42 Years Later, The Most Surprising Horror Remake Is The Start Of A New Era
A new new nightmare.
Horror movies often hinge entirely on the strength of their villain. From Ghostface to Jason Voorhees, a great baddie with a look that will sell Halloween costumes is a great way to secure yourself a place in horror history. There’s perhaps no better example than Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger, whose striped sweater, ratty fedora, and a glove decked out in knives proved the iconic look for the slasher series.
Now, Freddy is about to be reawakened in a brand-new A Nightmare on Elm Street film that isn’t just bringing back the film series — it’s launching a new filmmaking initiative.
Freddy Krueger wreaks havoc in the original 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie is in the works from Paramount Pictures. This is a change from the previous movies, which were produced by New Line Cinema. Paramount has purchased the U.S. rights for the franchise from the estate of original filmmaker Wes Craven, so this potentially could be the start of a new era for the series.
It’s definitely the start of a new era for Paramount, which is using this new project to launch a new division known as Paramount Primal. According to the report, the new label will seek to “partner with up-and-coming storytellers as well as established filmmakers to produce smartly budgeted films across a variety of genres, including horror, comedy, action, and grounded science fiction.” So, essentially, it’s a division for developing low- and mid-budget films with the hopes of hitting the same successes as recent indies Obsession and Backrooms.
The new film will be set in the same universe as the original movie and based on the original screenplay.
The new movie will be produced by the current heads of Paramount Primal, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, and apparently it isn’t a complete reboot of the film series; it’s “set in the world of A Nightmare on Elm Street, based on the original screenplay.” So while the original movie is the source material, it’s set in a world where the story of the original movie actually happened, so it won’t start a new canon.
Nightmare on Elm Street was a huge hit for New Line Cinema previously, so hopefully the same will happen with Paramount Primal, turning it into a new opportunity for Paramount, a company doing everything it can to expand at the moment. But if anyone can convince audiences of a new approach to filmmaking, it’s definitely Freddy Krueger.
