The moment horror fans have been anticipating around the world has come to pass: the unveiling of the trailer for Platinum Dunes' remake of Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street! Get ready for your fix, Fred Heads!
Basically it's pretty much what we saw at the SDCC '09 times ten, and that's a good thing. From watching you really get the feeling that all parties concerned are doing their best to stay as faithful to the source material as possible. Also a very good thing. Ready or not, Freddy will be coming home on April 30th, 2010, courtesy of director Samuel Bayer.
To further sweeten the pot, we took a couple of stills from the trailer to save you the trouble of pausing at the right time to see Freddy's new mug. Even lightened one image a bit. Click on them to see them bigger. Dig on everything below and sound off in our comments section! We wanna hear from you! What do you think?
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Remake) - Trailer
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Submitted by Uncle Creepy on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 3:24am.
Dude im right there with you...im tired of this shit as well...i miss the good old days when creativity and originality was still around... god bless the 70s and 80s.its just a shame that the Prick Michael bay is destroying everything that was good
Submitted by Tshoffie on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:51pm.
casting doubt as to wether he is guilty or not isn't a bad thing at all.
Is he?
Isn't he?
I read the script. It all works out in the end nicely.
Submitted by The Butcher on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 1:53pm.
I kind of like the idea of ambiguity also. But then again, I'm a big fan of shades of gray in my villains and my heroes. Cut-and-dried can be so predictable and boring.
Submitted by The Woman In Black on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 2:16pm.
The problem is with trying to splice ambiguity into source material that has already been done without any. Part of what made Freddy so fantastically frightening in the original is how twistedly sick he was, a brutally violent pervert whose evil was so great not even death could stop it. Now try to frame what you know of him into a typical wrongfully-murdered-man type of storyline. It doesn't work, any more than trying to make Michael Myers a product of a broken abusive homelife works. It creates something so far removed from the source material that it might as well not even be called Nightmare on Elm Street.
Think of everything in the first movie that was so unsettling and worked so well. The terrifying opening that immediately knocks you off-balance, the creation of the glove with his moans of pleasure accompanying it in the background, the stalking of Tina with the crying of children in the background. The school dream sequence with the infamous "Come to Freddy" line and tongue flicking. The French-kissing "I'm your boyfriend now" phone. Everything that was horrifying about the original and made the original character what it was is inextricably based in it's unequivocal sadism and monstrosity. It's not a film nor a character where the kind of ambiguity you describe fits without the whole thing becoming something else entirely, and IMO, to it's detriment..
Submitted by Sandstonesoft on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:19pm.
Very well said, Sand. I couldn't agree more.
I like 'complex' characters as well, but I don't think this is the right way to go here.
Submitted by Masked Slasher on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:37pm.
I'm very much with you there as far as "shades of gray". I am also almost always a huge fan of the anti-hero!!!
Submitted by AriesofPitt on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:15pm.
DSIC, i don't know if there was doubt in the first few Elm Street movies, but i think your point still mostly stands. I mean are people genuinely claiming that until they found out he was supposedly 'a filthy child murderer' that they didn't find him scary? We find that out about half way through the first film. It's scary before we know any of that.
Because what makes Freddy scary is what he IS. not what he was. he is a nightmare. if he kills us in our dreams we die. we cannot stay awake forever.
that is and always was what made him scary. not his history.
Submitted by plagiarize on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 1:27pm.
Him saying "I didn't do anything" or whatever is now proof positive that this is a "twist" on the Freddy character? Has it occurred to any of you that this is a plot device to cast doubt on whether or not he did it? Before the series went further into Freddy's mythology, we still had no idea if he did it or not because who said he did? Nancy lush mother. We bought it because well, he's killing kids now, he had to have done it. It was convenient.
I'm glad they're trying something different here. I wouldn't care at all if they changed it because he's still going to be killing innocent kids which makes him a monster. Though I have a strong feeling that the characters are going to doubt that he did it and try to "solve" the case or some bullshit only to find out he did do it.
With that being said, the trailer did nothing for me.
Submitted by Didn't See It Coming on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 1:16pm.
The trailer surprisingly looks decent. It at least looks better shot than alot of PD's past films. But as we know, trailers can be deceiving. As for the innocent thing, the script I read did have something like that. I don't know if I should get into spoilers but if it keeps it the way it was in the script, you shouldn't worry too much. Besides, who here would actually admit it if they were getting chased down by a mob led by a pissed off Clancy Brown?
Submitted by Rob on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 1:07pm.
THAT IS NOT FREDDY!!!! Looks like I will pass on this one.
Submitted by X-Count on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 12:49pm.
I'm not digging the idea that Freddy might have been innocent either. I don't want them to play the sympathy card, which they are if the trailer's any indication. That's boring. To me, that's more important than the makeup. Although those few shots do look a little dull as well.
Submitted by Morgan Elektra on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 12:44pm.
There's something off about Freddy's voice; and the more I see of the makeup, the less I like it. I wanna say that I'm willing to give Platinum Dunes the benefit of the doubt, but their track record makes that very difficult. Fool me once, all that jazz.
Submitted by MagusMaleficus on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 11:32am.
This trailer feels like they have done the same thing Rob Zombie did with the first Halloween remake/reboot/re-visioning: They have taken some of the classic scenes/imagery from the original film, presented them in a new 'grungy' modern version, and fleshed out parts of the antagonist's back story. Have to say I do not like the look or sound of Freddy in this trailer, but maybe I'm still too attuned too England's version of what he should look/sound like to make an unbiased call on that at this early stage. I'll most likely go and see this, but nothing in this trailer got me thinking this was going to be great.
Submitted by PelusaMG on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 11:29am.
i don't mind them casting doubt in our minds as to whether or not Freddy was innocent in his life as a mortal. because even if he was that doesn't mean he isn't a murderer since passing over to the other side... which he clearly will be.
maybe the parents turned him into the monster he is now. maybe he always was the monster he is now... the key thing for me is that he seems to be the monster again. this Freddy looks like the Freddy from the first. the dark freddy that just killed people. the fucked up guy with the twisted sense of humour that we didn't share. that we didn't laugh along with.
as to whether the film overall will be good or not... no idea yet. the trailer doesn't tell me anything i didn't know. Jackie looks to be playing the part well. Bayer was always going to be great at the nightmare visuals given what he did in his music videos.
we'll see.
Submitted by plagiarize on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 10:32am.
What a bore! We've already seen this movie if the trailer is any indication.
Now, though, the filmmakers have decided to make the audience wonder whether or not Freddy really killed those kids or not.
If he didn't, then the filmmakers have completely ruined the most monstrous aspect of the character. If he's just an innocent man out for revenge, there's nothing scary about this guy. But that's typical of modern horror filmmaking in Hollywood ... they don't get it and never will.
Shocked to see so much enthusiasm for this - it's slick, but was anyone expecting any different?
Submitted by Masked Slasher on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 8:35am.
I'm watching it for Connie Britton. Love her.
Also, is anyone else somewhat mortified at the idea that the remake will have a "Freddy never killed those kids before the adults torched him" sort of twist?
Submitted by Spaceshark on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 7:31am.
Yeah, i'm not exactly on board with that twist either. I'll give this movie the chance it deserves on the first viewing, but on it's face, the story of a brutal child murderer returning to continue to kill kids in their dreams after his lynching is more interesting to me than the innocent-murdered-man-revenge fantasy they seem to be morphing it into.
Not to mention, if he wasn't a child murderer before his death, what is the origin of the razor glove? As a first impression the trailer leaves me less than optimistic, but we'll see. Hopefully the trailer itself is just a bad idea for a pre-release red herring ...
Submitted by Sandstonesoft on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 12:07pm.
I havent watched the trailer yet, dont have the time right now. But from those stills i have to say i do not like the makeup. He does not look scary at all.
Submitted by thedarkestshadow on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 5:05am.
Is his face supposed to look not scary? I mean, not that it's necessarily a bad thing that the way his face looks is different from the original but he doesn't really look like a burn victim to me.
Also it looks more like a straight-up remake of the first Elm Street from '84 rather than having it go off in different directions which is what I thought this was supposed to be.
I'm sure Jackie Earle Haley will do fine as Freddy and I shouldn't write it off from one trailer but this left me underwhelmed.
Submitted by Styling Shatner on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 3:37am.
I think it looks like Freddy just might be scary again. And before anyone boo's Robert England ( which will always be Freddy) is as he himself agrees 62 and is to old to play the part. So Kudos to all and I hope it makes me stay awake for days.
Submitted by ZOMBIEFRIENDS on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 3:34am.
That trailer looks good. And if it weren't for the fact that I've been burned four or five time already by Platinum Dunes, I might actually be willing to see the movie. Unfortunately for Michael Bay, there's a limit to my masochism. I'll pass.
Submitted by mansuave on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 3:34am.