Movies
Nancy’s Mother Talks ‘Elm Street’ Remake and Keeping it Fresh
After doing this for roughly nine years, I’m finding there are two extremes when it comes to stars in franchise horror films. With the exception of Derek Mears (a mega-hardcore Friday the 13th fan), most stars have either never seen the source material, or straight-up lie and claim to be a huge fan. There’s typically no inbetween. The NY Post Pop Wrap caught up with Connie Britton, who plays Nancy’s mother in the forthcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street remake who reveals she had never seen the original (how? HOW?!).
“You are going to be shocked to hear this: I’d never seen “Elm Street” before we started shooting. Isn’t that funny?” adding that it was her intention to give her a fresh take on the character. “That was my intention, but also because I’m a scaredy cat,” she tells the site. ‘I’ve known Rob Zombie for a long time and he’s always been telling me, ‘Connie, you gotta make a horror movie!’ But I was still too chicken. But when I heard Jackie Earle Haley was doing Freddy, I thought that this was the time. But in retrospect, now that I’ve seen a good part of the original, it made no difference because what we do in the new one is so substantially different.”
Interviewer Jarett Wieselman also added, “I was interviewing Robert Englund the other day and he singled out your casting as one of his favorite elements of the reboot because you can elevate the classic role.”
Britton’s reply: “That was kind of my hope too. I’m not sure it we accomplished that though. The truth is, I don’t think the role is as well represented in the movie as it could have been. My sense is that the focus won’t be on my character as much as I previously thought, but we’ll see.”
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET arrives in theaters April 30, 2010
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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