bueno bob
01-31-2008, 12:47 AM
"Nightmare" to haunt big screen again
Tuesday January 29 8:50 PM ET
Freddy's back. Again.
New Line is in talks with horror production company Platinum Dunes to re-launch the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie series, the franchise that helped establish the studio.
The first "Nightmare" movie was made by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The runaway success of the film spawned a slew of sequels and created one of the most popular villains in screen history, Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund.
The film centered on Krueger, a serial child killer murdered by angry parents, who returns with a burned face and a razor glove to terrorize teens in their dreams.
A screenwriter will be hired once the Writers Guild of America strike ends. The producers -- Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form -- are hoping to focus part of the new movie on Krueger's backstory.
Platinum Dunes is prepping another re-launch, "Friday the 13th," which will be directed by Marcus Nispel for New Line, for whom it remade "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and its sequel.
The company is remaking "Near Dark" for Rogue and "The Birds" for Universal. It is also prepping a non-remake project, an untitled David Goyer thriller.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
***
Well now.
The pros - the dialogue and special effects could REALLY use a swift kick in the ass. The original Nightmare On Elm Street was fucking brilliant, but it does in fact suffer from some really shitty lines and some visibly low-budget special effects. A remake with today's budget levels and technology behind it (so long as it's not all fucking CGI and actual EFFECTS) would be interesting to see. There are a LOT of really cool things they could do with the dream sequences that Wes Craven's original budget simply wouldn't allow for...additionally, there's a distinct possibility that new Freddy (with a new director) could actually be FUCKING SCARY again, not just the Benny Hill Butcher...honestly, after Elm Street 4 I heard the Benny Hill "chase music" in my head whenever some nameless brat fell asleep and Fred went to work...it got so totally fucking goofy...maybe this could change that...?
The cons (let's count 'em!):
01. Platinum Dunes. Having remade Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hitcher, and one or two other horror franchises that I forget currently in the hopes of relaunching franchises, they've BUTCHERED the original stories far more than any of the represented killers in said stories butcher their victims. It's all about the quick buck to Platinum Dunes...cast a bunch of forgettable 'tween nobodies, rework the story (usually making it TOO explanatory), and abandon the history of said franchise in an effort to get to the bank before it closes. Platinum Dunes has an established track record of fucking up franchises and recovering by buying the rights to another one and repeating the process ad nauseum...
02. John Saxon. "Donald Thompson" is playable by anybody...but John Saxon is NOT. Simply put, he CANNOT be replaced. Period. And fuck you if you don't like it. :mad:
03. Robert Englund. JESUS CHRIST! Who in the FUCK can you get to play FREDDY KRUGER if it's not ROBERT MOTHER FUCKING ENGLUND?!?!? I'll give you TWO ideas, and they'll be the ONLY ideas I can deal with - one is Crispin Glover:
http://www.indexmagazine.com/images/celebrityphotos/crispin_glover.jpg
The other is Johnny Depp. And I say Johnny Depp because, frankly, it would at the very LEAST be a tenuous connection to the original Nightmare On Elm Street...
http://www.youthink.com/quiz_images/quiz1093outcome1.jpg
...of course, he can also act, and it might be kinda cool to see him back at his roots, so to speak...but overwhelmingly, you can't recast John Saxon or Robert Englund. I'm sorry, but it's just not going to fucking work, regardless...Crispin & Johnny get my vote, though, and in that order...
04. Remakes suck. Especially horror remakes. The only two good horror remakes I've ever seen have been The Fly and The Thing, and those were both handled by FAR better people than Michael Bay and his yes-men...
05. I am NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER going to lust after anybody as much as I lusted after Heather Langenkamp in my youth. I don't fucking care WHO they cast, THIS IS THE NANCY I WAS IN LOVE WITH!!! :mad:
http://www.ericgunrud.com/Framesets/BLOGFrameSet/BLOGGraphics/NewNightmare/HeatherLangenkamp02.jpg
Fuck, I don't know. I'm going to go, fork over my cash, sit my ass in the seat and hate every fucking moment of it, but I can't control it. It's in my blood to torture myself like this.
Such is life...
Tuesday January 29 8:50 PM ET
Freddy's back. Again.
New Line is in talks with horror production company Platinum Dunes to re-launch the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movie series, the franchise that helped establish the studio.
The first "Nightmare" movie was made by Wes Craven and released in 1984. The runaway success of the film spawned a slew of sequels and created one of the most popular villains in screen history, Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund.
The film centered on Krueger, a serial child killer murdered by angry parents, who returns with a burned face and a razor glove to terrorize teens in their dreams.
A screenwriter will be hired once the Writers Guild of America strike ends. The producers -- Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form -- are hoping to focus part of the new movie on Krueger's backstory.
Platinum Dunes is prepping another re-launch, "Friday the 13th," which will be directed by Marcus Nispel for New Line, for whom it remade "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and its sequel.
The company is remaking "Near Dark" for Rogue and "The Birds" for Universal. It is also prepping a non-remake project, an untitled David Goyer thriller.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
***
Well now.
The pros - the dialogue and special effects could REALLY use a swift kick in the ass. The original Nightmare On Elm Street was fucking brilliant, but it does in fact suffer from some really shitty lines and some visibly low-budget special effects. A remake with today's budget levels and technology behind it (so long as it's not all fucking CGI and actual EFFECTS) would be interesting to see. There are a LOT of really cool things they could do with the dream sequences that Wes Craven's original budget simply wouldn't allow for...additionally, there's a distinct possibility that new Freddy (with a new director) could actually be FUCKING SCARY again, not just the Benny Hill Butcher...honestly, after Elm Street 4 I heard the Benny Hill "chase music" in my head whenever some nameless brat fell asleep and Fred went to work...it got so totally fucking goofy...maybe this could change that...?
The cons (let's count 'em!):
01. Platinum Dunes. Having remade Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hitcher, and one or two other horror franchises that I forget currently in the hopes of relaunching franchises, they've BUTCHERED the original stories far more than any of the represented killers in said stories butcher their victims. It's all about the quick buck to Platinum Dunes...cast a bunch of forgettable 'tween nobodies, rework the story (usually making it TOO explanatory), and abandon the history of said franchise in an effort to get to the bank before it closes. Platinum Dunes has an established track record of fucking up franchises and recovering by buying the rights to another one and repeating the process ad nauseum...
02. John Saxon. "Donald Thompson" is playable by anybody...but John Saxon is NOT. Simply put, he CANNOT be replaced. Period. And fuck you if you don't like it. :mad:
03. Robert Englund. JESUS CHRIST! Who in the FUCK can you get to play FREDDY KRUGER if it's not ROBERT MOTHER FUCKING ENGLUND?!?!? I'll give you TWO ideas, and they'll be the ONLY ideas I can deal with - one is Crispin Glover:
http://www.indexmagazine.com/images/celebrityphotos/crispin_glover.jpg
The other is Johnny Depp. And I say Johnny Depp because, frankly, it would at the very LEAST be a tenuous connection to the original Nightmare On Elm Street...
http://www.youthink.com/quiz_images/quiz1093outcome1.jpg
...of course, he can also act, and it might be kinda cool to see him back at his roots, so to speak...but overwhelmingly, you can't recast John Saxon or Robert Englund. I'm sorry, but it's just not going to fucking work, regardless...Crispin & Johnny get my vote, though, and in that order...
04. Remakes suck. Especially horror remakes. The only two good horror remakes I've ever seen have been The Fly and The Thing, and those were both handled by FAR better people than Michael Bay and his yes-men...
05. I am NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER going to lust after anybody as much as I lusted after Heather Langenkamp in my youth. I don't fucking care WHO they cast, THIS IS THE NANCY I WAS IN LOVE WITH!!! :mad:
http://www.ericgunrud.com/Framesets/BLOGFrameSet/BLOGGraphics/NewNightmare/HeatherLangenkamp02.jpg
Fuck, I don't know. I'm going to go, fork over my cash, sit my ass in the seat and hate every fucking moment of it, but I can't control it. It's in my blood to torture myself like this.
Such is life...