BOOZE TALKIN: Freddy Krueger’s second chance

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Freddy Krueger’s second chance

I touched on this little rant in the latest JoBlo Movie Podcast but felt it needed a bigger and better forum to get my point across. That, and I was lethally drunk while talking about it. From the moment this A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake was announced there has been an epic battle between Hope and Cynicism taking place in the empty vastness of the coliseum in my brain. For the time being, Hope has won, so I write.

Truth be told, Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger could have (and should have) went down as the single greatest horror villain in the history of cinema. The look was there, as was the method, the motive, and the complete disregard for the value of human life. The man was pure evil on vacation from Hell to prey on the unsuspecting bloodlines of those who wronged him while in their most vulnerable state. Iconic yet broken. Human yet paranormal. Psychotic yet strangely justified.

And then something started to happen. Intense terror-inducing beats within the scripts were being replaced with punchlines. Brutally gruesome kills were being replaced with gimmicky magic tricks. Gone was the horrifying darkness of the character, only to be replaced by the star of some sort of late night slasher variety show performing skits. The only thing missing was the laugh track.

And it’s no coincidence the movies were getting worse and worse. The only question is, what came first, the terribly made films or the painfully campy Freddy. The original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET is a truly fantastic horror movie. Each and every sequel fail to even come close to it’s perfection (yes, even NEW NIGHTMARE, even though it was a great break from the stupidity). Plots seemed to be halfheartedly thrown together around as many “cool” death scenes and “hilarious” one-liners as the producers could fit. Somebody, somewhere down the line gave the new face of horror the wrong directions and he ended up on the path to absurdity. Jason Voorhees was there waiting.

Which brings me to my point. The new NIGHTMARE, much like Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN remake, looks to be a shot-for-shot retelling of the original story with a splash of origin thrown in. While deemed unnecessary by the majority of our community, I feel it’s the first step at giving Freddy his proper place in horrific history. Don’t fix what ain’t broken (the original story) but have that fucking tool box handy for what comes next (every story since).

Maybe it’s the booze talking but if there was ever a franchise that needed some re-imagination, it’s this one. Could it all fail horribly? You bet your balls it could. Zombie’s vision of Dr. Loomis and Laurie Strode in HALLOWEEN II told me as much as we sat down for a circle-jerk around the glowing image of her mom on a unicorn.