john mcnaughton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Over at MTV.com, there is a new interview with Robert Englund, better known as Freddy Krueger. The beloved boogeyman talks about his current film (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, you can read Scott's review here), his taste in music (Arcade Fire -- nice), his thoughts on recent horror remakes (liked the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hills Have Eyes), and the future of Krueger. If you'll recall, Freddy Vs. Jason ended with Jason carrying Freddy's severed (but winking) head under his arm. So should Freddy take on another horror legend? Englund says the plan was to do a movie with Ash from the Evil Dead movies, but he now suspects Raimi and Campbell will want to do a remake of The Evil Dead instead. (Didn't they kind of do that already?) He hears the studio has been talking to John Carpenter, so Freddy and Jason meeting Michael Myers could also be a possibility.

According to Englund, "I also hear they have a really good prequel script to A Nightmare on Elm Street being passed around. And there was talk that John McNaughton, director of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was attached. Which means that maybe they would be making a prequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street with me out of the makeup for a while. You get to see Freddy Krueger, the early crimes. Freddy Krueger, the early years." (You know, like Muppet Babies, but with horrible murders.) Englund wants to see Freddy on trial, complete with sleazy lawyers, "Like a Law and Order episode." Freddy's back story would fit right in on SVU, or as I call it, Sex Crimes and the City. As for any remakes, Englund knows he can't do this forever, and that someday he may have to pass the baton. "Sooner or later, somebody else is going to have to play the part. But I can still do Freddy in the makeup. All I gotta do is lose five pounds." Sheesh, even Freddy is concerned about his weight these days!

This should come as no surprise to anyone who hangs in the horror end of the movie pool, but New Line is apparently gearing up to give us an all-new Freddy Krueger misadventure. No, not another sequel or an odd little experiment like New Nightmare -- but a prequel that plans to cover the back-story of the pre-dead Freddy Krueger, his unseemly relationship with numerous small children, and the neighborhood parents who strike back ... thereby creating an undead boogeyman who'll haunt them for the next 8 movies.

Those never-slumbering horror geeks at BD.com got word recently that a director has been chosen for this project, an admired and established filmmaker who is certainly no stranger to scary cinema. And that director is ... John McNaughton, the filmmaker who debuted with the undeniably creepy Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer before moving on to crime dramas (Mad Dog & Glory), pulpy sex thrillers (Wild Things), and comedies so bad they never saw a stateside theatrical release (Speaking of Sex). No word yet on screenwriters, release dates, or cast additions, but McNaughton and Robert Englund (Krueger, Fred Krueger) are apparently already on board.

So ... Jason and Freddy do battle in their combo movie, and then each of the beloved slashers get their own "origin story" prequel. Smart move, if only from a "squeezing the last drops of blood from two popular franchises" perspective.

A lot of people have taken to calling the Masters of Horror series a Showtime production, but the truth is that the experiment was born over at Anchor Bay. Series creator Mick Garris had the idea to snag a bunch of the finest horror-makers under the sun, have each one direct an hour-long mini-movie, and then let the Gorehounds devour the goods through the magic of DVD. But then Showtime got involved, and they aired 12 of the 13 episodes between last December and March of this year. (The 13th episode, Takashi Miike's Imprint, was deemed too harsh by the Showtime folks, which means you won't be able to see it till the DVD hits shelves.)

Unfortunately, Anchor Bay has taken a fairly money-hungry approach to releasing Masters on DVD: Two episodes hit stores yesterday, available individually or as part of a 2-pack. But with a list price of $16.98 apiece (which means a retail cost of about 11 bucks each), it seems that the horror faithful are expected to dole out about $150 if they want the entire season. (By comparison, my 13-episode collection of the brilliant Firefly set me back only about 40 bucks!) But hey, nobody's saying you have to buy 'em all, right? We horror geeks aren't ravenous completists and ferocious collectors ... are we? (To be fair, if the first 2 DVDs are any indication, each release promises to come stocked with loads of extra goodies, so at least we're getting some value for our money.)

Anyway, to commemorate the DVD debut of the series (well, the first two episodes) I thought it might be helpful to give our readers a Masters Guide -- despite the fact that I've seen precisely ONE episode of the show so far! Click below for a list of all the actors, the Masters, the release dates, all 13 plot synopses, and a variety of trivial hoo-hah intended mainly for the hardcore horror freaks.