Wes Craven’s original Dream Demon could be heading back to the silver screen once more, as Tracking Board brings word that New Line Cinema is engineering a new take on A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Seemingly unperturbed by the reception of the middling 2010 reboot – which failed to impress critically or financially – the report states that New Line, “the house that built Freddy,” is keen on bringing the screen icon back for another scarefest. With David Leslie Johnson attached to write the script, New Line executives Toby Emmerich, Walter Hamada, and Dave Neustadter will oversee the nascent reboot.
Having penned Orphan and The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist, not to mention intermittent work on AMC’s The Walking Dead, Johnson is a fine choice to wrangle A Nightmare on Elm Street into shape. Just recently, it was announced that he would roll the dice with Warner Bros. on their Dungeons & Dragons adaptation, which has only just got back off the ground following a legal dispute.
Circling back to Elm Street, though, and considering that it’s only been a mere five years since Freddy Krueger stalked the silver screen, one can’t help but question whether the time is right for another rendition of the 30-year-old franchise. Plus, the indelible slasher is a character that almost demands a compelling actor, and at this early stage, one of the biggest decisions New Line faces is who to cast as the iconic demon – someone who can hold a candle to Robert Englund’s brilliant and nightmare-inducing turns.
It’s only been half a decade, but Freddy Krueger, one of cinema’s most iconic villains, may be returning for a retooled version of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Yay or nay? We’ll leave that one to you.