep Again illustrates the phenomenon that is Elm Streetand its 25 year legacy. Wes Craven’s creation has touched those who worked on it officially and unofficially and those who consume it. Horror is story. The bells and whistles are add-on. Platinum Dunes does not understand this. No one is going to make a documentary of their heresy.
Where most horror films do not have a happy ending this one does.
Never Sleep Again is the antidote to the horror of the remake.
The list is short: Invasion of the Body Snatchers1978The Thing1981The Fly1986Night of the Living Dead1990TheHills Have Eyes2006. The first three films are based on a novel novella and short story respectively ergo it can be argued that they are not remakes at all but new works based on previously filmed material. For example; can anyone accuse The Passion of the Christ 2004as being a remake of King of Kings 1961? A remake is the rewrite of a previously filmed screenplay. To describe it in any other way is to use marketing shorthand. Furthermore to be pedantic The Thing and The Fly are sci-fi and not horror. Thus to use fine criteria there have been all of two worthy horror remakes.
A novel or short story can be revisited because of the depth of material. Typically less than 50% of the novel makes it into the screenplay which means there’s unused story that can be filmed for the first time. John Carpenter’s The Thing is exemplar of this. His ‘remake’ is closer to the novella ‘Who Goes There?’ than the 1951 ‘original’. In rewriting a screenplay all the story has been already been filmed. By definition it is harder to differentiate from the original whilst still maintaining the narrative.
Alexandre Aja achieved this with The Hills Have Eyes.
When Platinum Dunes announced they were to remake A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 I groaned with the rest of the horror community – the Horror Folk. There has been a certain backlash within our own forums to the pessimism. I believe the word used is ‘haters’.
There is more than one reason to hate remakes.
Prom Night 2008
Halloween 22009
The Fog 2005
Black Christmas2006
Sorority Row2009
The Wicker Man2006
Psycho1998
Et Cetera.
There is scant reason to look forward to a remake. Even so there is the possibility of a film attempting to tell a told story new:
Like everyone else I had to accept the Elm Street remake as impending fact. As I thought about the original I thought about how I would have gone about rewriting it. I bounced ideas off people’s heads. They were enthusiastic. They had to be. I was buying the beer. The most developed scene was Nancy dreaming Rod Lane’s death. I didn’t write anything down. After watching the Samuel Bayer movie I wish I had done.
At the time of writing the reported Elm Street take is $42.6million (8 days). The carpetbaggers studio has already announced plans for a sequel – in 3D. Gimmick the audience and they will come huh? Whether that happens depends on future box office. Friday the 13th2009 grossed 37% of its opening weekend by day 10. Elm Street needs to gross $45m by tonight – which it probably will – just to be on par with F13.
Platinum Dunes scrapped a Friday the 13th (3D) sequel.
Freddy’s international box office may help the decision to make a sequel. I have already made mine.
I was 18 when I had my first nightmare. In pitch blackness a robotic type animated figure stalked me to a corner. I was scared. I also knew I was in a dream. As the Thing got closer I tried to wake myself up.
I couldn’t.
I was terrified. This Thing was at me. Its movements were not human. I screamed in terror and for help. I heard a door open.
My dad came running in and woke me up.
I hate remakes ‘cos they suck. I want to see a good film. I prefer to see a great film. Fatal Attraction 1987 and Scarface 1983 are remakes. If a sequel to the remake does get made (in 3D or no) then it won’t be because I didn’t groan loud enough.
I’m a lover of horror not a hater. I’m a fan of the franchise and this is my broadside to the suits. This is to let them know that the Horror Folk want good films. Forget the 3D gimmicks. Pay less attention to meaningless visuals (Nancy in an indoor snowstorm? Cool?). The stories that endure are the great ones with attention to narrative detail. The Pied Piper. Hamlet. A Nightmare on Elm Street.
It created a franchise.
I’m going to write a great screenplay. The working title is A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Return. It’s a remake of the first sequel. I’m aware of that film’s shortcomings. I also think there’s a great story in there. Horror is chaos. I’m putting my reputation online for all to read. I will post the first draft on 31st August.
God willing.
I ask for your support - the horror community, the fanboys, the Horror Folk. Support me if you’re a civilian and you like good writing. The internet is yours. The studios will be taught to respect us. It was the power of the internet that had Warner Bros release Trick r Treat. I’m not naïve. I don’t think MichaelBay will be frantically hunting for my agent (while I’m frantically hunting for an agent). However if Platinum Dunes do produce a sequel then it will be the power of the internet that forces them focus on good story.
If you’re reading this take a second to click the poll at the top of the page. Or leave a comment. I’d love the encouragement. I’ll also respond to criticism (if any). I know I’m going to have nightmares. That comes with the writing.
Attention! This article contains spoilers. To those of you who haven’t yet seen the movie - congratulations.
The opening credits of every movie should be used to set the tone and/or begin to tell the story. By necessity the title cards – from distributor to director – can last up to 2 minutes. Apart from confirmation of the one or two featured movie stars the audience doesn’t give a flick.
In the credit roll of A Nightmare on Elm Street1984 the claw glove icon is crafted. In 2010 the credits roll over a se7en-esque collage of children – the furies – playing hopscotch and jumping rope. The original credits introduced the theme music. In 2010 for the first time in the franchise that theme is absent – in the credits and throughout the movie.
What sort of reboot would ignore the iconic theme?
A film can be remade with the best intentions. A talented filmmaker can turn the old into something current. Martin Scorcese’s CapeFear1991 is a remake of the ’62 original. It features Robert De Niro in a seduction scene with Juliette Lewis playing a 13 year old. It is a corruption scene.
Samuel Bayer is a successful music video director (which is not a prerequisite to being a filmmaker) ergo the absence of the classic theme is astounding. Human beings have a Pavlovian response to music. The 50 year old James Bond franchise understands that. This is change not for the better but for the sake of it.
This is Platinum Dunes.
Welcome.
recycled
The first scene is indicative of how badly written this film is. All four major characters are introduced and their inter-relationships are crudely drawn. There is too much information yet each character is indistinguishable from the other due to their morbidity. The dialogue is that bad - Nancy has a bitch tongue that serves no purpose but to alienate the viewer. None of them have character motivation: Dean confides to his girlfriend that he hasn’t slept for three days, that he’s afraid he’ll die in his sleep. She tells him to snap out of it.
“They’re just nightmares. They’re not real.”
- Kris
As he waits for her to return from the Ladies he nods off. Freddy appears and kills him. Kris sees Dean struggling with a knife then cutting his own throat.
I laughed out loud. What should have looked like suicide looked like a struggle with the invisible man.
In a departure from the previous 8 films the dreamer dies in the first scene. It’s an attempt at fast pacing but it denies the audience resonance. Dean is dead thus so is the impact of his dreams. The movie has to start over to achieve a haunting so Kris takes the lead. Kris is unsympathetic. The core audience know she is a dead man walking so it is futile to invest hero status in her. The filmmaker fails to understand the Janet Leigh plot point by having already done away with Dean. The dramatic trajectory struggles from a lack of a defined lead.
The next scene is Dean’s funeral where Kris has a front row seat. She falls asleep and sees Freddy for the first time. Kris is the only woman in stories told to have fallen asleep at the funeral of her boyfriend whom she saw die. Such is the calibre of the plot.
Wesley Strick[1] rewrote Cape Fear1991. It has a seamless narrative. He clearly understands tempo and pacing in a screenplay so Platinum Dunes hired Eric Heisserer[2] to rewrite him. Strick is not a literary genius but he does have at least an adequate track record. Why he allowed his name to remain on this toilet paper is a Writer’s Guild mystery.
rehashed
The story differentiates itself from the original by casting Freddy as child molester as opposed to child murderer. Wes Craven’s original version of Freddy was as murderer and molester. Craven rescinded the latter part as an act of self-censorship[3]. Freddy is a better creation for it - his evil had no rationale. In this remake Freddy the child molester does not commit murder until after his death.
“You want to know who Fred Krueger was? He was a filthy child murderer who killed at least 20 kids in the neighbourhood. Kids we all knew.”
- Marge Thompson
A Nightmare on Elm Street1984
The glove was his hand crafted murder weapon.
It’s not something a child molester would use.
Thus the trademark of a 25 year old franchise has no narrative position in the reboot. This is Platinum Dunes. Astounding.
The paedophile angle raises further problems of plausibility. Would middle class Americans – including a psychiatrist – lynch a child molester? This is what does happen in America when a preschool is thought to be staffed by paedophiles[4]. The angle exists purely for shock value. It is a high price for the viewer to pay for entertainment.
The film is populated with characters that defy logic – the worst of the bunch being Kris. After witnessing Dean’s death she asks Jesse what happened. The non-dimensional role is enhanced by Katie Cassidy – a non-dimensional actor who has one facial expression and no talent to screen. She makes Amanda Wyss’ Tina look like Ophelia as played by Winona Ryder.
The original Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) is the best Final Girl in the history of horror. She battled the demon three times and won the rubber match. The reboot Nancy Holbrook is played by Rooney Mara.
What?
refunds please
The set pieces culled from the original – the face in the wall, the claw in the bath, the death on the ceiling - were all highlights of the trailers. In the original there was no set up build up or musical cue when Freddy pressed his face against the wall above a sleeping Nancy. However in 2010 the scene is neon signposted because it stands in isolation; it doesn’t relate to the previous or subsequent scenes. In ’84 it was a part of Tina’s death sequence. It was Freddy’s movement that knocked the crucifix off the wall which woke Nancy. In 2010 Nancy wakes up of her own volition. The set pieces from the original were culled specifically for the trailers.
The imbecilities of the plot are legion. Such as when a blood covered Jesse breaks into Nancy’s house and grabs her from behind. She doesn’t even scream. They’re not even friends. There are too many inconsistencies to mention all but it is possible to mention everything that works.
The original fails to ask the basic question – why now? Why are the kids dreaming now? In 2010 Dean was in therapy. The shrink took him back to his childhood and that’s when the dreams started. The other tweak is Tina’s dream. She leaves Rod in bed because Freddy calls her outside. In the reboot Kris goes looking for her (or Kincaid's) barking dog.
Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings.
- Euripides
At the time of writing the North American gross is $33million[5]. That’s a hit. Final US take will be about $75m. I’m better with words than with numbers – I’m using Halloween2007[6] as a paradigm. Parent studio Warner Bros. has already announced a sequel. The horror fan base is the most loyal of all genres (even more so than those sci-fi weirdoes) but it will not tolerate much more of the same. Warner Bros are not pointing out that this is the least successful opening weekend of the (three) new icon reboots. $33m is not a hit. It’s to be expected. They should remember what happened to Halloween 22009[7].
There are those who will like this film (tourists). There are those who will defend this film (contrarians). The core audience will reject it. The horror community knows a good movie from a bad one and has the self awareness to enjoy both. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 is not so bad it’s good. It’s too bad it got made.
In the final analysis of a remake can the film stand up on its own? This film couldn’t stand up without scaffolding. Platinum Dunes have used up all the goodwill built over the last 25 years in one weekend. It’s not just the exploitation factor – to which all moviegoers give a modicum of consent – it’s the ineptitude. I don’t think Samuel Bayer was trying to make a bad film. I don’t think he’s capable of making a good one.
The original A Nightmare on Elm Street has haunted us for a quarter century. It has survived the video nasties witchhunt[8], the upgrade from VHS to Blu-ray, and seven sequels some of which brought it into disrepute. It will survive this reboot attempt because it is a quality story. It is honest. The viewer can see that on screen.
Thank you Wes.■
I’m going to return to this topic when the DVD comes out because there’s a lot more to say. There’s more to read from Reznor at Koopaskeep[9] and click Project Child Murdering Robot[10] for the best written blog on the internet. I can say that because it’s got nothing to do with horror.
The incoming documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy 2010 is released May 4th and will be reviewed shortly after.
This part 1 is a critique of the 1984 original. Part 2 to follow will examine the remake.
There are three major icons of the 20th century: Dracula, Frankenstein and the werewolf. Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula[1] was published in 1897. The 1931 film[2] starring Bela Lugosi is horror. Today Dracula - or versions of him - can be seen in the Twilight films (described as romantic fantasy). Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein 1st edition was published in 1818. The movie that rewrote the monster’s appearance starred Boris Karloff and was also released in 1931. It is one of the best horror films ever made. Frankenstein hasn’t been seen since Kenneth Brannagh’s 1994 melodrama. The Wolf Man 1941 starring Lon Chaney was a success. The Wolfman 2010 was not.
It is time for new icons.
A new breed of horror germinated with Night of the Living Dead 1968. This horror was not philosophical. It was societal. It was immediate. It was The Last House on the Left 1972. It was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974. It was in full bloom with Halloween 1978. Friday the 13th1981 was a ripoff Halloween. A Nightmare on Elm Street1984 gifted cinema Freddy Krueger. A new trio of icon was complete and they ruled the 80s.
Dracula predates Stoker’s novel. The werewolf too is folklore. Shelly’s book is 200 years old. As seen with the Twilight saga and The Wolfman these icons are enduring. They will be revived throughout this century. The new icons’ durability has not yet been fully tested. The wave of first re-imaginings may already be over[3][4].
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 is tipping point.
don’t fall asleep
Wes Craven’s film takes surrealism and frames it within literal context. Everybody dreams. Human beings have an innate fear of the dark. It gets dark every time we close our eyes and we are at our most vulnerable when we sleep. In what could be a cinematic first and only every human being on this planet past present and future can relate to the concept of this film. If not for its inspiration[5] this would be ingenious. It remains brilliant.
Halloween had Jamie Lee Curtis. A Nightmare on Elm Street mimicked Janet Leigh. The shower scene in Psycho 1960 is doubly shocking: hero – dead. The unlikeable Tina’s death was momentarily off-balancing: she was the only one wise to the killer. It was momentary because Nancy Thompson immediately fills the lead role.
Tina is unsympathetic as written because she commits the cinema sin of cliché. She yields to the killer’s summons only to flee to her deathbed. She is unsympathetic because actor Amanda Wyss, then 23, failed to capture a 15 year old child. Her portrayal fails to involve - it only serves to inform the viewer. Thus due to Wyss’ performance Tina becomes nothing more than a cypher. Wes Craven would correct this with Drew Barrymore in Scream 1996.
In the documentary Never Sleep Again 2006[6] – not to be confused with the incoming Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy 2010[7] – Craven says he wanted to cast someone intelligent looking to play Nancy. Heather Langenkamp, then 19, evokes the adolescent: too old to be lied to; too young to dismiss her dreams. Nancy challenges Freddy in her classroom dream sequence. She tries to save Rod. She warns Glen. She accuses her mother. She begs her father for help. She has to fight the demon alone.
At the time of filming in 1984 the early 80s recession was fresh in memory. The Cold War was on the brink of Star Wars[7.5], college fees were escalating[8] and divorce was epidemic[9]. The white picket fence was stained. Nancy’s mother is an alcoholic divorcée. Tina’s ma is a slut – a scene that would be replicated by Kristen’s ma (albeit with better jewellery). Rod is the town delinquent. Nancy – and her Generation X[9.5] - understands that the future is not as secure as her parents and authority would have her believe.
By contrast Glen has two parents and is least prepared to deal with the bizarre. He denies his dreams. He ignores them and he dies in them. Admittedly Johnny Depp’s character is the least developed but he showed no sign of the star he was to become. He’s remembered in this film for his death scene. Craven cast him because his daughter thought he was cute[6].
Jessica Craven in New Nightmare
Freddy Krueger is a mesmerising villain complete with backstory and motivation. As innovative as the film’s concept is it is the relationship between him and Nancy that transcends this story into mythos[10]. That relationship is powered by the performance of Langenkamp. It is the Final Girl’s[11] role to seduce the audience into empathy. It is her point of view that will display the enormity of the evil in pursuit. Jamie Lee achieves that in Halloween. Langenkamp surpasses her in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Langenkamp achieved a father-daughter presence with John Saxon that continued in Dream Warriors1987 and New Nightmare 1994. She convinced as a good daughter who challenged her mother Ronne Blakley. As a girlfriend she was prim but not prude. She risked her life for her friends.
For the most part Krueger is an enigma in this film and this is how it should be. He lives in dreams and darts out of shadows. This demon has a very human quality of mirth. He enjoys the helplessness of Nancy as he preps Rod for the kill. His name is shame in Springwood. He is a reminder to the good people that they are a lynch mob. It is through their collective closed closet that he is able to kill the children. In their parental guilt they would rather deem their own children mad than confront the crimes of their righteousness[12]. They unknowingly created Krueger. They unknowingly assist him.
I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
- William Shakespeare [Hamlet]
The dreamscape played as major set pieces in the sequels. In this original, apart from Nancy’s classroom dream, they are indistinguishable from character consciousness. The effect is more unsettling à la when Nancy dreams of Rod. The body count in this movie is 3 or 4 to include Nancy’s ma. It is not how many are killed – it is how they die. Of the three Tina’s and Glen’s are so memorable Tina’s was duplicated in New Nightmare and Glen’s was inverted in The Dream Master1988.
Freddy’s legacy is indisputable. This is the first film that New Line Cinema produced. It spawned a franchise that built the studio[13]. It started a sub-genre. It is my assertion that Koji Suzuki was inspired by Elm Street to write Ringu (pub. 1991). Ringu 1998 uses A Nightmare on Elm Street concept, premise and motifs (it also stole from Black Christmas 1974). It is the highest grossing horror film in Japan[14]. In its wake came the sequels, the cash-ins and the Korean copycats. The West dubbed them J-Horror and promptly remade them.
Badly.
Hollywood devours its own also.Apart from the obvious financial incentive was there a reason to ‘re-imagine’ such a classic? Did the filmmakers take advantage of cultural shifts in the last quarter century? Did they utilise modern technology to enhance the story telling and not smother it? Is it a better script? Is it better entertainment? Is it The Thing 1982? The Invasion of the Body Snatchers1978? The Fly 1986? Or even Night of the Living Dead1990? I will answer these questions after I have time to digest the remake and assess it. Meantime read what Reznor has to say about the original[15] and the reboot[16] at Koopaskeep. Like me he doesn’t believe in sacred cows.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the best horror films ever made.
