A Nightmare on Elm Street Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Jackie Earle Haley is the new Freddy Krueger in this remake that seems to be staying pretty close to the original (that shot above ring any bells?). Freddy's got the striped sweater, the hat and of course the claw. We don't see much of his face but there's enough to tell Freddy's sporting a new albeit still burned to a crisp look. Haley was great in Watchmen, but director Samuel Bayer has a resume filled with mostly music videos so I'm not too optimistic. The nightmare begins on April 30.

Tooth Fairy
Dwayne Johnson plays a mean spirited pro hockey player who is sentenced to serve time working as a tooth fairy, complete with wings, shrinking and invisibility. Seriously? I realize I'm not the target demo, but seriously? This will be out on January 22.

After Thursday's Hall H offerings more or less covered the entirety of comic book an genre fandom's future favorite films, among them Tron, Avatar, and the future classic Kick-Ass, it seemed an impossible task for almost anyone to top what was shown, much less to muster enthusiasm from the already punch-drunk crowd. And yet, Warner Brothers made a remarkably strong showing with their presentation of not one or two but six upcoming films, almost all of which looks ready to redefine fans' expectations.

Included in Warner's presentation:

So amidst yesterday's set visit preview and our first little look at Freddy Krueger, it would appear -- according to Fangoria -- that the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street has been pushed back a bit from April 16th to April 30th, 2010, the same weekend that happened to bring in nearly $30 million for Obsessed this year.

And the same Fangoria piece brings up a move for Josh Brolin's scarred gunslinger, Jonah Hex, up from August 6th to June 18th, 2010. It seems like a vote of confidence, either because Megan Fox is such a big box-office draw now or because Will Arnett will be once G-Force drops this Friday.

We've also confirmed that Nimrod Antal's heist thriller Armored has been bumped from this September 4th back to December 4th. The week after Thanksgiving is usually somewhat of a no-man's-land for the holiday flops to fall away and the awards magnets to work their way up and out, but for every Aeon Flux, we get something fun like Punisher: War Zone, and early rumblings on Armored are that we might not have a dud on our hands. Having enjoyed Antal's Kontroll and 98% of Vacancy, and knowing that this flick helped him land the gig directing Predators, here's hoping.

As first looks go, it's remarkably ... minimal. The first image of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger in the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street has been released, showing a shadowy Freddy ready for action. The full image is available at Trailer Park (with another one arriving on IGN later today we're told).

Having in mind that this is strictly a teaser pic, with more on the way, I like it. It's got Freddy's signature sweater, his signature hat, and his signature knife-claws. Freddy's face is in the shadows, but that can wait for a later reveal. To be frank, I haven't been terribly enthusiastic about this remake / re-imagining, but Haley has been very good in his recent roles, especially in Watchmen.

Add to that the positive feelings emanating from the brief report by William Goss this morning, in which Haley acknowledged the challenge of stepping into the child-killing shoes of Robert Englund, and producer Andrew Form indicated that the new Nightmare would indeed try to be "terrifying" and "unsettling." The original series of Nightmare films devolved from scary to slick to stupid, so at least they're heading in the right direction. And with Haley, there's a chance that he can bring an added dimension, beyond what Englund would have brought to the role as such a familiar icon.

A Nightmare on Elm Street heads to theaters next April.

A couple of us onliners got an up-close look at the fresh flesh of Jackie Earle Haley's Freddy Krueger last month on the Chicago set of the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, and from the sound of things, he'll be making his first public appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con later this week. Though the bulk of our set visit coverage will have to wait until closer to the film's release next April, we can share a bit on what Haley's bringing to the legendary character and what the producers are bringing to the franchise...

Haley: "Robert Englund's done an amazing job over the years playing Freddy. Everybody's that's a fan of Nightmare loves Robert and, you know, that's a challenge when you've got to step in a big man's shoes like that, so it's scary but also exciting. You can't please everybody. All I can do is really just try to work from the heart and do the best job at playing Freddy that I can and hope for the best."

More on HorrorSquad!

On a recent visit to the Chicago-based set of the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake, producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form gave us online types a good hour with which to poke and prod about that film and countless other projects in the works. The Elm St. stuff will have to wait until the time is right, but at the moment, you're just a hop, skip and jump away from finding out where Platinum Dunes currently stands with a Friday the 13th sequel, their present involvement in reported remakes of The Birds and Rosemary's Baby, and how exactly the little-seen Horsemen ended up slipping through the cracks last spring...

Read the full interview at Horror Squad!

He's terrorized Veronica Mars, he's chilled with Jennifer's Body, he's been through A Haunting in Connecticut, and now Kyle Gallner is getting more horror. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the young actor has grabbed the lead teen role in the new, Jackie Earle Haley-starring A Nightmare on Elm Street. He'll play Quentin, and indie kind of guy who runs a school podcast called "Insomnia Radio." While not the same role, it's basically the gig Johnny Depp had in the original. Will he also die by bedding? And, can Elm Street be the same without a horde of Just the Ten of Us sisters?

Meanwhile, Virginia Madsen is defying gravity. Variety reports the actress is getting involved with a new documentary called Fighting Gravity. The project focuses on women ski jumpers, and their battle to get the right to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Specifically, it'll follow 15 female athletes who have challenged the Intl. Olympic Committee's decision to bar them from the games -- making it the only men-only sport in the Games. Sometimes it's hard to believe we're in 2009...

Finally, Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci are teaming up once again. Most recently, the pair both made English language remakes of Theo van Gogh's work (Interview and Blind Date). Now Variety reports the friends have created a new shingle, Olive Productions, and have signed a first-look deal with Lionsgate to develop and produce television shows for cable and broadcast networks. The pair are already being commended for their "daring, innovative aesthetic," and I can only hope that from time to time they'll also jump in front of the camera.

They started off with Leatherface, which makes sense if you think about it: Horror flicks don't get much more "classic" than TCM. So when Platinum Dunes announced a do-over on Friday the 13th, nobody was all that much surprised. Plus the Dunes boys keep talking about remaking The Birds, so I guess that means all bets are off. So don't act all surprised when you learn that the production company is looking at a spring start date for, yep, A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Producer Andrew Form spilled a few early details at Shock, but here's the part that should keep horror fans (at least partially) sated for the time being: "It's not Freddy cracking jokes. We want to make a horrifying movie. The concept is so scary, don't fall asleep or you'll die. This guy gets you when you're most vulnerable, in your sleep. We love that." Sounds good to me, Andrew.

So not only will the new* Freddy start shooting relatively soon ... it also looks like Platinum Dunes have found themselves a screenwriter in veteran word-maker Wesley Strick, whom the genre fans will remember from Arachnophobia, Cape Fear, Wolf, and Doom.

*And yes, it definitely looks like a NEW Freddy will hit the scene, although the producers seem open to having Robert Englund stop by in some capacity.

Frankly, the news that a screenwriter had been hired to pen the latest installment in a horror franchise would not normally merit much attention.(Other than from the writer's agent and immediate family.) But when we're talking Wesley Strick and A Nightmare on Elm Street, my curiosity soared.

New Line Cinema has hired Strick to create their new version of Nightmare, according to The Hollywood Reporter. One of his first credits was as co-writer of Arachnophobia, Frank Marshall's clever creature feature, followed by Martin Scorsese's heavy-handed remake of Cape Fear, and later Mike Nichols' post-modern Wolf. His other credits include Final Analysis, The Saint, The Glass House and Doom.

While it's always tricky to assign credit or blame based solely on screen credits, I think it's safe to say that Strick has a distinct track record: complex psychological tension, sarcastic humor, and mucho macho boom boom (to coin a phrase for his uber-male characters). I'm not saying that all of these elements succeed in every movie he's had a hand in writing, but I am hopeful that Strick can come up with a fresh twist on Freddy Krueger.

The new Nightmare will retain the high school setting and "delve deeper in the psychology of nightmares and Krueger himself. The plan is to have a dark tone." If the plan is also to forget about a PG-13 rating, so much the better. New Line aims to release the film in time for the 25th anniversary of the original -- which would be November 2009.