Even Freddy would knife this idea

The horror ... the horror: "Nightmare On Elm Street" is about to be reincarnated.

According to Variety.com, Platinum Dunes is working with New Line to reimagine the 1984 film by Wes Craven, which led to eight sequels and two TV movies. And they say creativity is dead in Hollywood.

Never heard of the Platinum Dunes production company? You probably will soon. They're also working on remakes of "Friday the 13th" and "The Birds" -- two other classics that deserve to be left alone.

Will actor Robert Englund return as the evil Freddy Krueger, the boiler room-friendly janitor who killed teenagers (including a young Johnny Depp) in their sleep? Doubful. Englund would be 60 by the time filming starts. At least he wouldn't need much in terms of makeup.

Comments

[Sherrie]

The Nightmare on Elm Street movies used to scare the cr*p out of me! I truly don't think I could watch one now, at my advanced age. :)
As for Hitchcock, I was a big fan as a young adult/twentysomething. My favorites are Psycho (I can quote it line for line, for whatever that's worth), Strangers on a Train and Marnie.

[Marissa]

Shadow of a Doubt. Excellent. That movie made me uncomfortable and intrigued all that the same time.

[Eric S]

I liked a few of the Nightmare movies. The first one is probably the best of course. Freddie actually didn't talk quite as much in that one as the others. Made him more menancing. Third one was good as well. Had my favorite Dokken song on it. And The New Nightmare was well done with Craven returning as director.

Hitchcock is my favorite director. The Birds isn't one of my favorites by him. The Psycho remake was awful. Van Sant may have done a shot by shot remake, but he still added some stuff. Like sound effects including when Norman was peeping. Awful. Not sure why Van Sant put that in.

The Rear Window remake also wasn't very good either. Disturbia though was pretty good. That could be considered a loose remake of that movie. And I did like the remake of Dial M for Murder.

I did like I Confess. It is underrated. I have read that Hitch did not like working with Monty though. Marnie was very good as well. I do agree with Evan Hunter. That one scene was not needed in the movie and took away from it.

Some of the lesser known ones I really enjoyed were Foreign Correspondent, Shadow of a Doubt and Frenzy. Foreign Correpsondent was great fun. Can't go wrong with George Sanders in a movie. Shadow of a Doubt had the great Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. I thought Frenzy was his last classic. Great use in food in that one.

Suspicion could have been a great one if they kept the original ending. It just doesn't work as well with the ending that they have. Hitch was not happy that he had to change it.

[Al]

Great Hitchcock movies to check out (that you haven't mentioned already):

Marnie (with Sean Connery)

Saboteur

The 39 Steps

I Confess

I was a huge Hitchcock fan when I took film studies at university......love the Hitch. His voyeuristic shots made you feel like you were right in the bloody movie. I could go on and on, but that's it.

[Tom]

Surely there are "original" ideas floating around and not just in Hollywood. Just think of the great films we may never see just so the studios can make a quick buck and remake a classic. How short sighted is that? But I guess the people who will pay to see "anything" and not feel duped are the target audience the studios are banking on.

[Bassnote]

Hollywood must leave Hitchcock alone. Why remake something that was done right in the first place? As far as 'Nightmare' goes, the first one was really the only good one, so of couse, Hollywood must try to screw it up.

[Valdimar (Iceland)]

Platinum Dunes is the production company responsible for the awful remake of the The Hitcher last year. The original is a (dare I say) 80s horror classic. Why mess with the classics?

Platinum Dunes must be stopped!

[Rick]

One way to recreate Hitchcock would be to reshoot one of his films shot for shot with a new cast, which is exactly what Gus van Sant did with PSYCHO. Remember the pointless remake starring Vince Vaughn and Ann Heche??? Don't worry, nobody else does either.

I knew a guy who had a list of almost good films which could have been great in the right hands. Now those would be films worth remaking, great stories that got botched. But let Rob Zombie, someone who's a sociopath musician not a filmmaker, remake the classic HALLOWEEN?

Why not let Bon Jovi remake STAR WARS since he shares a haircut with Mark Hamill? Why not remake THE BIG CHILL with Will Smith, Queen Latifah, and Cedric the Entertainer?

Hollywood has already remade THE HONEYMOONERS with Cedric, so a BIG CHILL remake is probably already in the works!

[Marissa]

lol Melissa.

[Melissa]

Jeff, you must have been typing at the same time I was. My thoughts exactly. I liked the first "Saw" but then it just got ridiculous. Do people really just want to see people tortured these days? What's the point/plot?

[Melissa]

Gees, can they not come up with an original idea themselves? I imagine it will just be bloodier (just to be bloodier) like all the horror movies are these days. Why remake these movies...they have a moral. If you are a teenager and have sex you'll get a knife in you or your head cut off.

[Jeff in Cuba]

My mind (and stomach) are reeling at the thought of how these horror classic would be done by today's violence-porn film-makers.

Can you imagine a "Nightmare" film with "Saw"-type detail?

And "The Birds" was scary enough with just dark shadows flying across the screen. I'm not sure I need to see flocks of realistic CGI birds in evil action.

[specialk]

Marissa I'm with you on the remaking of Hitchcock. How could anyone truly expect to replicate his genious at scarying the heebie jeebies out of you?! You just sat and waited for something to happen in his movies and it was always a surprise when it did. They really kept you in suspense.
I LOVED Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one). I still have it around here on video tape; one of the few rated R movies my mom let me get back in the day. She was alright with me watching some guy killing teenagers in their sleep but didn't approve of me watching Breakfast Club (got away with it though thanks to Dad). I lived in a scary old house in the dark and I loved to watch that movie with the blinds open in the dark. I cannot tell you how many of my friends would creep up to our big living room window to scare me to death!

[Marissa]

I saw the first "Nightmare," and like Sandy, it scared the bejeezus out of me. I'm not much for psycho killer thrillers. I don't go so far as punching someone as a result of my fears, but I'm prone to not wanting to sleep with the lights off.
Remaking Hitchcock films is quite an undertaking...and a foolish one if you ask me. My reason for that is Hitchcock was a master of suspense. I LOVE his work. I can't count how many times I've seen "Rear Window," "Rope," "Vertigo," "Dial-M for Murder." Well, I could go on and on. "The Birds," isn't one of my favorites, but still possesses that Hitchcockian film work. Hitchcock's shoes are mighty big to fill, and I fear the new-bloods might deviate too far from the original and pervert that which is classic cinema.

[Spiky Sandy]

You know, the first Nightmare scared the heck out of me, but it got stupider as the sequels went on and, eventually, I lost interest. I'm not sure if any of us from the 80's would go see the remake, but it certainly opens the door for a new generation of those that appreciate Freddy!