We haven’t seen Freddy Krueger on our screens for a decade, which is a lifetime in an era where every marketable horror property under the sun has been rebooted at least once. Not only that, but Robert Englund hasn’t played his career-defining character since 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, with Jackie Earle Haley throwing on the fedora for the commercially successful but creatively bankrupt A Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
It was first reported in the summer of 2015 that another reboot was in the works with Orphan writer David Leslie Johnson attached, but it never made any sort of forward momentum and the rights to the franchise eventually reverted back to the estate of creator Wes Craven in September of last year. The upcoming fifth entry in the Scream series shows that the late director’s back catalogue of classics are still ripe for reinvention, though, and A Nightmare on Elm Street may be the next in line.
In a recent social media exchange, filmmaker Rob Savage teased that he had a great idea for a reboot, which could be a sign of things to come after the Craven estate have reportedly been actively welcoming pitches over the last twelve months.
We DO have a really good idea for it… https://t.co/g4VbUrZm1R
— Jed (@Jedshepherd) November 27, 2020
Savage might not be a recognizable name just yet, but he co-wrote and directed micro-budget pandemic found footage horror Host, which debuted to much praise earlier this year and currently holds a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 100% with over 65 reviews and counting. His breakthrough feature might only run for a brief 57 minutes, but it still marked him out as a rising star with a great handle on delivering effective scares from minimal resources, and he could be the man to finally bring A Nightmare on Elm Street back from the brink of obscurity.
