Nightmare On Elm Street Should Copy Halloween 2018’s Best Reboot Trick

The Nightmare On Elm Street franchise reboot is inevitable, but the only successful approach to this would be bringing back original star Heather Langenkamp, much like the 2018 Halloween reboot brought back Jamie Lee Curtis. Released in 1984, A Nightmare On Elm Street was a massive hit for future Scream helmer Wes Craven and one of few slasher franchises that could compete with John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s phenomenally successful Halloween series. Dream demon Freddy Krueger was a memorably terrifying villain whose supernatural powers broke the mold for slasher fare, allowing him to become as popular as Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers at the box office. He also helped pave the way for more paranormal villains like the recently-remade Candyman or Chucky of Child’s Play fame.

However, much like the Halloween franchise, the critical fortunes of Freddy’s movies were not as impressive as his box office receipts. The critical trajectory of both the Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street franchises were almost identical, with both having critically acclaimed originals, well-liked third installments, largely disliked sequels and divisive ‘00s remakes that failed to match their respective originals. However, Halloween later earned another reboot with 2018’s direct sequel, and Nightmare On Elm Street deserves the same treatment soon.

It was no easy feat for 2018’s Halloween to fix the series, with the movie undoing the lore established by a string of sequels and retconning everything that occurred after the first film. However, 2018’s reboot was a huge success critically and commercially, and with Halloween Kills on the way, there is no better time for the creators of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise to attempt the same approach for their much-missed slasher. Bringing back Halloween heroine Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode was an expensive but worthwhile investment that made 2018’s reboot a definitive restart for the troubled franchise, which is part of why Elm Street’s potential reboot needs to do the same with Heather Langenkamp’s Nancy.

Halloween 2018 Needed Laurie Strode

Whether it was to retcon Laurie being Michael’s sister, to give the character a clearer arc than the previous sequels/reboots/remake had allowed or just to reignite fan interest, 2018’s Halloween needed the original Laurie to work. A Nightmare On Elm Street’s 2010 remake was as critically derided as Rob Zombie’s ‘00s attempt to re-do the series, and the Elm Street franchise now needs Langenkamp’s return to offer a solid relaunch for the series. As proven by both failed remakes, the approach of retelling the original story does not appeal to audiences, and a direct sequel that brings back a character other than Freddy gives longtime fans someone to root for beyond the villain. Furthermore, centering Langenkamp’s resourceful original final girl Nancy would allow a Nightmare On Elm Street reboot to make Freddy scary again since the character would not need to amuse audiences with wisecracks if viewers have a compelling protagonist to root for.

Heather Langenkamp Is Nightmare’s Laurie Strode

Not only did Langenkamp star in both the original Nightmare On Elm Street and the second sequel, Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (widely agreed to be one of the best, if not the best, sequel), she also played herself in New Nightmare, showcasing her range while still fulfilling the Final Girl role with aplomb. At 57, she is still cameo-ing in indie horror efforts, proving that the actor would likely be game for a direct sequel that rebooted the series and introduced a new generation to Freddy. Meanwhile, her status as one of the first teens to survive Freddy would make his impetus to hunt down teens more cruel and reprehensible than his original quest for revenge. With Langenkamp’s screen parents presumably by now being long dead, the generation Freddy wanted to seek vengeance on for murdering him would be gone, and the character would now be killing for the fun of it—a scarier, more sadistic prospect for a new entry to follow on from.

Speaking of Nancy’s former foe, Freddy’s actor Robert Englund recently booked a Stranger Things role, meaning he is still working and it is not too late for a direct sequel to pick up after the action of the original film and undo some of the later, lesser sequels. The last Nightmare On Elm Street movies was largely disliked by both critics and fans, as they saw Freddy become a more outwardly comedic, over-the-top villain and a less scary figure as a result. A revival could undo this gradual character devolution and bring back the ferociously scary Freddy of the original Elm Street, pitting him against his oldest foe, Nancy, in the process.

NOES Doesn’t Need To Undo As Much As Halloween

While the later Nightmare On Elm Street sequels have their low points (and, in the case of Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, lost many of their best moments to censorship) and the remake was considered pitiful by many, the franchise does not have to fix as much story as Halloween did with its 2018 entry. The franchise can keep the continuity from Dream Warriors onward, where 2018’s Halloween needed to retcon everything after the first film to make sense of the series. A Nightmare On Elm Street introduced Nancy while the third movie turned her into a psychologist specializing in night terrors, both details that could be easily kept by a direct sequel.

While a Freddy reboot could pick up from where A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors left off, it would need to retcon Nancy’s death from the sequel’s finale. However, that slightly lame death scene was already a point of contention among many fans, who felt that Nancy was too resilient and too smart to fall for an obvious trick like Freddy’s John Saxon imitation. As a result, undoing Nancy’s existing Nightmare On Elm Streetdeath to bring her back would do justice to the original while introducing a new generation to one of the most fearsome faces in slasher cinema. Its been a long time since Freddy has haunted moviegoers’ dreams, so the next entry must make up for his long slumber.

About The Author

Cathal Gunning
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Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

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