A Nightmare on Elm Street Star Robert Englund Shares Why the 2010 Reboot Failed

Throughout the 2000s, a number of beloved horror movies were rebooted by various filmmakers with high-profile approaches, some of which were successes but were largely chided by longtime horror fans, as these reboots mainly capitalized on recognizable titles and characters but failed to bring anything new to the table. One underwhelming revival was 2010’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, which was a disappointment critically and financially, with original franchise star Robert Englund recently reflecting on why he thinks that project was a failure, citing the tweaks to Freddy Krueger’s mythology as what held the project back from its potential.

“[Freddy Krueger actor Jackie Earle Haley’s] just so good, a wonderful actor, so I don’t think it was that,” Englund recalled to Variety. “I’ve always thought that Freddy is described as a child killer. So when they made Freddy a child molester [in the remake], that’s not what Freddy is, I don’t think. By taking it to such a dark, dark place, there’s no room for the personality of Freddy to be exploited.”

A Nightmare on Elm Street was only one of many reboots that largely stuck to the source material but made key tweaks, as fans were also given new takes on Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the 13th, among dozens of others. Englund’s comments about the changes made to Krueger highlight a fascinating belief among the horror community about what might be considered too disturbing to be entertaining.

In the original movie, Krueger was killed by a group of vigilante parents after the criminal justice system failed to incarcerate him for his crimes against children in the community, as he vowed vengeance against the parents from beyond the grave. For a portion of the 2010 reboot, the narrative explored the possibility that Krueger may have been wrongly convicted, only to then confirm he had also sexually assaulted children. 

The 2010 reboot starred Rooney Mara, with the actor recalling earlier this year that she had such a rough experience making the movie, it almost made her leave her career behind.

“A few years before [The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo], I had done a Nightmare on Elm Street remake, which was not a good experience,” Mara shared with the LaunchLeft podcast back in January. “I have to be careful with what I say and how I talk about it. It wasn’t the best experience making it and I kind of got to this place, that I still live in, that I don’t want to act unless I’m doing stuff that I feel like I have to do. So after making that film, I kind of decided, ‘Okay, I’m just not going to act anymore unless it’s something that I feel that way about.’”  

Stay tuned for updates on the future of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

What do you think of Englund’s remarks? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!