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Robert Englund wants an Elm Street prequel about Freddy's trial, but would he star in it?
If the knife glove does not fit, you must acquit. Robert Englund recently said he's a little too long in the tooth to play Freddy Krueger anymore, but that doesn't mean the horror icon won't support another Nightmare on Elm Street movie. In fact, Englund revealed to SYFY WIRE that he'd love to see a prequel film centering on Freddy's trial, acquittal, and eventual fiery death.
"I think that the franchise probably deserves a really good prequel," he told us. "There’s never been an entire movie devoted to Freddy before he was burned and the crimes and getting caught by the police and going on trial and getting away with killing children. We know that he was set free, so to me, the great part in the prequel is gonna be the lawyers, the lawyers that get him off. These ambulance-chasing lawyers (or whatever they are) that get Freddy off and then, of course, the ending would be the vigilante parents burning him. That would be the end of the movie, but I think there’s a great story there somewhere ... I think it could sustain 90 minutes."
It should be noted that the very first episode of Freddy's Nightmares (the Elm Street anthology spinoff series from the late 1980s and early '90s that Englund hosted) dealt with a very similar premise.
Englund went on to reiterate that he's just too old to carry the franchise (especially if they decided to reboot it again), but would leap at the chance to do a cameo role if asked.
"If, for instance, they remade Part III [Dream Warriors], which is the biggest hit of the franchise, I would love to be invited to do a cameo," he said. "I think there’s a tradition in horror movies and in remakes for the cameo. It’s a certain kind of valentine to the fans and I know that there’s a part in [Dream Warriors where] the great Priscilla Pointer ... played this sort of skeptical dream therapist in the group sessions. I think it would be fun for me to play that part if there was a remake ... To have me not believe in collective nightmares. Having played Freddy, everybody’s favorite nightmare, I think it would be fun for me to play a guy that doesn’t believe in nightmares."
Live-action (beyond a cameo or short guest role on The Goldbergs) is definitely out of the question, but the door for voiceover and animation is never closed.
"Now, if they did a really expensive animated version, a graphic novel animated version, I would love to go do the voice for it. Yeah, that would be fun to do," admitted Englund.
With the U.S. rights to the Elm Street series reportedly back in the hands of the Craven estate, the future is full of possibility. Elijah Wood is among some of Hollywood's biggest players who have voiced interest in rebooting the cinematic IP. Englund is all for the idea of a revamp, especially now that VFX have evolved so much.
"With the new technologies in special effects, I think there are several sequences in several of the franchise [entries] that would really benefit from a remake with all of the are technology," concluded the actor, citing Inception as a watershed moment for bringing dream landscapes to the big screen. "If you remember the effects [from Inception], those effects now have grown by lightyears in terms of what they look like and I would love to see a couple of those effects used in one of the Nightmare movies to really enhance the dream landscape, the kind of nightmare world."
Robert Englund's latest project is True Terror, a six episode docu-series that explores some of the most horrific moments in recorded American history. The show premieres on the Travel Channel Wednesday, March 18 at 10pm EST.
