Making Elm St. Reboot Work

Let's just say right off the bat, that each and every remake Platinum Dunes has been apart of, is worth the admission price and at the bare minimum measured up to the original film or series. Their adaptations have been enthralling and gritty depictions of iconic horror franchises. The films Platinum Dunes has updated, had previously becomed plauged with terrible sequel after sequel, they took those franchises and gave them a breath of fresh air. Platinum Dunes made the iconic characters relevant again to the original fans while also appealing to a new generation, one that would have otherwise never seen the originals.

Platinum Dunes has "Friday the 13th" releasing next week, but Brad Fuller and Andrew Form are already hard at work prepping their next iconic franchise takeover, "A Nightmare on Elm Street." Just like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a legendary franchise for the production company to aquire. It also means hordes of ravenous fans who hold Freddy and Elm St. so close to their hearts, they will be watching their every move. Fret not, Fuller and Form know full well how iconic and important the Elm St franchise is. They talked with CHUD about where they are in creating their next reboot which is scheduled to shoot this Spring in Chicago. Checkout the breakdown below...

First things first, would Platinum Dunes dare to change the look of Freddy Krueger? Andrew Form fired back referencing Dunes past remakes, "Freddy is an iconic character like Jason, and when we've made these movies we haven't deviated from the way [the characters] look," he said. Continuing on Form added, "Jason and Leatherface look the same and I'm sure with Freddy it'll hold true. I do think we can safely say that in Texas Chainsaw the chainsaw was the weapon, in Friday the machete is the weapon for Jason, and in Nightmare there is no changing the glove." Brad Fuller chimmed in and said, "There will be the sweater. We're not going to have him coming out in an Izod." Clearly these guys know, not to fuck with what works!

A hyper critical aspect to the reboot is the how to be current and relevant with Freddy's crimes. Today's world is completely different than the 1980's with the internet and sex crime offender laws including Megan's Law and they both know it. "If there were a child killer in 2009 it would be on the internet and everyone would know about it," Fuller said. Fuller and Form do not come clean on if Krueger will be a child molester, killer or both. They do however discuss the dificulties on adapating the franchise. Andrew Fuller explained, "The concept of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street wouldn't work. The concept of the movie is the kids discovering what happened, and the kids paying the price for their parent's sins. What we're struggling with is how do we have his crimes in a way where the kids can't just type in 'Freddy Krueger' [into Google] and come up with his arrest record." Good to know they are worried about the right things.

There are still a couple major details to iron out before shooting can begin. One of those is finding a director! Fuller and Form are very concerned about finding the right director with the right eye for a film of this caliber. A Nightmare on Elm Street is a whole different demon than the straight forward Chainsaw or Friday. Talking of finding a director Fuller said, "We need to find a visual director who can blow people away." Adding to the sensitive subject Form said, "And seamless transitions are the key, where the audience truly has no idea if it's a dream or not until it's too late you realize you've been duped for the last 30, 40, 90 seconds and the person's been dreaming the whole time." Andrew Form hits a very vaild point there, something that became all too apparent in the later Elm St. films. The original had key scenes that really begged the question, "are they dreaming?" the later films lost all that and instead focused on zany Krueger comedy.

Last couple of issues for Nightmare are the final design of Freddy Krueger and who the hell is gonna play him! Andrew Form and Brad Fuller asked Faraci over at CHUD if he thought Robert Englund should return. Devin, like I believes, new blood is needed for the reboot. Form and Fuller have previously stated they too feel the same way, but were not willing to reveal who is even being targeted or if the Jackie Earle Haley rumors were true. They did however announce that they will be working with Scott Stoddard who did a majority of the FX and design for both Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They intend to sit down and hammer out the full design with Stoddard, which should not be too hard considering they do not intend to tamper too much anyways.

So can Platinum Dunes pull off another great reboot? What concerns you the most about the remake? Do you think Englund should return as Freddy? Will there be more of a shown backstory to Freddy's past? More news as it comes available. Strikeback....