Screen Rant » nightmare on elm street

Early Review of ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’

Anthony Ocasio — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:02:00 +0000

This past weekend there was a test screening for the highly anticipated Platinum Dunes re-imagining of the horror classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Lucky for us, someone going by the pseudonym “Skin Peeler” was in attendance and wrote up an extremely lengthy review of the film for the folks over at Ain’t It Cool News.

What did he think? While I’ve sampled some of the highlights from the review here, I can tell you right now that it appears much work needs to be done before the April 30, 2010, release date. Keep in mind that none of the effects, sound, editing (pretty much everything) are final at this moment.

In an attempt to save space and get right to the review, I shall save my musings and non-sequiturs until the end. I should also note that we tweaked some of the original text from the review – didn’t want you guys blaming us for some of the spelling decisions he made.

Now, on to the film…

How’s Jackie Earle Haley’s performance as Freddy Krueger in Comparison to the original Freddy, Robert Englund?

Haley’s portrayal will no doubt be compared to Robert Englund’s performance. In my eyes, Englund’s was at times a dark presence of pure anger, at other times a bizarre caricature like an carnival barker or angry drunk and pervy uncle. Haley’s portrayal seems to be no nonsense, to the point, smarmy, ugly, repulsive and just plain vile… what you would expect from a child molester and it fits the story. However, the writers don’t let him playfully toy with his prey as much, he simply twists the screws…

Kruger was never a Pinhead or Hannibal when it came to dialog, and I know they were going for a more serious slant this time, but he (Englund’s Freddy) had a confidence that made you know you were f**ked since he had you in his world and Haley works with what he is given.

Freddy’s Make-Up and the overall look of the film.

The set and makeup departments did an excellent job: Freddy looks like a freakish burn victim, many of the dream and flashback scenes are dark and have that ‘Silent Hill’ feel. It’s like they watched a bunch of great horror films for inspiration… but with the sound muted. ANoES’s story, dialog and acting don’t quite match the imagery.

But is it Scary?

This film is chock-full of heart-stopping jump out and scare you moments… the audience was definitely given some jumps, however it’s overdone and hides the lack of any real horror. The cheap scares become like little Snickers bites in a bag of Halloween candy: a quick jolt but soon forgotten. This would be fine if there were some good psychological horror thrown in, like a juicy steak for a more substantial meal, however all that’s left is a sugar crash.

Possibility of PG-13 rating?

I don’t recall seeing much hard core ‘guro’ besides slashes, blood and Freddy’s hand suddenly appearing through someone’s chest, possibly leaving open the possibility of a PG-13 rating? …no nudity in the film, however Freddy is a brutal killer with themes of child molestation

Conclusion

…the version I saw tonight could have been an excellent remake. At this point it’s at merely ‘mediocre’ status in my mind, but with possible ‘good’ potential. I want for it to be good and I would love to see more of Haley. I don’t know what can be done at this point to fix the actors chosen or the missing elements to raise the horror, but I stay hopeful. The editing still has time to be tightened, as I am already forgetting the entire middle of the film except for the flashbacks.

The story also has some great set ups only to fall short because of characters you could care less about (Apologies to the actors… blame bad casting).

Final Thoughts

Just please figure out do you want a PG-13 movie or R? When you make a film, you shouldn’t give a sh*t about the rating. This is a Nightmare on Elm Street… It should be a given it’s an ‘R’ rating.

Well, there you have it. Overall, I’d have to say that I now have zero excitement for this flick. From what this audience member writes, it sounds like it’s a decent horror film, but I’m not looking for a decent horror film, I want a Nightmare On Elm Street film. There is a difference.

It’s disappointing that the acting is horrible with someone like Jackie Earle Haley in this film. I have a feeling that whatever I end up thinking of his portrayal of the infamous Freddy Krueger, it would be so much better if he were acting against better talent.

Still, there is an interesting difference between the relationships between the victims and Krueger in this version as compared to the original, and I’m really curious as to his ultimate guilt or innocence.

Alright, enough of me. Skin Peeler took up so much space that I’ll have to leave my musings and non sequiturs for another time.

… or will I? (Yes, I will)

After reading this, what do you think? Is this the film you hoped it would be? Are you still excited about going to see it? How are you going to feel when they announce the sequel? (Because you know they will!)

A Nightmare On Elm Street is slated to be released on April 30, 2010.

Source: Ain’t It Cool News

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Warner Bros. Panel – Comic-Con 2009

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:42:10 +0000

There was an opening video where writer of the original book Maurice Sendack and director Spike Jonze talked about the approach to the film. Sendack is very, very happy with Jonze’ vision of his original story and couldn’t say enough positive things. He said it is true to the spirit of the book and it’s an expansion of the story.

Max Records who plays the young boy in Where the Wild Things Are was the first guest and he was quite charming. They – showed about 5 clips which looked great – very rich and textured and Max is going to steal the film.

Book of Eli

For The Book of Eli there was an animatic that frankly I have no idea what had to do with the Denzel Washington / Gary Oldman starring film. When they showed the trailer however – it was very impressive. I really enjoyed seeing Denzel as a bad-ass action hero.

Denzel, Gary and Mila Kunis were on hand along with co-directors Albert and Allen Hughes.

The film takes place 30 years in the future after a war and not too many people are left behind. Denzel and Oldman were cutting it up and the crowd enjoyed it. It’s yet another post-apocalyptic film – but I guess you can never have too many post-apocalyptic films.

Nightmare On Elm Street

Jackie Earle Haley was present along with Brad Fuller, Sam Bayer and Andrew Form were in attendance.

They showed a series of scenes from the film – it looked like a trailer actually – and it was actually very good. Jackie Earle Haley looks like a great fit for the role. The footage opened with the townspeople chasing Freddie and lighting the warehouse where he is hiding on fire (no spoiler there, come on). It hinted that maybe Krueger was innocent, but it could just be him trying to save his own butt.

In this film Freddy will not be joking and it will be more of a straight-up terrorizing angle on the character. They’re looking to reintroduce the character to a new generation.

It does look like it’s going to be a fresh approach – not going for the black humor so much as an all-out horror movie.

The Box

Richard Kelly, director of Donnie Darko and now The Box, along with Cameron Diaz and James Marsten were in attendance. Based on short story Button, Button by Richard Matheson. They showed 4 1/2 minutes from the film and here’s the concept: Frank Langella (with a horribly disfigured but obviously CGI-effects face) shows up and offers Cameron Diaz a box with a large red button. If she presses the button, two things happen: Someone, somewhere dies – and he will bring her one million dollars in cash. Of course beyond the death of someone she doesn’t know there will be very serious consequences that Langella neglected to mention.

The film is set in 1976 and looked very interesting and unusual, and it seemed like there will be more to it then just a thriller.

Kelly said it’s the most personal film he ever made and it was a tribute to his parents and older films.

Jonah Hex

Director Jimmy Hayward was on hand along with Michael Fassbender, Megan Fox and Josh Brolin.

They just finished shooting the movie, Megan Fox’s last shot was done two days ago. Footage cut exclusively for Comic-Con. The footage was impressive – lots of action and tough guy dialog/scenes by Josh Brolin. It won’t be a “slow” Western – tons of actions, gunfights, explosions, etc. It looked really great and Brolin was good, but I couldn’t help thinking that I still would have loved to see Nathan Fillion in the role.

Megan Fox plays a prostitute that Hex has been seeing for years – he keeps her at a distance because everyone that comes into his life dies.

Some moron asked Megan Fox if she’d be interested in helping him kick-off his film career by filming a sex tape. He was pulled away immediately.

The audience reaction when Hayward asked if people would see the movie was good, but nowhere close to “bring the house down” like the reaction during the Kick-Ass panel yesterday. Josh Brolin said the film was only made for approximately $35MM – all the money is onscreen, there were no big paychecks for the actors and they did it for the love of the script/movie.

Josh Brolin was really very funny, goofing on one of the people who asked a question – but in a very nice way. He talked about how he liked working on really original stories.

Sherlock Holmes

Robert Downey Jr. walked out and the crowd went nuts. Personally I think this is a hint of how the Iron Man 2 panel is going to go tomorrow. He said Sherlock Holmes was the first superhero – an intellectual superhero and martial artist.

They showed and extended Comic-Con trailer for the film and it was very engaging, action packed and a lot of fun. It really highlighted what Downey is bringing to the role and I enjoyed the relationship between Downey and Jude Law as Watson. Watson is not as subservient in this version but more of a partner who actually sometimes saves Sherlock’s bacon.

They had one scene in particular that really highlighted Holmes’ great intelligence – in the boxing scene already shown in the trailer they go through his step by step thought processes on how to take down his huge opponent. Very analytical down to the consequences and recovery time, and then after that they show him execute his plan and it goes perfectly as he takes the guy down in about 4 quick steps.

Producers Susan Downey, Joel Silver and Lionel, Wigram along with Rachel McAdams were also in attendance. Downey Jr. had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand – he really is incredibly charming. He also talked about he and Joel Silver really wanting to go for it if they were going to attack such a well known and classic property, with the possibility of creating a franchise. He said that that actually most incarnations had really veered away from the original concept of the character and stories.

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First Official Look At Elm Street’s New Freddy Krueger

Ross Miller — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:56:56 +0000

Today we get our first official look at the new Freddy Krueger in the 21st century remake of the classic horror film franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street. We’ve had more than enough teen casting announcements to last us a while, and with regards to Freddy himself, we’ve only had the casting news of Jackie Earle Haley getting the role to go on.

IGN has today premiered both the first official photo of Haley as the new Freddy Krueger (there were some set photos released that (not very clearly) showed him pre-burn scars), as well as the first teaser poster for the film (the poster was first snapped at Comic Con).

A Nightmare on Elm Street follows a similar premise to the original: a serial child molester is burnt to death by angry parents only to turn into an undead killer who comes back to seek revenge by killing the teenagers of Elm Street in their dreams. Check out the Freddy pic and the official teaser poster below (click for larger):

A better look at Freddy (sorry for small size)

The one thing that’s given me hope about this Elm Street remake is the fact that Watchmen’s Jackie Earle Haley is the new Freddy Krueger. Not a casting I saw coming, but similar to when Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Iron Man: the minute Haley’s name was brought up it immediately clicked. He has the general look of Freddy (even if he’ll most likely be under burn makeup for most of the movie) and based on his performance as a child molester in the film Little Children, we know for a fact that Haley can do creepy-as-hell.

Moreover, the first image and poster featuring him in character, even if he’s in the shadows, has me even more hopeful that this remake will be at least worth a watch, if not genuinely good. Both the image and the poster may just be teases, but that’s to be expected when we’re still about 8 months away from the movie’s release.

I gotta’ say, Freddy’s clawed glove, in particular, looks pretty bad ass…

Having said that I’m still on the, “they shouldn’t have remade this,” boat in regards to this film. It’s another unnecessary addition to a now almost countless list of 21st century horror-movie remakes that have rarely broken past the barrier of mediocrity. I sincerely hope Haley doesn’t end up being the only good thing about this new incarnation of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

What do you think of our first look at Jackie Earle Haley as our new Freddy Krueger? Does it make you look forward to this horror remake anymore than you were?

A Nightmare on Elm Street is set to hit US theatres on April 16th, 2010.

Sources: IGN and Bloody-Disgusting (small Freddy pic courtesy of “Blood-Sicles”)

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Mid-Week Movie News Wrap Up – July 15, 2009

Kofi Outlaw — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:59:37 +0000

It’s officially mid-week and here’s what’s going on:

Harry Potter waves his wand at midnight and conjures box office records; the Heathers may be gone for good; Cox and Arquette are Screaming again; Robin Hood has its King Richard; The Limey may get a sequel; it’s a wrap for Nightmare on Elm Street; The Crow will fly again for the first time; Warner Bros. may be returning to the Major League; and The Toronto Film Festival has a list of flicks that could become next year’s greats.

Let’s get to it:

1. Variety is reporting that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince conjured up a whopping $20 million in box office receipts from midnight showings alone. If this figure holds, it would make the sixth installment of J.K. Rowling’s wizard adventure the highest-grossing midnight debut of all time. Previous record holders were The Dark Knight ($18 million) and Revenge of the Sith ($17 million).

I myself had to walk almost a quarter-mile to my theater at 1 a.m. this morning to see HBP, the parking lot was so full. People love that Harry…

Source: Variety

2. Winona Ryder recently got Generation Xers all in a tizzy by once again floating the notion that there could be a forthcoming sequel to the 1988 high school shooting black comedy, Heathers. This isn’t the first time Ryder has touched on the subject, however this time, Heathers director Michael Lehmann is shooting down the rumor, claiming “Winona’s been talking about this for years — she brings it up every once in a while and [screenwriter] Dan Waters and I will joke about it, but as far as I know there’s no script and no plans to do the sequel.”

That’s good news: I don’t think we’re quite ready to start laughing at school shootings again.

Source: Slash Film

3. David Arquette let E! Online know that he and wife Courtney Cox-Arquette are officially signed on for Scream 4. We’ve known the deal was in the works for some time but you don’t get much better confirmation than this:

I fell in love with my wife on Scream, so the opportunity to bring [Dewey] back to life and for my wife to play that really bitchy character again, it’s just going to be really fun…It’s just great.

Awwwww, how romantic! Let’s hope one (or both) of them gets butchered. Four films in a horror franchise is longer than anybody deserves to live.

Source: E! Online

4. Actor Danny Huston sure is keeping busy: he’s was the head vamp in 30 Days of Night, Wolverine’s nemesis Col. Stryker – he has an upcoming role playing a god in the Clash of the Titans remake and now he’s been crowned king of Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood.

That’s right, Huston will play the role of King Richard I. In Robin Hood folklore, Richard’s time away from England while fighting The Crusades is what led to the power-grabs of Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. The role sounds minor, but I’m sure Huston will make it memorable.

Source: Coventry Telegraph

5. Steven Soderbergh’s wife, former E! host Jules Asner, was doing in interview with Adam Carolla when she let a little nugget slip regarding Soderbergh’s 1999 cult-hit The Limey, starring Terrence Stamp: “[Steven] wants to do a sequel to The Limey and Terrence wants to do it.”

The Limey 2: it’s just wishful thinking right now – but then again this IS Hollywood, and where there’s a buzz, there’s a way…

Source: Digital Spy

6. The Crow will fly again – but we should all just pretend like its the first time.

Blade director Stephen Norrington has reportedly turned in a draft of a Crow script that is “a whole new story about a whole new character.” Fans of Alex Proyas’ (Knowing) 1994 version of The Crow (starring the late Brandon Lee), try not to be too disappointed.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

7. Thanks to Twitter we now know that the A Nightmare On Elm Street remake has officially wrapped its shoot. As tweeted by producer Brad Fuller: “Just wrapped- sad. This was a fun movie to make,”.

The film now goes into post-production so that they can add all the crazy f/x needed to transform Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) into your worst razor-fingered nightmare.

A Nightmare On Elm Street will be in theaters on April 16, 2010.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

8. Actor Bob Uecker, who famously played booze-swilling announcer Harry Doyle in 1989s Major League, recently let it be known that he’s been contact by the creative team behind the Major League trilogy (yep, there’s three of them), about reprising his role for Major League 4.

Although this year marks the 20th anniversary of the baseball comedy that helped usher the careers of Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Dennis Haysbert, Renne Russo and others, early speculation is that Major League 4 will go straight to the minors, a.k.a. the DVD bargain bin.

Source: Slash Film

9. Finally, the 2009 Toronto Film International Festival has released the list of movies which will be featured this year. If you’re interested you can keep up with ever-evolving list by going here.

That’s it for now. See you again at the end of the week.

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WB Comic-Con Lineup, Featuring Green Lantern: First Flight

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:50:28 +0000

Warner Bros. recently released the lineup of panels they’ll be presenting at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International. So if you are headed to Comic-Con this year and are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Where The Wild Things Are, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Book Of Eli, Jonah Hex or even The Final Destination, then you’ll need to know where and when to show up for the panels.

Lucky for you Screent Rant loves our readers and has a nice list of the Warner Bros. panels at Comic-Con all ready for you, including the one that is my most anticipated: a preview screening of DC Universe’s animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight!

If you weren’t at the New York Comic Con screening of DC Universe’s last animated feature, Wonder Woman, you have no idea how enjoyable an event it can be. DC Universe tends to make more adult-oriented animated fare (Superman:Doomsday), which is a perfect blend for a Comic-Con crowd, a.k.a., a room full of adults who love animated superheroes.

Green Lantern: First Flight will premiere on Thursday July 23, 2009, in the San Diego Convention Center’s Ballroom 20 @8pm. If you want a look at the trailer for First Flight, go here.

First Flight is being helmed by DC Universe’s Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman) with Bruce Timm producing. Lending their voices to the film will be Christopher Meloni (Law And Order: SVU) as Hal Jordan; Victor Garber (ALIAS) as Hal Jordan’s nemesis, Sinestro; Michael Madsen as Hal Jordan’s alien mentor, Kilowog; and the lovely Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Green Lantern Corps member, Boodikka.

Green Lantern: First Flight will also be available as a special edition 2-disc DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def on July 28, 2009. A sincgle disc DVD will also be available.

Here is a quick itinerary on the other films Warner Bros. will be showing off at Comic Con this year:

Thursday, July 23rd
3:30pm-4:30pm 3D SHOWCASE PRESENTATION IN HALL H
Film: The Final Destination
Talent: Craig Perry (producer)

Friday, July 24th
10:15am-12:30pm WARNER BROS. PRESENTATION IN HALL H
Films: Where The Wild Things Are, The Book Of Eli, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Box, Jonah Hex, Sherlock Holmes
Talent: TBD

1:45pm-2:45pm PRESENTATION AND Q & A W/ ROBERT RODRIGUEZ IN ROOM 6DE
Film: Shorts
Talent: Robert Rodriguez (director)

Which Warner Bros. film are you most looking forward to?

Sources: Slash Film & IESB

Header Image Source: Film School Rejects

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Katie Cassidy Next To Join ‘Elm Street’ Remake

Ross Miller — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:15:16 +0000

The type of film that the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street remake is obviously demands a pretty large cast prime for victimization by the nightmarish villain – in this case, Freddy Krueger. There has already been a lot of casting news so far for this one, consisting of the new Krueger (Watchmen’s Jackie Earle Haley) and a few of the teen characters, namely Thomas Dekker, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara (the new Nancy) and Twilight’s Kellan Lutz.

Well, on the casting front things are certainly not showing signs of slowing down as actress Katie Cassidy has joined the roster.

Cassidy will play Kris, a character yet to be described (although I wouldn’t be surprised if she is just a pretty face that will be killed quickly and easily by Mr Krueger). If the name or the face isn’t immediately ringing any bells, she was in the TV show Supernatural for a good amount of time as well as being in such projects as the Black Christmas remake (who would have guessed it…) and the Liam Neeson’s thriller Taken.

Despite the brilliant casting of Haley as Krueger, I am still very cautious about this remake. The original film (that is 25 years old now if you can believe it) is such a classic that features one of the most stand-out characters of not just horror, but of film in general. Although, even if the remake sucks we still have the original there to enjoy, it still soils the name. I mean, for example, if you ask some young teenagers what Halloween is, a lot of them will probably first think of Rob Zombie’s dreadful remake.

I shudder to think what other remakes have done the same thing…

Expect more casting announcements as time goes on. I’m sure Cassidy will do as good or bad a job as any other actress who may have been cast, but when it comes down to it, that doesn’t really matter. All eyes will be firmly on Haley as Krueger.

What do you think of the cast brought together for this remake so far? Are you looking forward to the movie?

A Nightmare on Elm Street starts shooting this month in Chicago, and is scheduled for a April 16th, 2010 release.

Source: ShockTillYouDrop

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‘Twilight’ Star Kellan Lutz Moving To ‘Elm Street’

Ross Miller — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:05:24 +0000

A new Freddy Krueger, a new Nancy, and a couple more obligatory teens prime for killing have thus far joined the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley was the first cast member to be announced (playing the new Freddy Krueger), then a couple of the teens were cast in the form of Thomas Dekker and Rooney Mara (the new Nancy). And now we have another one of the teen cast spots filled, this time by Twilight star Kellan Lutz.

The only details released about Lutz’ (who played Emmett Cullen in Twilight) character thus far is he will play some sort of high school jock… yeah, like he’s going to last more than five minutes into the movie!

If this didn’t have the fantastic Haley cast as Krueger, one of the most iconic horror roles of all time (few actors were suitable for it), then this would just be another one of those generic looking horrors we see released pretty regularly in theaters.

There’s not much to go on as far as which direction music video director Samuel Bayer is going to take this thing, other than an outline similar to the original. So in that way there’s no real reason to criticize it all that much (except for the fact that reportedly they are going to bring into question the guilt of Krueger… oh what a mistake).

I’ve said it many times before but I’ll say it again – I don’t like remakes. There are exceptions of course – there are always exceptions with everything, but generally speaking I find the lack of creativity at the core of most of them to be extremely irritating. In particular because of the fact that they just seem to get made for no other reason than to capitalize on the popularity of the original and subsequently make some (easier) money.

Also, with horror remakes in particular a lot of the time they seem to water them down for a lower (usually PG-13) age rating to yes, that’s right, make more money. I know it’s a business, but playing to that often means quality suffers.

And that’s never a good thing…

Those things could easily not apply to this particular remake, and I’d welcome that with open arms and budding movie-going eyes, but somehow I don’t think that’ll be the case.

Are you liking how this Elm Street remake is shaping up? What do you make of the cast assembled for it so far?

Source: THR

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Nightmare On Elm Street Remake Has Its Nancy!

Ross Miller — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:57:53 +0000

One of only a plethora of remakes that are in the works is A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake of the classic ’80s horror movie of the same name. The project was just announced at the beginning of the year, but things are certainly getting going – a few weeks ago Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley was announced to be the new Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund, you will be missed…), Kyle Gallner (seen most recently in another remake The Haunting in Connecticut) also confirmed, and last week Thomas Dekker was reportedly in final negotiations.

Apart from the iconic role of Freddy Krueger, the other big question mark hovering over this remake is who will play the lead female role who (as in the original film) is scared out of her dreaming mind like the rest of the kids on Elm Street, but ultimately fights back (a type of character almost essential for any horror/slasher movie). Well thanks to BloodyDisgusting we have our answer: Rooney Mara is in final negotiations to play the female lead of the film.

Although it’s not been explicitly stated who Mara (a relatively new actress) would be playing, effectively she will be this version of Elm Street’s Nancy Thompson (played in the original by Heather Langenkamp). As I said above, this leading lady heroine type of character is not only obligatory in the sense that ”almost every horror movie has one,” but also almost essential. It gives us someone innocent to whom we can attach ourselves and ultimately root for when the bad guy is hunting them down, trying everything they can to get their kill.

As for Mara herself, it’s definitely a good idea to get someone who is not really famous to play the role. If they had stuck someone like Keira Knightley or Cameron Diaz in there, with the status they have as not just actresses but celebrities through and through, it would have been a lot harder to see the character instead of the real life celebrity.

Choosing someone like Mara, who’s been in little more than a couple of episodes of ER and a little indie comedy from last year called Dream Boy, allows us to invest and believe her performance as the character and not just see the celebrity. I can’t say she’ll do a good job as, admittedly, I haven’t seen her in anything before, but what I will say is she ain’t exactly sore on the eyes!

What do you think of Mara playing the leading female role? Does it matter who plays this particular role or is the Freddy Krueger far more important?

A Nightmare on Elm Street is scheduled to be released on April 16th, 2010.

Source: BloodyDigusting

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Young John Connor To Take On Freddy Krueger?

Rob Keyes — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:40:52 +0000

In January, we found out officially that there was going to be a reboot of the classic horror series, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Since then, we’ve heard some updates regarding the plot of the film and in recent weeks, we’ve been seeing steady news about casting decisions.

The major casting news came just over a week ago when it was confirmed that Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley will be playing the infamous Freddy Krueger in the remake. Adding to the cast, Thomas Dekker who plays John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is reportedly in final negotiations to play the role of Jesse in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

According to ShockTillYouDrop! who broke the news, the Jesse character is “a jock on the swim team.” Dekker would be the second young TV actor added to the cast which already includes Kyle Gallner. Gallner’s had many small roles on popular television programs including Smallville (where he played Bart Allen), The Shield and CSI:NY.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles just aired its final season 2 episode and it seems Brian Austin Green isn’t the only actor from the Terminator series quickly making a movie to partake in a major feature film. Green is campaigning to play Hal Jordan in the upcoming DC superhero film, The Green Lantern.

What do you think of the cast that’s being put together for the horror reboot?

A Nightmare on Elm Street will be directed by Samuel Bayer and produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. It is set for release April 16, 2010.

Source: ShockTillYouDrop!

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Mid-Week Movie News Wrap Up – April 9, 2009

Niall Browne — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:30:50 +0000

This week:

Russell knows Aaron and Sarah; Freddy Krueger claims his first victim; more superheroes in The Umbrella Academy;; Warners dust off an old Goonies 2 script for Treehouse Gang and ever wondered what a movie starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek and Maria Bello would be like?

1. The Hollywood outsider who always manages to get in David O. Russell – is readying a new romantic comedy entitled Aaron and Sarah.The plot of the John Hughesesque comedy is as follows:

“Story centers on a nerdy guy and a popular girl who meet as freshmen and, over four years of high school, four proms and one funeral, become friends and eventually fall in love.”

It sounds like typical Hollywood fare, but I think that there just might be a little bit of bite to it – after all this is from the man who directed Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees Spanking the Monkey as well as the forthcoming Nailed with Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal.”

I wonder who is crazy enough to work with the man that got into a shoving match with George Clooney?

Source: Variety

2. Kyle Gallner fresh off the horror success of The Haunting in Connecticut is a dead man. The young actor has signed on to star in the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Jackie Earle Haley will play the iconic Freddy Krueger in the fresh take/ rehash of the horror franchise.

Gallner must love horror as he also stars in the yet to be released Jennifer’s Body which was written by Diablo Cody and stars Megan Fox..

Source: Variety

3. Mark Bomback is adapting The Umbrella Academy for Universal Pictures. The film will be based on the Dark Horse comic book created by My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way.

This is the plot:

“The Umbrella Academy is a group of disbanded superheroes who reunite after the death of their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, an alien disguised as a wealthy entrepreneur. Hargreeves collected the members of the group shortly after their birth and trained them to save the world, and after his death, they carry on his plan.”

I wonder if Rhianna will be on the soundtrack?

It never rains but it pours with Superhero movies.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

4. Kent Alterman director of Semi-Pro will direct Treehouse Gang for Warner Bros.
According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The project is based on Timothy Dowling’s spec, which centers on a group of six childhood friends who get together in their late twenties for a treasure hunt that echoes the hunts of their youth, in the process exploring longtime friendships and grudges.”

It’s pitched as a grown-up version of The Goonies, which is what The Goonies 2 was supposed to be – which was also set up at Warner Bros.

Anybody else think that they’re just re-using an old spec script for that film?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

5. Maria Bello is in final negotiations to join Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek and Maya Rudolph in an untitled film which was written and will be produced by Sandler.

The film which will start shooting in May “revolves around high school friends who reunite 30 years later.”

Sandler chum Dennis Dugan will direct.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.

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Jackie Earle Haley Is The Next Freddy Krueger

Ross Miller — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:23:53 +0000

[UPDATE: This has been confirmed - Haley is definitely playing Krueger.]

The guys over at Latino Review broke the story a very early couple of months ago that Rorschach himself, Jackie Earle Haley, was in the running to play the new Freddy Krueger in the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street remake. However, at that point it was just that Platinum Dunes were looking at him as a possibility.

Fast forward a couple of months and it looks like Haley is, indeed, strongly in the running to play Freddy. In fact, he’s reportedly in absolute final talks to don the striped sweater, adorn the hat and slip his hand into the famous razor glove. If Haley gets the gig, he’ll be directed by Samuel Bayer (previously a music video director) who has already been chosen to helm this remake, and he’ll be shooting by the end of the month.

Haley has officially been cast as the classic horror icon. They need to step to it now that he’s been cast, as shooting is mere weeks away. Haley has been rumored for the role for a while and finally, he’s got it in the bag, and I have to say it’s a damn near perfect choice.

Haley has proven he is a fantastic actor, so there’s the acting chops box ticked. But can he be creepy enough to be Freddy Krueger? Well, in case you haven’t seen it and need evidence that he can do creepy-as-hell, check out 2006’s Little Children. In that he played a pedophile-type character, and although it’s not as black and white as that in the film, if you boil it down, he now technically has that type of character on his resume.

And let’s not forget his performance as the mysterious Rorschach in the recent Watchmen adaptation. He had that gruff, tough and intimidating (despite his relatively small stature) thing going on, which is exactly what you’d want in the guy who’s going to be Freddy Krueger.

And if nothing else, he has the look for the character. Although he’ll hardly be recognizable once the burn make-up is applied, just something about the shape of his face and the way his eyes look – he just gives off the appropriate Krueger vibes.

It looks like the recent teaser trailer that was created by Elm Street mega-fan Christopher Johnson in an attempt to get him in the running for the role, didn’t work. If you haven’t checked Johnson’s fan-made trailer I urge you to do say right away – Johnson played a pretty convincing Freddy! However, it looks like this news debunks any chance he had of getting the role.

So you have your probable Freddy Krueger – Mr Jackie Earle Haley.

BTW, if anything happens to Jackie, our very own Vic Holtreman (owner of Screen Rant) is available to step in to take over:

Separated at birth: Jackie Earle Haley and Vic Holtreman

So what do you think about Haley playing this iconic character? Is he a good pick?

A Nightmare on Elm Street is set for an April 16th, 2010 release.

Sources: BloodyDisgusting and Latino Review

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Impressive Fan Trailer For ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Remake

Ross Miller — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:39:50 +0000

Although the actual remake of classic ’80s horror flick A Nightmare on Elm Street hasn’t actually begun filming yet (they’re in the midst of the casting stage at the moment), there is already speculation and even excitement gearing up for it by movie fans everywhere.

Well taking things one step further is a man named Christopher Johnson, who has put the time and effort into writing, producing and directing a teaser trailer for the upcoming remake, with himself playing the iconic Freddy Krueger.

Who is Christopher Johnson? Well, he’s a visual effects artist (on Jumper, Night at the Museum and Live Free or Die Hard, to name but a few), actor, writer, director and producer (as well as having dabbled in editing, cinematography and make-up!), who has a huge love for the Nightmare on Elm Street series and the Freddy Krueger character. Before we give you more details on Johnson and what he’s trying to achieve with this, check out the trailer itself (thanks to /Film for this):

Johnson hasn’t just created this trailer as just a bit of fun to post on the web (although I’m sure it was a heck of a lot of fun to make) -- he is serious about playing Krueger in the remake, and has made this trailer as proof of his love for the character, to show just how serious he is about it.

The trailer is pretty fantastic, especially for it being something created by a fan. It looks damn close to the quality of some of the real trailers that the big studios put out. Undoubtedly they didn’t have that high of a budget, but it looks like they made the most with what they had. Johnson looks cool in the Freddy Krueger get-up, and if anyone other than Robert Englund is going to play him, I say why not give Johnson a try? He clearly loves the character, and has shown with this trailer that he could pull it off.

His hope is to land an audition as a result of this “concept piece,” and we here at Screen Rant say good luck, and more power to him for going all-out for it!

So what do you think of this fan-made teaser trailer? Do you think Johnson makes a good Freddy Krueger?

A Nightmare on Elm Street is set to start shooting this month in Chicago, and is scheduled for an April 16th, 2010 release.

Source: /Film

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‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Remake Plot Details Revealed

Ross Miller — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:46:02 +0000

The first A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of those classic horror films that just doesn’t warrant being remade. Although fun, the subsequent sequels weren’t up to the level that the first one was, only being made pretty much to milk the idea (if they were all top notch I would think differently).

But they were sequels, the lesser of the two evils – remakes are a different story…

The original series, and knowledge of the character, is still fresh enough that doing a remake (or reboot, or whatever they’re labeling it) seems pretty pointless. Freddy Krueger is one of those rare characters that having anyone else other than the original guy, Robert Englund, playing him is just dumb. Jason Voorhees and Michael Meyers, to name just a couple of examples, can be replaced as far as actors go because they are behind a mask.

But Englund didn’t just play Krueger… he was him.

There’s been a lot of speculation about how close this remake will stick to the original: Will they make it a straight, event-by-event 21st century update or will they put a completely new spin on it? Rob Zombie tried the latter with his remake of Halloween… and just look how that one turned out.

Latino Review got a chance to get a look at the newest draft of the script, and via a video review have let us know some details about the plot:

After being burned alive by a mob of angry parents, a pre-school gardener/caretaker named Freddy returns for revenge against the children, now 18 years old, that accused him of sexual abuse. But was Freddy a child molester or was he falsely accused? This is the central question and main addition to the film’s plot. Freddy doesn’t have many lines, but that isn’t all that surprising considering that the film’s producers have said the character doesn’t joke around.

In principal, I like the idea of going a new direction with an update of a classic character (if we have to have a remake in the first place, that is), but what they’ve added here is not a good idea. Making it so that Krueger’s guilt comes into question? Doesn’t that go against his evil nature? The whole point of the character is that he was a child molester, was killed by a mob of angry parents, and he comes back in the afterlife to seek revenge and causes malicious, horrific havoc on the late-teens who occupy Elm Street (and anyone else who enters his sights).

It’s encouraging to read that the producers say that the character “doesn’t joke around,” but trying to add some moral side to what is supposed to be one of the most evil movie characters of all time is downright strange. Maybe this won’t be the final direction they go in – hopefully they write another draft sans this new moral angle, or perhaps that’s a red herring and it’ll be shown by the end of the film that he was in fact, guilty.

What are your thoughts on the new addition to the plot? Shouldn’t Krueger just be evil and that’s that?

A Nightmare on Elm Street is set to be released on April 16th, 2010.

Sources: LatinoReview and /Film

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Friday The 13th ‘Follow Up’ On The Way

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:44:51 +0000

Having hacked and slashed his way to a $70 million worldwide payday, it seems as though Jason Voorhees has made a bigger comeback than Mickey Rourke.

Now as we all know, in the world of Hollywood horror movies, a strong box office take is almost always a go-sign for a string of increasingly terrible sequels (cough, Saw, cough). Friday The 13th, it seems, is no exception (even though it suffered a brutal 80% drop on its second weekend).

Or is it?

According to early reports, Platinum Dunes and New Line’s next installment of Friday the 13th will be a “follow up,” rather than a “sequel.” Jason Voorhees will still be the bad guy holding the machete, but Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the guys who wrote the script for the “reboot” and will handle the script for the “follow-up,” are trying to steer clear of the campy antics that plagued the latter installments of the original series.

[SIDEBAR: Am I the only one who is getting tired of Hollywood's bottomless buzz-word dictionary? "Follow-ups," "reboots," "relaunches," "re-imaginings..." Just pick a damn phrase and stick with it!]

So does ignoring the established canon mean that Jason won’t be re-taking Manhattan, going back to hell or back into space? Probably. So does that mean the filmmakers will have to come up with (gasp) a brand new storyline?

I’ll believe it if and when I see it. And not one second before.

On the business side, as of now it’s looking like Friday The 13th (reboot) director Marcus Nispel won’t be helming the follow-up. Also up in the air are the fates of stars Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti, whose characters were the only ones to survive Jason’s rampage. Padalecki is still committed to his starring role on Supernatural, while Righetti has found success on The Mentalist this year. Roping the two young stars into doing another slasher flick could be a hard sell.

Right now Platinum Dunes and New Line are focusing on their Nightmare On Elm Street reboot (if that’s the word for it), which is set to begin shooting in a few weeks. But don’t expect Jason to be gone too long: the studios are looking to have the next Friday The 13th in theaters as soon as 2010.

How do you feel about a Friday The 13th sequel “follow-up?” Are you ready for more Voorhees mayhem, or was the reboot already more than you wanted to see?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Studios Ramp Up Production Prior To SAG Strike

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:30:48 +0000

As it stands, Hollywood studios are deadlocked in their contract negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild. That news stirs up foul memories of a year ago, when the Writers Guild of America was at a similar juncture with the studios… Soon after that there were no TV shows for about half a year.

And we all know what that did last year’s TV season.

In anticipation of the worst (which has ironically become the norm in these days and times), studios are turning to the pre-strike protocols they devised after the 2007 WGA strike, pushing as many films as they can into production so that the 2010-2011 movie roster doesn’t end up barren.

Check out the studio by studio list of the films that are either currently in production, or are headed into production in light of the looming strike.

The list of movies being fast-tracked are as follows:

COLUMBIA

Ruben Fleischer-directed “Zombieland”
Phillip Noyce-helmed “Edwin A. Salt” with Angelina Jolie
Stephen Chow-directed “The Green Hornet” with Seth Rogen

DISNEY

Tim Burton-directed “Alice in Wonderland”;
“Tron” sequel;
Robert Zemeckis-produced motion-capture film “Mars Needs Moms”;
Jon Turteltaub-directed “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” with Nicolas Cage;
Walt Becker- helmed “Wild Hogs 2″

FOX

James Cameron-directed “Avatar”
Shawn Levy-helmed “Date Night,” with Steve Carell and Tina Fey
“A-Team”
“Ramona”
Chris Columbus-directed “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”
“Diary of a Wimpy Kid”
John Carney-directed “Town House”
“Alvin and the Chipmunks 2″
Tom Bezucha-directed “Orbit”
Rick Famuyiwa-helmed “Family Wedding”

MGM

Drew Goddard-directed “The Cabin in the Woods”
Kevin Tancharoen-helmed “Fame”
“The Matarese Circle,” which David Cronenberg is negotiating to direct Washington
Darren Aronofsky-helmed “RoboCop”

MARVEL
(Paramount distributing)

Jon Favreau-directed “Iron Man 2″ with Robert Downey Jr.
Kenneth Branagh-helmed “Thor”

MIRAMAX

John Madden-directed “The Debt” with Helen Mirren
“Man on a Train”
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”

NEW LINE

“Torrente”
“Sex and the City 2″
Wesley Strick-directed “A Nightmare on Elm Street”
Len Wiseman-helmed “Gears of War”

PARAMOUNT

Kenny Ortega-directed “Footloose” with Zac Efron;
M. Night Shyamalan-helmed “The Last Airbender”
“Morning Glory”
“Beverly Hills Cop”
“Us and Them”

UNIVERSAL

Edgar Wright-directed “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” starring Michael Cera
Untitled Nancy Meyers-helmed comedy with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin
Peter Billingsley-directed “Couples Retreat” with Vince Vaughn;
Gore Verbinski-helmed “BioShock”
Nicholas Stoller-directed “Get Him to the Greek”
Ridley Scott-helmed “Nottingham” with Russell Crowe

WARNER BROS.

Clint Eastwood-directed “Human Factor” with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon
Mark Neveldine/Brian Taylor- helmed “Jonah Hex”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the David Yates-directed final, two-part installment in the franchise, which begins production in February;
Alcon-financed “Book of Eli,” the Hughes brothers-directed Denzel Washington starrer
Louis Leterrier-helmed “Clash of the Titans”
Zack Snyder-directed “Suckerpunch.”

Not to worry, Summer movie enthusiasts: just about all of your big budget sequels (Transformers 2, Night at the Museum 2, Angels & Demons) are safely in production. Doomsday epic 2012 is also going to make the cut. Any other new films that studios hope to get off the ground, however, are going to face major problems without actors to act in them. But we’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. For now, negotiations continue.

Personally I’m glad Iron Man 2, Thor, Green Hornet and Avatar made the cut; I’m hoping that Bioshock and Gears of War will be worthy of their excellent video game sources–and I’m praying that Jonah Hex is going to turn out well. Hex was badass on that Batman: The Animated Series episode.

How about you? Any movies you’re glad are in the pipeline? Any films you wish they’d kept on the shelf?

(Thank Variety for putting the list together.)

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Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: July 27, 2008

Niall Browne — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:25:35 +0000

Man, where does time go?

Hard to believe that The Dark Knight is now a distant memory (well, I can still hear the cash registers ringing).

It’s now time to look forward to a new batch of movies. This week we have a horror remake bonanza featuring:

Leonardo DiCaprio entering The Twilight Zone, the return of Freddie Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, MGM turn on the television and revisit Poltergeist and The Wolfman goes live.

1. Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way have joined forces with Warner Brothers to try and buy the rights to the Rod Serling scripted episodes of The Twilight Zone in an attempt to get a feature off the ground.

It’s not sure if DiCaprio would star in the film (or films) or what format they would take. Way back in In 1983 Warner Bros released a four-segment film that was directed by the then hot fab four of Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller and Steven Spielberg. The film was however released under tragic circumstances when star Vic Morrow and two children were killed on set during the Landis’ segment.

No director or writers have been attached - yet.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

2. New Line Cinema (or what’s left of it) is bringing Freddie Kruger back from the dead. They have hired scripter Wesley Strick to pen the remake of Wes Craven’s 1984 horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The remake is being produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production shingle.

The aim is that he film will be released next year on the 25th Anniversary of the original film.

Wouldn’t it just be cheaper to re-release it?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

3. MGM has decided to revisit the Poltergeist franchise. They are currently in the planning stages of remaking Tobe Hooper’s iconic 1982 horror film.

When the original film was released Steven Spielberg had to take out a full page ad in the trades to say that he didn’t direct the film.

I don’t think that he’ll have the same problem here.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

4. The website for The Wolfman has gone live. It features a pretty spolier free synposis and two pictures of the titular monster and Benico Del Torro and Anthony Hopkins in character.

There are also some words from an old Gypsy poem (and the original film starring Lon Chaney Jr.):

Even a man who is pure of heart,
And says his prayers every night,
May become a wolf,
When the Wolfsbane blooms
And the Autumn Moon is bright.

Spooky!!

Did I mention that this was a remake of a 1941 film?

Source: The Wolfman

That’s it for another week.

See you at the movies!!

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Nightmare On Elm Street To Be Rebooted

Niall Browne — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:49:02 +0000

According to Dictionary.com:

re-boot-ed, re-boot-ing, re-boots
To turn (a computer or operating system) off and then on again; restart.

Until recently I’d never heard this word used in reference to films. I think that the first time was Batman Begins. Now every other film seems to be a “reboot”.

Now A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting the “reboot” treatment via Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production shingle.

To be honest with you, I’ve never been a fan of the Nightmare films – they’ve never been of much worth, but they were schlocky entertainment and had a certain charm. They were a cheap type of horror that isn’t made by studios anymore.

To a certain generation Robert Englund is horror icon Freddie Krueger. I’m going to hazard a guess and say that all the writers at Screen Rant fit into this age bracket.

I feel that this new reboot craze is ruining the Hollywood system. I’m fine on sequels… make 20 of them for all that I care, but the reboot, or lets be honest: remake, is just a cheap way of squeezing an extra buck from the teen market.

The film won’t get a writer until after the strike, so there is no director or cast attached yet.

I’m pretty sure that original Elm Street director Wes Craven won’t be getting a call, and I really can’t imagine Johnny Depp making a cameo.

Screen Rant will keep you updated on the developments.

However, I really hope that this one stalls on the production line.

Source: Variety

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