It’s been too long since we saw Freddy Krueger on the big screen. Leaving aside his blink and you’ll miss it cameo in Ready Player One, he last appeared in the 2010 reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Jackie Earle Haley donning the razor-clawed glove. But as good as Haley was, he’s no Robert Englund, whose last full performance was in Freddy vs. Jason way back in 2003.
We may yet see Englund back in the role in a future movie, but as he celebrated his 73rd birthday earlier this month, he seems to be busy making plans for a successor. And that might just be Kevin Bacon, who Englund anointed as the one actor he believes could do the role justice. Now, Bloody Disgusting have asked Bacon whether he’d be interested and he said the following:
“Sure. It would take a lot of makeup…”
I’m with Englund on this and can absolutely imagine Bacon in the role, as he’s excellent at playing a sadistic, charismatic villain when the role calls for it. He’s also got a sparkling horror pedigree, having appeared in the first Friday the 13th (he took an arrow to the neck), Tremors, Stir of Echoes and his latest film, You Should Have Left, in which Bacon tangles with a spooky house that won’t let him leave.
Plus, with all kinds of 1980s franchises rising from hibernation, a new Nightmare on Elm Street would no doubt clean up. The best tactic would be to follow the template laid down by Halloween, which positioned the new film as a direct sequel to the original. Why not see Freddy terrorize a fresh generation of children, reminding them of the crimes their families committed in the past?
In fact, Englund recently discussed the various plans for bringing Freddy back over the years, saying:
“I just hope that they take the time to look at all the stuff that’s been submitted in the last 10 years or so. And that means locking yourself at home or in a hotel somewhere on the beach, you know, and just sending out for room service and going through it all. Good time for that! I suspect that not only is there some great brand new stuff, but I suspect that there might be a couple of things that are 5, 8, 10 years old that were maybe second choices that should be dusted off and really examined. They may have really great bones and need a little bit of a freshening with the characters.”
The rights to the franchise currently lie with Wes Craven’s children, thought Englund says he’s confident that they possess their late father’s horror instincts. So c’mon, let’s bring back Freddy.
