Since we are approaching my favorite holiday of the year -- Halloween -- I thought I'd post another horror film trailer. This time from the upcoming remake of "Nightmare on Elm Street." This would then allow me to rant about horror remakes.
Hollywood has always been prone to remakes since remaking a previously successful film looks like a safe or at least safer bet than doing something original. So we had a slew of remakes of Asian horror films, and remakes of 70s horror ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Last House on the Left," "The Hills Have Eyes"), then B 80s horror ("Friday the 13th," "My Bloody Valentine"). Recently I heard that there will be a remake of Dario Argento's cult classic "Suspiria," and that David Cronenberg would be remaking his own remake of "The Fly," which he had already turned into an opera. Jeez! First of all the only way a remake of "Suspiria" could be remotely interesting would be if Dario's daughter Asia were to direct it, and even then you have to ask why remake this cult classic?! Then Cronenberg remaking "The Fly," again? There are so few original films and even fewer original filmmakers that to have the talented Cronenberg revisit one of his own films rather than do something new and original is just a shame.
So this brings us to "Nightmare on Elm Street." Although touted as a "re-imagining" rather than a remake or prequel, this latest "Nightmare" does give us more of the back story on Freddy Krueger with Jackie Earle Haley taking over the role from Robert Englund. Englund had played Freddy in all the movies and in the TV series inspired by the films. Haley, fresh from success as Rorschach in "Watchmen," isn't a bad choice for this reboot but the shots of him in the trailer and hearing his voice as Freddy don't have me convinced that he will be successful. In addition, part of what made the first "Nightmare" good was that it had the element of surprise. It took a clever concept, had fun with it, and jolted the audience with its reality bending surrealism that has now been overdone in the long-running franchise. But since I'm addicted to horror, I am definitely curious to see it.
The new "Nightmare on Elm Street" comes out on April 30, 2010. The trailer is courtesy of New Line Cinema.
