Who's seen the remake of A Nightmare on Elm St?

[hanselthecaretaker]

This IS very true...

This depiction of Freddy is much more in line with Cravens original conception of him. For the time "Freddy" was toned down to make it "marketable", they didn't think anyone would go to see a movie as disturbing as Craven's real vision. Ironically though, it was the public that turned Freddy into the "jester" of horror. The audience loved it and clamored for more so as usual that aspect was exploited. I've been a Nightmare/Freddy fan since the beginning and had the pleasure of actually working on Freddy's Dead, New Nightmare and FvsJ, and got to know Robert Englund quite well, to me he is the quintessential Freddy. He gave the character so much and did the best he could with what he was given to work with in those god awful sequels. And Freddy paid him back by making him an icon in the horror genre.
I really liked what JEH did with the role though, I see nothing wrong with the movie or the "new" Freddy. I really kind of liked it, I thought it was a good movie, not great, but good. Platinum Dunes made an honest effort and knew what they were up against...Personally I think maybe the majority that went to see this movie really didn't go because they were expecting to be blown away like the the O.G. picture did, I think they (myself included.) really just wanted a "Freddy" fix, and the minority that saw the movie were actual new comers to the franchise.
Like Hansel, I liked the disturbing feel to the movie as a whole, it was creepy from the go, really liked JEH's "Freddy", the script wasn't terrible and the acting and direction were decent. The horror genre is one of the most popular genres there has ever been and I guarantee it's not because the genre is known for putting out high quality efforts, It's because people love horror movies period and they make tons of $'s, some of the BEST horror films are really technical pieces of crap. Hell there would be no Universal Studios today if horror movies hadn't bailed them out many times over since the 40's. All in all these re-imaginings have to be seen with an open mind and you almost have to forget what you have known and just enjoy the movie for what it is.

Great post, and damn that's awesome to have been able to work on those movies man.

 

[gotmojo]

Damn I'd actually added something like this to my original post, but deleted it. Dark as Freddy was in the original, he was supposed to be really vicious, but that vision didn't come to fruition nearly to the degree Craven wanted.

Probably 15 years ago I read an interview with Craven in a then already very old Heavy Metal issue where he talked about a movie he was about to make about a vicious murderer who comes into people's dreams and kills them. His plan sounded like a Leatherface for dreamland.

Great minds, yadda, yadda...

I spoke with Craven on "New Nightmare" but just briefly. (Didn't want to seem like too much of a bumbling twit in front of a man I idolized since I was 13.) He said that he "breathed life into Freddy, then Freddy "assumed" a life of his own.". New Nightmare was actually Craven's attempt to give that edge back to the character and the story. He actually dreamed of Freddy's character and based him on many things including his dream, a Vietnamese folk tale of sorts about a dream killer that killed young boys in their sleep (I've read about this, some pretty intense stuff.) and his character "Kru" from "The Last House on the Left". He wanted to create the most despicable individual the screen has ever seen, someone that everyone would hate and also fear instantly with the same intensity, someone that would sicken people to their core....Enter his original concept of a child molester first and murderer second, this was something that seemed to just set people off in the same way regardless of who they were. This was too much for the investors so he was watered down to "child murderer" with underlying tones of the torture and molestation that was probably going along with it. I think Platinum Dunes did a great job expressing this for Craven, so in a sense the "new" Freddy is really the "original" Freddy.

 

[gotmojo]

Great post, and damn that's awesome to have been able to work on those movies man.

It was a flippin' BLAST! I have been semi-retired from SPMFX for almost 6 years now and for all of the films that I had the opportunity to be a part of, the "Nightmare" shows are always right in the front of my mind, and the films people comment on the most. After loving the franchise since before I got hair in strange places, being able to work on them was really a dream come true. (No pun intended.)
I still do jobs from time to time and almost tried to crew up on the Platinum Dunes Nightmare (It was filmed 4 hours from were I live now.) but being the single parent of my 5 year old son and having opened a business last July I just couldn't commit to the full length of the project. All in all I spent over 12 years doing what I loved and still get to do it and make $'s as more of a hobby now. Don't get me wrong, I fight the urge to go back full steam quite often but my son comes first.