Robert Englund Claims The Next Freddy Film Should Toy With A Kid’s Sexuality And Have A Focus On The Opioid Crisis
Freddy Krueger actor Robert Englund recently revealed a number of ideas on where the Freddy franchise should go with one of them being a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 where Freddy toys with a boy’s sexuality.
Englund, who last played Freddy on the big screen in 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, spoke with TooFab about the Freddy franchise and revealed some of his ideas for the franchise.
In their discussion about Freddy, TooFab asked what the disconnect between modern audiences and old school 1980s style horror was.
For Englund, it all has to do with culture. He answered, “Well, I think they’re so part of the culture now that they’ve been diluted a little bit.” He elaborated, “And also, I think that remakes were rushed. I know the remake on “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was premature.”
He continued, “We should have done another “Freddy vs. Jason” film and then waited, they should have waited for five or 10 years. And I think it’s the same thing with Child’s Play … I think they’re so part of the culture and they’re being rerun so much and they’re available on DVD.”
The horror master would go on to point out what he felt was part of the secret sauce of Nightmare’s success when it was first introduced, “They also have to recognize what is the secret. The secret of “Nightmare on Elm Street” is loss of innocence and the kids need to be like Midwestern kids, they can’t be hip, chic, junkie kids.”
He elaborated, “They have to be middle American kids that think they’re a little hip and they are co-opted by evil and they lose their innocence on all levels; sexual, violence, murder, death, realization of their parents’ flaws, all of those things.”
Related: Legendary Freddy Krueger Actor Robert Englund Chooses His Successor in Kevin Bacon
He then details that a new Freddy film would have to focus on today’s society. He explained, “But because our society now is more damaged because of the opioid crisis, because of incredible diverse, because of the openness now with gender and sexuality, those kids now have to be different than the kids from the original ‘Nightmare’ and someone has to write a different batch of kids and Freddy needs to be a different kind of evil.”
He added, “His evil needs to be, he needs to toy with what they like in the culture.”
As for what kind of ideas he had in mind for bringing Freddy back, he pointed to a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2.
Englund explained, “If they redid Nightmare 2, for instance, and really deal with the subtext, Freddy toying with that boy’s sexuality.”
“But the fact that we’re much more comfortable with that now, I think it would be really fun to have Freddy play with one kid who’s gay. Maybe one boy is not. Play with them. Tempt them. Force him out of the closet or back into the closet and we can do that,” he elaborated.
Englund claims audiences would be accepting of this idea, but in order to really pull it off you would need someone clever. He stated, “Audiences would accept that now. Freddy would do that because he’s in your head. But it is going to take somebody very clever to do that.”
His next idea would be to look at the drug elements from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3.
He detailed, “Again, you look at Nightmare 3, the fan favorite “Dream Warriors,” you want to take that place where they all meet and maybe some of the kids are there for drug rehab.”
“You have to push all those things a little further. Whatever their problems are, really have fun with one of the kids being OCD and have Freddy exploit that? I think we could because it’s 2020 now,” he elaborated.
He then detailed that the film could include an autistic actor, “Get an autistic actor and really play with that and how Freddy would torment him. But I think that’s the kind of way you have to freshen it.”
It’s clear that in Englund’s view, if the franchise is to move forward, with or without him, it has to keep up with what he believes will connect with modern audiences.
This is a very similar view that the late Wes Craven had when he came up with the original concept of A Nightmare on Elm Street back in the 1980s when he read a story about a boy who was terrified of falling asleep and died when forced too.
Related: Cosplay of the Day: Freddy Krueger by David Krueger
Wes Craven and Bob Shaye the founder of New Line Cinema talk about the origin of A Nightmare on Elm Street on STARZ’s “Going to Pieces” horror special which you can see below:
As we reported last year, The Craven Estate is currently accepting pitches though there is no word on if they will move forward with a new project with this IP.
But I want to hear from you, what do you think of what Robert Englund said about Freddy? Would this be a better way to see the Dream Demon come back to film? Let me know your thoughts!
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