Last April’s A Nightmare on Elm Street remake may not have been the best horror film, but it made money. It also is headed down the same road to nowhere as 2009’s Friday The 13th remake- in other words, no possible sequels in he near future.Dark Horizons gives us the good (?) news:
This weekend, Platinum Dunes producer Brad Fuller posted some tweets clarifying where things currently stand on both.
On a “Friday the 13th Part II”, Fuller indicates they want to do a sequel but haven’t gotten a green light yet. “We are ready to go, when New Line is ready. But as of yet, they are not ready” he says.
“As for Freddy, as far as I know, there isn’t even talk of writing another script.”
Yes, a Friday The 13th 2 could still happen. But I’m not holding my breath on it. After all, this generation has Saw. My generation had Jason, like a cheap knockoff film every year or two, knowwhatimean? Like it or leave it–there it was. So my feeling is that if New Line isn’t going to give the go-ahead now, I honestly don’t think they will. But “Elm Street’ is a bit more surprising. Yes, last year’s remake was lame for the most part. But it made money. In fact, of all the films with Freddy, it was the most successful in dollar revenue.
I’m rather split on this. On one hand, it ticks me off. The whole point of remaking these films is to breathe new life and new franchises into them. Now it is all not only pointless, but the producers now think horror fans don’t want R rated horror anymore because the two of the biggest and baddest horror icons didn’t carry the weight. Horror does not need be ‘R’, that’s true, but we can say that about any film genre. Many great films have been rated ‘R’-we can say that about any genre too.
So what does these two films have in common? Bad remakes in general? Ooops. We shouldn’t go there. No-second thought, we should. It’s this sort of thinking that disgusts me as a lover of film. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
Look, I’m glad sequels to the remakes have stalled. I don’t shed tears. But it has nothing to do with people not wanting to go to R rated horror films or not. NOTHING. We give the filmmakers a chance and see where they go. When the film stinks, it stinks.
Yes, a message is sent. But don’t misread it. Horror fans want horror films, not imitations and reworkings of franchises they hold dear. Is that too hard to understand?
What’s your take? Are you happy that Elm Street sequels are DOA? Thrilled that Friday 2 is still spinning wheels?
