Tagged: wes craven
DYLAN’S NEW NIGHTMARE: Freddy Krueger’s SORTA Back!!
Have you been hoping for Freddy Krueger to return in the same way that Michael Myers has in the latest “Halloween” trilogy? Me neither-But I’m always open to check out a sweet new fan film! From some director Cecil Laird and the same team who brought the excellent ‘Never Hike Alone’ (Friday The 13th) fan film has returned, adding a new chapter to the ‘New Nightmare’ chapter of ‘A Nightmare on Elm St’ franchise. I gave this a whirl the other night and was pretty impressed with this 34 minute short film.
We continue with Dylan, the son Heather Langencamp (Nancy) from Wes Craven’s ‘New Nightmare’, is now an aspiring actor trying to land a role in the next “Hatchet” film when his audition goes off the rails when Freddy shows back up to begin terrorizing him! To keep it extra authentic Miko Hughes returns in the role of Dylan, now all grown up and ready to face a newer nightmare. So this alone is a real treat that keeps the thread of terror grounded firmly in the franchise-a real nice touch. But what about the real star of the show, Mr. Freddy Krueger himself? Obviously we don’t get Robert England back, I’d for a moment hoped they’d have gotten him at the very least for the voice because Freddy here looks pretty great for the most part (his caved in sunken black eyes are a bit much tho). Dave McRae has some big boots to fill here and though he isn’t always the spitting image of the classic Freddy he does a decent enough job in the role, one that’s evident here, is near impossible to fill.
What we get though is a pretty ambitious little “new” chapter here that highly improves on the imperfections of the wretched remake from 2010. Freddy feels much more like his old self, armed with his campy one-liners with the vibe more in line with the original franchise, with a few moments of practical fx gore to chomp on. It looks pretty good for the most part, it does feel a little fan film-ish and maybe needed a few better locations and amped up dreamy atmosphere to real hit the point home for die hard Fred Heads. I also think this short film could’ve really benefitted from a more inventive sequence to end the film, one of the best things about Freddy in the movies are the totally memorable horror sequences, things like the roach motel, the pizza with the Freddy faces etc are a staple in the classic franchise-this could have based it’s somewhat lackluster “finale” instead on an more inventive horror sequence reminiscent of the classic franchise to really up the ante and quench that Elm Street thirst. Still it’s a neat little fan film that is worth a watch for the fans as we all obviously yearn for more Freddy.
I’d say it’s time for one final Englund Freddy flick. Though he’s recently stated he’s in no shape to reprise the role, he’s 75 and (thicker around the waist) I still think he could make it work as is. Perhaps it’s been too long in the dream realm and as Freddy’s been out of the psyche of all of the teens he once scared to death, he’s older, much less powerful now and slowly dying off, but he get’s one last chance perhaps being aided by some sort of dream demon apprentice who brings his power back and in turn is willing to continue on his legacy-there we could explore the actual lore that made Freddy into the legendary dream demon. A final showdown with him and his apprentice when Nancy realizes his power is returning-she must enter the dream realm to finish him off before he reaches full power.
Who knows “older Englund Freddy” could even possess Kevin Bacon (as a new character and rumored to have real interest in taking over the role) in the real world, transform him into the new version of Krueger-they could even utilize Robert’s voice when he’s possessed? Just ideas-but likely Hollywood just wants a new Freddy Krueger cast to try and make some $$$ rather than an inventive “one last hurrah”, working a story that caters to Robert Englund’s age. In the meantime though this is a good enough fan film to keep the spirit of Elm Street in the consciousness of teens of the modern age-If they could bring back Krueger there’s so many interesting modern tropes that Freddy could riff on-that being said it’s probably realistically time to leave the Elm Street legacy alone and let it age gracefully….
Check out Dylan’s New Nightmare to watch for free right HERE!
VHS Verdict: Molly Ringwald’s Forgotten Australian Slasher Flick?!
So who knew Molly Ringwald starred in a full on supernatural slasher film in the year 2000? Not me-until recently I discovered the clever Australian Y2K horror movie ‘CUT’ that’s actually a pretty sweet nasty lil’ forgotten gem. Taking a few cues from ‘Scream’ but adding it’s own unique flair by joining the ranks of the ghostly “cursed movie” horror sub genre ‘Cut’ brings plenty of action and chills to the party.
Molly Ringwald was the biggest selling point here for me, even though I went into it expecting a total stinker, I was pleasantly surprised how much fun ‘Cut’ actually turns out to be. I’d also expected her role to be more of a cameo, but to my surprise Molly co-stars and looks just as cute as she did somehow way back in The Breakfast Club. But we also get a sweet cameo from pop icon Kylie Minogue to kick off the movie’s opening in a sort of “Drew Barrymore ala Scream” style sequence.
It starts off in the late 80s with Ringwald starring as a teen in a B-horror flick who’s slasher goes on a real life offscreen killing spree, halting production on the film altogether. The movie gets a reputation of being “cursed” and over a decade later a group of college film students attempt to finish the film when they come across the original unfinished footage. Of course they reach out to Ringwald to re-join the cast and against her better judgement she reluctantly agrees.
She flies all the way over to Australia and gives it a go while almost immediately, strange things begin to happen on set. Most notably the original film’s killer gets busy murdering once again behind the scenes off set and soon the whole cast begins to suspect something sinister is brewing. The villain here has got a somewhat generic but still solidly effective creepy look, lifting heavily from Carpenter’s Halloween.
I’d have preferred something a bit more ambitious appearance-wise but even so the slasher here is nasty enough to rise to above into his own and really gets the bloody juices flowing with some pretty gnarly kills. The whole affair looks great on film and the Director Kimble Rendall (who was part of iconic 80s alt rock band Hoodoo Gurus) brings a ton of charm to it all with a cast of pretty likable characters as well as some genuinely well crafted horror scenarios to munch on.
The film also wins big points with me when it inserts a supernatural twist with the cursed film stock which can be used in interesting ways to combat the ghostly killer. Ringwald goes the distance too and is clearly having a good time as she squares off with her “movie nemesis” in a game of cat and mouse with a little help from the Aussie film students. This one’s a real treat, especially if you’re an 80’s John Hughes fan-it’s so strange to see Molly in this type of essentially forgotten, oddball Australian horror production as well as Kylie Minogue in a brief but sweet appearance.
Even stranger yet is how ambitious ‘Cut’ turns out to be, filled with cool practical effects & a creepy little fast paced story filled with some campy twists and turns. I’m curious if this one was a minor hit in Australia? The VHS copy of CUT doesn’t sell the film very well with it’s (imo) poorly constructed cover art, if I hadn’t seen Ringwald’s name on the cover I’d have never even bothered. I enjoyed this enough that I quickly upgraded to the blu ray (from Umbrella) which does have better looking packaging as well a slick looking print of the film-‘Cut’ really was a nice little spooky surprise that I’m certain fans of classic 80’s and 90’s slashers (and Molly Ringwald!) will likely enjoy. It’s got some good scares, babes, hunks and the right killer supernatural moves to quench the thirst of lovers of the genre. It’s definitely a top notch Y2K slasher that is in desperate need of a bigger cult following outside of the land down under….
WTF: Robert Englund Returns as Freddy Krueger?!!
So it’s happening Nightmare on Elm Street fans! Robert Englund is indeed returning as the iconic character Freddy Krueger, but not quite in the way we’d all been hoping for the last 15 years. “The Goldbergs” is an ABC sitcom that apparently takes place in the 1980’s and I’m gonna admit it, I’d never heard of it before as I don’t watch “regular” TV anymore. But one of the upcoming Halloween episodes of the show will indeed feature Robert Englund in the role of Freddy Krueger once more. Here’s the synopsis:
“Despite Beverly’s wishes, Jackie’s parents allow Adam to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street and a disagreement between the families ensues. But Beverly dreams of facing off with horror icon Freddy Krueger (guest star Robert Englund), which teaches her an important lesson about her son’s relationship with Jackie. Meanwhile, Erica realizes she’s not as popular as she once was as she starts hanging out at William Penn Academy despite the fact she’s no longer a student there.”
Here’s a pic from the upcoming show:
Anyway I’m really hoping that this might inspire some sort of real legit campaign to get Rob to Return in the iconic role for another movie. He still looks totally awesome as ol’ Fred and I’m certain fans would be more than ecstatic for another movie with him in the classic role!! With the popularity of the upcoming installment of Halloween “H40” featuring Jamie Lee Curtis it seems more possible than ever that perhaps we might actually see another Nightmare on Elm Street movie with Robert. In the meantime I guess I’ll check this TV show out, just to get a glance at Englund on the sitcom! Finger blades crossed that this leads to something more!! Check this shit out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dybft19TguQ
“The Goldbergs,” WEDNESDAY, OCT. 24 (8:00-8:30 p.m. EDT), on The ABC Television Network. (ABC/John Fleenor)
Ahhh the 1980’s When You Could Call Freddy Krueger on the Telephone?! Those Were the Days…
There’s been a lot of talk lately about another rebooted Nightmare on Elm Street flick getting ready to be made, hell we’ve even had Robert Englund telling us he thinks it’s going to be a “Dream Warriors” remake. Well you know how I feel about it, just get Robert Englund back as Freddy dammit! What’s the problem Hollywood are you all braindead?!
Anyway thinking about good ol’ Fred got me thinking about the old 1980’s and how when you got bored on a Saturday night you always had the option of giving the dream demon himself a call on the telephone! Yep that was thing back then call up Freddy and have him tell you some scary ass stories! Of course I never actually called, but I always wanted to!! So I checked on Youtube and sure as shit there were the commercials! 1-900-909-FRED! Yeah he really was always there for us teens back then!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n1miRbL474
Oh yeah and in the 1980’s Freddy even appeared on Dramarama records! Whatta guy!
Who Should Star as Freddy Krueger in the Next ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Reboot?!
It seems these days Hollywood really isn’t all that interested in making good movies when it comes to our pop culture icons. Instead of giving the people what they really want they’ve continuously tried to give us all what THEY think we want. So it’s no surprise that they’re going to give us yet another go round at “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. The 2010 film was a failed attempt to modernize the story and give it to a whole new younger generation. The film was total bore and featured a new actor as Freddy Krueger. It came and went really without anyone giving a shit about it. Now it’s time again to try and revive the franchise which lead to the question of who’s going to wear the legendary glove? I’m fairly certain it’s NOT going to be Jackie Earle Haley, who did an ok job trying give Freddy a new spin. Still the fans were not happy with the flick. However fans of the franchise do clearly know what they want in A Nightmare on Elm Street and it ain’t a new actor playing Freddy!
So let’s just get this out of the way. Let’s not kid ourselves Hollywood. You want a successful new Nightmare on Elm Street movie? One that’s going to excite people? You want to make a big deal out of it? You want social media to go nuts about it? You of course want to make BIG money more than anything else, because we all know that’s what it’s really all about for Hollywood right? Well then listen up you greedy cash hogs to this here rather unimportant trivial little blogger who’s an actual real fan of the movies. It’s simple, get ROBERT ENGLUND back.
You don’t need a younger more hip actor to play Freddy. Nope. The people that wanna see this movie want one thing. The real Freddy. Englund is NOT too old for the role. Let’s face it his face is covered by latex it doesn’t matter if he’s 85 years old. People want the real deal. Have you really payed attention to what JJ is doing with Star Wars? Case closed. Robert Englund should be Freddy. You already know the answer to success here, don’t fuck it up again.
“Stage Fright” Will Be the Best Scream Flick of the Year!
Just saw this awesome trailer today for “Stage Fright”, nope it’s not a remake of the Hitchcock movie of the 1950’s. This one looks more like it owes more to Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ and I mean that in the best way possible! The trailer looks incredibly fun, packed full of action & plenty of thrills. I remember the first time I saw ‘Scream’ in the theater way back in 1996, it was like going to Disneyland-I mean it really felt like I was on roller coaster ride and the audience ate it up. It was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had in an actual theater. The movie had just the right amount of comedy, a cool unique concept and ton of scares but it wasn’t a sickening torture flick either. I’d go as far to say it was a perfect horror flick.
Now watching the trailer to Stage Fright is giving me that same feeling again, one which I think is most often missed these days in horror cinema. This is the first full feature from director Jerome Sable, but it looks like it’s going to re-energize the slasher film in a big way. For me a slasher movie has got to have something special going for it for me to even give it a chance. This one takes place at an upscale musical theater camp and involves a masked maniac who truly hate the genre-check this shit out! Oh yeah it also stars Minnie Driver & Meatloaf!
Also this is not to be confused with the 1980’s “Stage Fright” also known as “Deliria” or “Aquarius” with the killer with the Owl Head! But that one was pretty cool too!
The Two Most Annoying Horror Icons Do Battle!
Ok I just saw this little video recently and just had to post for anyone who may have missed out. Yeah I did a blog here a while back on the incredibly irritating Wishmaster. Yes people he’s so damn annoying it’d be hard to take him seriously if he was terrorizing you! Then There’s Leprechaun-equally annoying especially when he’s in Da’ Hood! Well what would happen if these two losers battled it out? Wonder no more cuz here you have it!!! Enjoy!
The Greatest Horror Themed Music Videos!! Megadeth does Shocker!!
It’s been a while since I’ve found any good Horror themed music videos but I am always on the watch for them. Especially if they are from a good 80’s movie! I realized the other day that I had totally forgotten about about the music video for Wes Craven’s 1989 horror classic “Shocker”. I had been searching Youtube for a while looking for the video for Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and had no luck finding it. Then I realized that though Alice Cooper did the song originally that Megadeth actually performed the movie version. Anyway here the video is in all it’s Mustaine glory!
SCREAM 4 Anyone?
So it has been officially confirmed recently that “Scream 4” is indeed in the works rather than a remake of the original (thank god!). The good news is also that yesterday David Arquette and Courtney Cox have also officially signed on to return as Dewey Riley & Gale Weathers. I’d like to also mention that about 8 years ago I met them both by chance at a Wherehouse Music where I worked in Jacksonville Florida and they were actually pretty cool people with pretty decent taste in music. Anyway I have always been a big fan of the Scream movies. Infact I remember seeing the first one in the theater and being pretty blown away. Scream gave the horror genre the kick in the ass it needed at the time, making going to see a horror movie in the theaters a damn fun time again. It also set the trend however to a ton of immitators that made going to the theater to see a horror movie a collossal waste of time and money!
Will somebody please kick “THE WISHMASTER’S” ASS?!!
Man oh man I just recently revisted “The Wishmaster” series from the late 90’s and really the only thing I can truely say about it is that of all the movie monsters in history The Wishmaster himself is in most serious need of of an ass beating! This evil djinn has just gotta be the most irritating and annoying villain to grace the silver screen.
Universal Dork 