Robert Englund Thinks 2010’s Nightmare On Elm Street Reboot Was Premature

It’s going on 10 years since horror fans flocked to their local theaters to see Freddy Krueger terrorize teens in 2010’s A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot.

But had Robert Englund – the Robert Englund, lead star of Elm Street and a bona fide horror legend – had his way, we would’ve been waiting a little bit longer to see the Midnight Mangler back to his old killing ways.

According to Englund, Samuel Bayer’s reinvention of A Nightmare on Elm Street arrived far too soon, and left very little breathing space between it and 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, the horror-fueled extravaganza in which Krueger came face-to-face with the masked killer of Camp Crystal Lake.

As a matter of fact, while chatting to Too Fab, Robert Englund admitted that he had once hoped the Powers That Be would greenlight another Freddy vs. Jason crossover film before spearheading a full-blown Elm Street reboot.

I know the remake on A Nightmare on Elm Street was premature. 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. You pop up a Blu-ray, for instance, a Blu-ray with extras of “Freddy vs. Jason,” or “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” and you put that on a 50 inch flat screen. It looks better than when it came out in the movies. And if you’re a 12-year-old boy and you’re introduced to it, you’ll love it. You get it. So we don’t need to go after that generation yet.

As part of the deep-dive interview, Englund also touched base on the immediate future of Freddy (spoilers: he still has no plans to reprise his iconic role any time soon, or so he says) and the need for a total, modern-day remake of Freddy’s Revenge, the second installment in the beloved Elm Street series.

But what say you? Do you think now is the time to revisit Freddy’s Revenge? Or do you believe a rebooted version of the original Elm Street is still the best option to explore? You can, as always, leave your thoughts in the usual place.