I'm pretty sure Wes Craven never thought he was giving life to what would become one of horror's top icons when he made A Nightmare on Elm Street. It's concept was very unique then and still remains original until this day. A spirit of a child killer who decides to haunt the subconscious coil instead of the conscious. That allows him to hit in a place where his victims are at their most vulnerable. And if you died while in this nightmare, you died for real. 

Freddy Krueger stands along Michael Myers from the Halloween series, and Jason Voorhies of the Friday the 13th series as one of horror's icons. They terrified people throught the 80's, but only Freddy and Michael saw a return to their roots and to popularity in the 90's. Freddy got "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" and Michael got "Halloween: 20 Years Later". Now in this time where there are no more real horror icons, the era of remakes has begun. Jason will be getting his makeover when Friday the 13th is redone, and Michael will have the talented and twisted mind of Rob Zombie re-imagining the first film. Freddy, however, has remained silent.

I've been a fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street for a very long time now. As a writer, its a series I've always wanted to tackle. Unfortunately A Nightmare on Elm Street is a closely guarded item by those who hold its right, New Line Cinema. I know this because I was in talks with them to create a role playing game based on "A Nightmare on Elm Street's universe, and while I made it pretty far up the ladder, I eventually got knocked down and was told not to attempt climbing it again. 

The chances of me ever getting to bring my vision of Freddy to New Line Cinema is like winning the lottery. But it never stopped me from conceiving and putting together what would have to be the re-invention of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The concept, while original, has become too familiar to people. They know Freddy exists in dreams, where he is god-like. They know that if a person dies in the dream, they die for real. But most importantly, they know that no matter what Freddy can never really be destroyed, which makes the entire struggle worthless. This is why it would be near impossible to continue with a seventh part to the existing franchise. It's already been to all the places it can go. Or has it?

These were the driving forces that led to the decision to first start from the beginning. However, Wes Craven did a remarkable job with the original and I would never dream of attempting to re-make it. So it led to me think how could the franchise be continued from where it left off. I dug, and I dug, and I dug. What came to life is the cotinuation of franchise, along with a re-imagining of the story and concept. It's the re-introduction of Freddy and Elm Street to an audience who has grown to know him better than he knows himself, or to those who've never had the chance to visit. 
 
 

Enter Jacob Johnson, age 16, only child of Alice. He is unaware of the struggle that took place for his very life while he was still unborn. He is unaware of the sacrifice his mother made to protect him by inducing her coma through sheer willpower in order to "lock" Freddy in her mind, keeping him trapped. But when a freak accident occurs at the hospital that leaves Alice temporarily brain dead, the genie is set free, and the children and teenagers of Elm Street are about to find out what real terror is once again.

Freddy's coil remains the same. He still haunts the dreams of his young victims. However, Freddy is as weak, if not weaker than he was in his first Nightmare outing. His methods have gone back to their old ways, becoming more psychological. Freddy knows fear very well and uses that as his weapon against his young victims by taking on the forms of the things that scare them most, or by bringing up situations that scare them most. The more they believe that what they are seeing is real, (as in the more the fear manifests within them) the more real it becomes in reality, and the more Freddy is able to manipulate it. Unlike in the later films (Elm Street 4-Freddy vs Jason) Freddy is not "god" in the dreams of his victims. The only control he is given is through the fear, but his control is never absolute. 

In order to make the new premise more feasible the age group will go as low as age twelve, but mainly fifteen to seventeen. Kids this age would tend to be more vulnerable to Freddy's methods as adolecense can be a scary transition. It is a time when many young people are discovering themselves, their weaknesses, and their strengths, and learning to leave childhood behind and embrace adulthood. 

The horror of the film will be more of a primal, psychological horror. It's something that will stay with the audience not because it was so grotesque or cheesy, but because it was unsettling and genuinely scary. Childhood and adolecent fears, and the fears and concerns of the parents as their children begin dying are things that will be used to immerse the audience in the experience. The majority of them will be able to relate to at least two of the aforementioned items. 

The character of Freddy Krueger will be explored much more this time around. The audience needs to understand what made him the way he is, why he is so psychotic. He is still the son of a woman who was raped repeatedly by mentally distrubed inmates at the asylum she volunteered at. So while the issues are already "in his blood" they were fueled by the repeated teasing and beatings by other children/teenagers who knew about his mother that he endured while growing up in Springwood. He was also thrown from foster home to foster home, never making any real connection with any of his foster parents. The only time he did led to him being repeatedly molested by his then foster father. As revenge against those who teased and beat him up, Freddy chose to murder their children. 

The audience will also know that Freddy is not a misunderstood villain. He enjoys killing these kids, he enjoys them being afraid of him, and he enjoys the chase and the grooming that leads up to the kill. He is an evil man. He knows his acts are evil. And he revels in it.

The characters in this also won't just be "Freddy Fodder" for lack of a better term, or filler. These are real people with real lives who begin going through a real crisis. They will act accordingly and won't be privy to the situation, as has been done quite a few times in the previous sequels. 

Alice Johnson and Yvonne (her only surviving friend from her next to last encounter with Freddy in 1989) will be key players. But the main focus will be on Jacob and his circle of friends. All of them begin as average teenagers going about their lives only to have their realities turned upside down by Freddy's arrival. They see him and experience his brand of terror. They watch as other children and teenagers, some of them close friends, some related, fall victim to Freddy. It will terrify them and affect them psychologically. It will cause Jacob and his friends to band together as a team and move to stop Freddy before he's done grooming them and moves in for the kill...or in Jacob's case, possession. Through Alice and Yvonne, they will learn about who Freddy was and what he did before. Further research in that area will reveal how to destroy him, as all the other ways he was stopped before are layed out. It will lead to the final confrontation, in which all of them will make the decision to put their lives and sanity on the line in order to save the remaining children and teenagers as well as themselves. Some will not make it to the end, but those remaining will be successful in taking Freddy down. 

So how does one quell a vengeful spirit? One thing that was supposed to be the end of Freddy once and for all was the burying of his bones in hallowed ground. Why didn't it work? It was only half of the ritual. Freddy's evil essence is also attached to his trademark claw, which he's used to take many lives. It must be destroyed so that Freddy no longer has a connection to this physical world. He carried out his purpose of revenge long ago. His time to pass on has long been spent. The last known location of Freddy's Glove? Inside the furnace in the basement of the run down house on 1428 Elm Street. 

After all of this, would there be room for another sequel? Unfortunately, no. This would be the final end of Freddy, making the 6th film in the series a scenario that would've happened had Alice not taken the action she took and Freddy being the victor. For the name I'd either go with A New Nightmare on Elm Street, or A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Legend of Fred Krueger.