It’s no secret that I am not a fan of the current trend that’s sweeping Hollywood of taking all of the televisions shows and movies from the 70s and 80s and reimagining, revamping, and rebooting them for today’s younger audiences. So, when I heard last year that New Line/Platinum Dunes was going to relaunch the A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, I was totally against it, as was most of my colleagues. The original is a classic horror flick, why redo it? But then Jackie Earle Haley, who earlier this year totally killed in the role of Rorschach in Watchmen, was cast as the iconic horror figure Freddy Krueger and I thought, now this film has a chance.

At the Warner Bros. panel at the San Diego Comic-Con today, Haley made an appearance along with the new Elm Street director Samuel Bayer and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller to debut the first footage from the upcoming film.

My initial reaction was a positive one and I believe that Haley totally nails the role of Freddy Krueger. We weren’t given a lengthy look at the villainous Krueger, but what we do see is chilling and reminiscent of the first Elm Street flick. It’s hard to scare today’s audiences, who’ve basically seen it all at this point, but from what I saw, at least fans of the original franchise will not be disappointed. Check out the footage description here below.

The filmmakers stressed that this is not a remake nor is it an origin story, although it’s obvious that we will get to see the circumstances that lead to Freddy’s demise and return. The panelists also stated that original Freddy Krueger actor Robert Englund will not have a cameo in the new film, but, they stressed, he does support it.

The movie finished filming two weeks ago and will be released on April 16, 2010.

Footage Description

At the beginning of the footage, we see Haley as the man Freddy Krueger running as he’s chased by a group of people, and one of them is yelling his name and something else. Krueger runs into an old building, locking himself in, shouting back, “What did you think I did? I didn’t do anything!?” Something gets thrown threw the window, causing an explosion, and we see Krueger taking off his jacket to reveal the classic green and red sweater. In flames, Krueger comes running out from the building. More scenes show the now-powerful dream master Freddy attacking and killing the children of Elm Street, and some are similar to the original movie, like a girl levitating in her bedroom as Freddy kills her in her dream. We see Freddy’s glove and a shadow of his face, and the “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you” nursery rhyme.