While supplies last, grab the Elm Street SteelBook collection for $154.99 right now!!

Orders placed for this re-release are scheduled to begin shipping out September 15, 2026.

[Related] Freddy’s Back: New ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie in the Works at Paramount

From New Line Cinema, the collection includes the original seven films – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989), Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) – along with the uncut versions of A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Dream Child.

Two BRAND NEW SPECIAL FEATURES for this set include:

• Boiler Room Confessional: The king of slashers, Robert Englund, takes us on a journey through the dream world, sharing what inspired Freddy Krueger, his rise as a cultural icon, and the legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street, plus his favorite kills, scenes, and more.
• Freddy’s Footnotes: Robert Englund and original A Nightmare on Elm Street filmmakers revisit iconic scenes, revealing the movie magic and chaos behind our favorite nightmares. Pull back the curtain and relive epic moments through the eyes of those who made them.

Here’s the full breakdown of included Special Features for each movie…

A Nightmare on Elm Street

· Ready Freddy Focus Points

· Commentary with Wes Craven, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, Robert Shaye, and Sara Risher

· Commentary with Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, and Jacques Haitkin

· Alternate Endings – Scary Ending, Happy Ending, Freddy Ending

· The House that Freddy Built: The Legacy of New Line Horror

· Never Sleep Again: The Making of A Nightmare on Elm Street

· Night Terrors: The Origins of Wes Craven’s Nightmares

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

· Freddy on 8th Street

· Heroes and Villains

· The Male Witch

· Psychosexual Circus

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

· Behind the Story: Burnout

· Behind the Story: Fan Mail

· Behind the Story: The House that Freddy Built

· Behind the Story: Onward Christian Soldiers

· Behind the Story: Snakes and Ladders

· Behind the Story: That’s Showbiz

· Behind the Story: Trading 8’s

· Dokken Dream Warriors Music Video

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

· The Finnish Line

· Krueger, Freddy Krueger

· Hopeless Chest

· Let’s Makeup

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

· Behind the Story: Womb Raiders

· Behind the Story: The Sticky Floor

· Behind the Story: Take the Stairs

· Behind the Story: Hopkins Directs

· Behind the Story: A Slight Miscalculation

Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare

· 86’D

· Hellraiser

· Rachel’s Dream

· 3D Demise

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

· Commentary with Wes Craven

· NEW – Boiler Room Confessional

· NEW – Freddy’s Footnotes

· Becoming a Filmmaker

· Filmmaker

· An Insane Troupe

· The Problem with Sequels

· Two Worlds

· Welcome to Prime Time: It Really Happened

· Welcome to Prime Time: A Childhood Memory

· Welcome to Prime Time: Sometime in the Early 80s

· Welcome to Prime Time: So It Began

· Welcome to Prime Time: Beauty and the Beast

· Welcome to Prime Time: Making the Glove

· Welcome to Prime Time: Shapeshifter

· Welcome to Prime Time: The Shoot

· Welcome to Prime Time: The Revolving Room

· Welcome to Prime Time: All’s Well that Ends Well

· Welcome to Prime Time: Talalay’s Tally

· Welcome to Prime Time: It Couldn’t Have Happened

· Welcome to Prime Time: Alternate Ending Version

· Conclusion: Where Gothic Plots Come From

· Conclusion: Why We Like Gothic

· Conclusion: Sadomasochism

· Conclusion: Freddy vs. Pinhead

· Conclusion: Freddy’s Manic Energy

· Conclusion: Creating Lasting Characters in Horror

· Conclusion: No More Magic Tricks

· Conclusion: Monster with Personality

· Conclusion: Freddy as Sex Machine

· Conclusion: Campfire Stories

The Elm Street collection is available in this collectible SteelBook packaging (exclusive to Amazon) and as a standard 4K collection that’s also available now over on Amazon.

The post ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Collection 4K SteelBook Set Is Now Back in Stock on Amazon! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Who else would love to take a crack at the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise? Newcomer Curry Barker, whose acclaimed horror movie Obsession debuts in theaters this weekend.

Curry Barker has already been enlisted to direct the next installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise, and he’s hungry to add Freddy Krueger to his resume as well.

Barker tells Polygon, “Obviously, everybody wants to do Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s kind of like the hot thing right now. I don’t even know who has the rights to that or what — I hear that the rights are pretty locked tight for that movie, but man, what a concept that has endless potential of nightmares and how trippy and weird and creepy they could get.”

“I would love to take a crack at that,” Barker adds.

“I know Lee Cronin also just publicly said that he wanted to take a crack at it too,” Curry Barker also notes during his conversation with Polygon. He continues, “So I don’t know, but since you asked, that’s one that I would be excited about — probably a couple more, too.”

As Bloody Disgusting reported way back in 2019, the U.S. rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street have reverted back to Wes Craven’s estate, while Warner Bros./New Line Cinema continues to own the international rights to the franchise and its iconic killer, Freddy Krueger.

Franchise star Robert Englund told Indiewire last year, “There are so many people involved who have a piece of the action. When Wes passed away, he left an awful lot of rights to his estate. He has many many rights that he worked out between character titles and names and plot and things like that. New Line Cinema obviously has a big hand in it. And much of that was surrendered to Ted Turner, then went to Warner Bros. So Warner Bros. has a huge piece of it. I know Michael Bay had been involved with some interest and also Blumhouse.”

Stay tuned for more on all things Freddy and Nightmare on Elm Street.

The post Curry Barker Wants to Direct a ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

However, one of the actor’s many talents is rarely acknowledged when looking back on his decades of contributions to genre media, and that would be his penchant for villainous voice-acting. For decades now, the sultry sounds of Robert Englund have been bringing all manners of animated characters to life in cartoons and videogames. And with #RobertEnglundDay finally upon us, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six of Robert’s most memorable voice roles.

In order to keep this list varied, we won’t be including any animated versions of Freddy Krueger, as the character has shown up in everything from Mortal Kombat to The Simpsons over the years and could honestly be the subject of his own specific list.

With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite voice performances by Robert Englund if you think we missed particularly a good one.

Now, onto the list…

6. Adrian Toomes/Vulture – The Spectacular Spider-Man

An underrated Marvel adaptation that was sabotaged by Disney’s fateful acquisition of the company, Greg Wiseman and Victor Cook’s The Spectacular Spider-Man was an incredibly memorable show that stood out with its updated depictions of Spidey’s iconic rogue’s gallery. In fact, the writing team would often add layers of depth to even minor antagonists, turning henchmen into supervillains over the course of season-long arcs. And among these modernized antagonists was a more vengeful incarnation of Vulture voiced by none other than Robert Englund.

While some fans weren’t crazy about the character’s red redesign (meant to distinguish the flying fiend from other green-suited Spider-Man villains), there was near-unanimous praise for Englund’s cocky demeanor when voicing the iconic character in the very first episode of the series.

5. Edward Nigma/Riddler – The Batman

My personal favorite rendition of what was once a joke character in comics, it’s pretty clear that Englund added a bit of horror flair to The Batman’s goth-adjacent redesign of Riddler. A darker and decidedly more unhinged take on the master of mystery, Englund’s imposing voice is simply the cherry on top of an already-unique re-imagining of a decades-old villain.

While this version of Riddler still relies on over-the-top schemes to brainwash Gotham citizens as he teases authorities with cunning enigmas, his sociopathic antics seem decidedly less comical when he’s being depicted as a bona fide terrorist on the edge.

4. Felix Faust – Justice League

He may be a minor villain in the grand scheme of DC’s expanded universe, but the iconic Justice League show still went the extra mile when casting the dark sorcerer Felix Faust for the small screen. Here, Englund voices a revamped version of the villainous character who learned arcane secrets from Hades himself in exchange for helping to release the god of Death from Tartarus – making him a terrifying foe for the Justice League (and Wonder Woman in particular).

While this new origin wasn’t quite as intimidating as Felix’s demon-summoning backstory from the comics, the character was still popular enough to reappear in Justice League Unlimited, where Englund reprised an undead version of the role out for ghostly vengeance.

3. Dr. Crane/Scarecrow – Injustice 2

Robert Englund had already lent his voice talents to NetherRealm Studios in the past, having voiced Freddy Krueger in the aforementioned 2009 iteration of Mortal Kombat (which was bafflingly forced to use Jackie Earle Haley’s likeness for the character), but he would later return in 2017 to bring another iconic character to life in the DC-based fighter, Injustice 2.

Here, Englund voices a suitably demonic incarnation of Scarecrow, with the Batman villain’s fear-gas making his enemies perceive the fragile Doctor Crane as a supernaturally strong monster – allowing this decidedly human villain to face off against godly foes.

2. Anti-Pops – Regular Show

Cartoon Network’s Regular Show isn’t exactly remembered for its moments of cosmic horror, but leave it to J.G. Quintel to end his (implied) stoner comedy opus with an epic battle against an intergalactic foe voiced by Freddy Krueger himself. The apocalyptic Anti-Pops (also known as Malum Kranus) is Pops’ illegitimate brother and the only one who can rival his power, with their inevitable fights usually ending in a complete reset of the universe.

Funnily enough, Englund had already been featured on the show as a recurring forest guardian known as the Stag-Man – which was basically a kid-friendly Wendigo. Naturally, since the production team already had access to the legendary actor, it makes sense that they’d invite him to voice another terrifying character in the finale.

1. Himself – Call of Duty: Black Ops (Zombies Mode)

From JFK to Bruce Campbell, the Call of Duty Zombies spin-offs have had their fair share of celebrity cameos, but the original expansion that began this trend still remains one of the best. Featuring a homicidal George A. Romero directing a horde of undead foes, the Call of the Dead map allowed players step into the shoes of horror icons like Sarah Michelle Gellar, Danny Trejo, Michael Rooker, and Freddy himself, Robert Englund.

Making plenty of Nightmare on Elm Street references as he shoots his way through a zombie-infested Siberia, Englund makes the most of this absurd crossover by playing an exaggerated version of his own Hollywood persona. His character also sports a friendly rivalry with Trejo, making the game even more entertaining when the two begin to bicker during bloody shoot-outs.

Celebrate #RobertEnglundDay with SCREAMBOX Original documentary Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, streaming now.

The post #RobertEnglundDay – 6 of Robert Englund’s Most Memorable Voice Acting Roles appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a classic cinematic beheading, variety is the spice of life (and death), and that’s why we’ve come up with this list of six of the most unusual weapons in horror movies. After all, there’s more to scary movies than boring old stabbings and gunshots, and it’s about time that we honor some of the genre’s most innovative weapons.

As usual, this list is purely based on personal opinion, but there are a couple of rules. First of all, we’ll be defining “weapon” as any object used by a character to murder another character, no matter how mundane. Second, these objects will be selected according to the creativity surrounding their use, not the overall quality of the film that they originally appeared in.

With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite unorthodox weapons if you think we missed an important one.

Now, onto the list…

6. Plastic Bag (Black Christmas)

Bob Clark’s 1974 Black Christmas isn’t just one hell of a creepy holiday flick, it’s also responsible for kicking off the Slasher craze with one of cinema’s first iconic killers. While Billy doesn’t really boast a recurring main weapon, one of the film’s most chilling scenes involves his creative use of a plastic bag to dispatch an unsuspecting Lynne Griffin, turning a seemingly innocent household object into an instrument of death.

While the plastic bag ranks low on this list due to it being an extremely mundane item, it still deserves mention due to the surprisingly brutal nature of Clare’s agonizing asphyxiation, which proves that death can come from the most unlikely of sources. The bag isn’t exactly an elegant weapon, but it clearly makes for a hauntingly memorable visual.

5. Netgun (Predator 2/AvP/Prey)

Contrasting his beastly demeanor with sci-fi gadgets and a bizarre code of honor, the Predator is one of the coolest movie monsters out there. That’s why it’s inevitable that one of the Yautja’s many high-tech weapons would show up on this list. While the franchise boasts plenty of unique hunting instruments to choose from, my personal favorite is the terrifying Netgun, which was first introduced in the underrated Predator 2.

A self-explanatory weapon, the Netgun (also known as the Net Launcher) is capable of shooting an expanding net that retracts and mutilates whatever creature is unlucky enough to be trapped underneath. It may not be used very often, but this cruel bit of equipment is responsible for some of the franchise’s most gruesome death scenes. More recently, a primitive version of the Predator’s retracting net appeared in Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey, shocking audiences with an appropriately gory kill.

4. Cotton Candy Gun (Killer Klowns From Outer Space)

A rare example of a one-trick pony that doesn’t overstay its welcome, the Chiodo brothers’ Killer Klowns From Outer Space is a schlocky classic that has no right to be as good as it is. The film may mostly be remembered for the bizarre design of its titular invaders, but it also features a variety of circus-themed gadgets and weaponry that the Klowns use to terrorize the inhabitants of Crescent Cove.

Personally, I think the most memorable of these is the Cotton Candy Gun, a toy-like ray-gun capable of turning human beings into literal cotton candy cocoons. The concept may sound silly on paper, but it gets creepier and more disgusting the more you think about it, with this ridiculous bit of alien technology actually bordering on body horror.

That’s why I can’t wait to get my hands on this bad boy when Teravision’s multiplayer videogame adaptation comes out in 2023!

3. Lawnmower (Braindead/Dead Alive)

The only weapon on this list not wielded by an antagonist, the lawnmower used by Lionel to literally mow down the walking dead makes a lot more sense when you realize that Dead Alive’s version of zombies are too stubborn to die from a simple gunshot to the head. Like a wise man once said: if it looks stupid but works, it ain’t stupid!

Of course, the lawnmower isn’t remarkable because of its design, which isn’t particularly unique, but for the absurd amount of undead bloodshed that it causes. In fact, Peter Jackson was allegedly responsible for using up of all of New Zealand’s supply of maple syrup (an essential ingredient in some fake blood recipes) in order to complete his zombie opus.

2. Freddy’s Glove (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Freddy Krueger’s iconic design has become so ubiquitous in the horror genre that it’s easy to take many of his strange characteristics for granted. Not only does this Christmas-sweater-wearing serial killer possess the supernatural ability to haunt people’s dreams, but he also does so while brandishing a bizarre glove fashioned from strips of leather and razor-sharp blades.

Inspired by Wes Craven watching a cat knead its claws, this bizarre weapon adds a disturbing element of playfulness to an already-charming murderer. While Freddy’s glove is nothing short of iconic, The Final Nightmare actually revealed that the killer played with several different glove designs before becoming the dream demon that we all know and fear. New Nightmare also featured a fleshy redesign that made the weapon even creepier.

1. The Dodge Charger (Death Proof/Grindhouse)

Arguably Quentin Tarantino’s most underrated film (it’s a retro slasher flick and a slasher sequel in the same movie!), Death Proof’s entire premise revolves around a sadistic serial killer who murders unsuspecting women with his intimidating muscle car.

A heavily customized 1969 Dodge Charger, Stuntman Mike’s crash-resistant vehicle is just as much a star of the film as Kurt Russell himself, earning a number one spot on this list by being one of few cinematic “weapons” with a personality of their own. In fact, the only downside to this metal beast is that its thirst for blood is matched by an expensive thirst for premium petrol.

The post Creative Murder: Six of the Most Unusual Weapons in Horror Movies! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While we wait for the two icons to return once more, we’ve learned today that Samuel Bayer’s A Nightmare on Elm Street is now streaming on Netflix. The film joins Marcus Nispel’s remake of Friday the 13th on the streaming service. Because you can’t have Freddy without Jason.

The Elm Street remake out-grossed the Friday remake at the box office, but that’s really the only metric that would allow anyone to consider Freddy’s return more successful than Jason’s. While the Friday the 13th remake is a pretty damn good Friday the 13th movie, playing out like a new take on the first three movies in the original series, Elm Street is little more than a poor man’s version of Wes Craven’s original classic. Mind you, it’s home to some pretty good ideas – the micro-naps and Freddy’s potential innocence, for starters – but Elm Street 2010 is easily the worst of the big slasher franchise remakes that were released around that time, with a solid performance from Jackie Earle Haley buried under some truly awful makeup.

I’ve revisited the film a couple times in recent years in the hopes that I’ll realize it’s better than I remembered – I am, after all, a HUGE fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise – but the reality is it’s just not a movie you’ll ever find me championing. As for the Friday the 13th remake, that’s one I’ve revisited several times purely because I have a lot of fun with it.

In any event. They’re both streaming on Netflix right now. Enjoy.

The post [Netflix] ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Remake is Now Streaming Alongside ‘Friday the 13th’ Remake appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

However, as technology evolved and gaming became more complex, smaller developers simply weren’t able to compete with big publishers, quickly losing their hold in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, the seventh generation of consoles did bring a few memorable horror titles to the table (most notably Dead Space and Alan Wake), but AAA titles dominated the market, leaving the creative spirit from the previous generation behind. It was around this time that many of us turned to an alternative source of interactive scares… browser-based flash games!

Browser games had already been around for years at this point (I know I’ll never forget the infamous maze game that surprised players with the screaming image of a possessed Regan MacNeil) but there was a content explosion toward the mid-2000s that turned the flash game scene into a thriving community. While early horror games were mostly simplistic adventures booby-trapped with cheap jump scares, we were soon bombarded with clever twists on established formulas and even homages to some of our favorite scary movies. With the rise of online ads, it was even possible to make real money off these fun little projects.

Fan-games also began to pop up left and right, reviving then-dormant icons like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger in unlicensed labors of love, many of which were more creative and fun to play than the official games that preceded them. I lost countless hours clicking around Afro Ninja’s flash recreations of Elm Street and even Camp Crystal Lake, wishing that AAA developers would take some inspiration from these passionate programmers instead of turning everything into a generic shooter.

Many of these horror titles were inspired by popular Escape Room games like the infamous Crimson Room, which, while not exactly horrific, managed to transform flash games into a nearly Hitchcockian exercise of mystery and suspense. Nevertheless, the Escape Room genre itself owes a lot to classic point-and-click adventure titles, with some programmers using games like Clock Tower and Myst as a template in order to experiment with their own ideas on a smaller scale.

Of course, there were some more action-heavy titles as well, primarily focusing on zombies and different methods of exterminating them. Games like the Last Stand trilogy managed to juggle shooting, resource management and strategic survival mechanics better than nearly all big-budget games at the time, making it one of the best zombie apocalypse simulators in an absurdly overcrowded genre.

One of my personal favorite flash games, Free Icecream, created by a group of HKU students, is a perfect example of using classic gaming conventions as a jumping-off point in a new medium, simplifying the point-and-click format to tell the brief but terrifying story of a young girl attempting to escape the home of a deranged child killer. While you probably won’t take more than half an hour to reach the end, the experience is a fun and self-contained little romp that lasts just as long as it needs to, and all this for the low, low price of absolutely nothing.

Naturally, this freedom didn’t last forever, as several flash games garnered cult followings and even spawned their own franchises. Sequels became more complex as time went on, rivaling even larger gaming projects, so it came as no surprise when some of these developers eventually transitioned to online gaming services like Xbox Live and PSN, where their smaller games became a cheap alternative to the standard console fare.

With the rise of independent markets like Steam, not to mention the ever-expanding world of mobile games, it seemed that the days of free browser-based gaming were all but numbered. Unexpected hits like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the freeware title Slender: The Eight Pages announced a new age of low-budget horror games that could compete with AAA productions as they became infamous through let’s plays and word-of-mouth.

These projects ushered in a revival of horror in video games, one which we are still currently enjoying. Games like Outlast, Friday the 13th and even the new Call of Cthulhu are slowly making up for the previous generation’s apparent disdain for the genre. Unfortunately, this also means that the once thriving world of flash games has all but been abandoned.

That’s not to say that these juggernauts of the old internet have simply evaporated, as many of these once-famous gaming websites still exist, but a large part of the original fan-base has moved on, just like developers continue to migrate to mobile gaming and other more lucrative projects. Additionally, advancing technology has resulted in many of these internet relics becoming unplayable, with several gaming platforms being shut down. Adobe itself has announced that it’ll be retiring Flash entirely by 2020, so it’s safe to say that most of these games will soon, quite literally, disappear.

While it’s a shame to see such a big part of gaming history go to waste, I don’t think browser games will ever completely go away. There are still some hardcore fans out there, making and playing new games as we speak, and I think we all enjoyed that short but sweet Escape Michael Myers game, proving that this format is still effective. That being said, why not go back and enjoy some of your favorite scary flash games while you still can? At the very least, you’ll be reminded of a time when spooky gaming was available to almost anyone, and I think that’s worth remembering.

The post [Editorial] Remembering Horror Flash Games! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Showing some skin instead of stabbing through it, you’ll see his erotic take on The Shapely man of the moment, Michael Myers, as well as Jason Voorhees on laundry day at Crystal Lake.

Take a look at the killer art below.

Who would you like to see Chris do next?  Visit his Facebook page Brawling with My Biro to pick up original copies, prints & request commissions.

The post Chris R. Wright’s “Ladykillers” Artwork Strips Our Favorite Slashers appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Tickets for the live show and double feature can be purchased at https://www.salemhorror.com/schedule/2017/10/14/the-horror-show-live-podcast

Salem Horror Fest is the city’s first-ever festival of fear, presenting four weeks of screenings, parties, exhibits, concerts, panels, and celebrity appearances in the Halloween capital of the world! To overcome fear, we must first understand it.

The festival will run from September 22^nd through October 15^th and will screen seven double features at CinemaSalem that feature social themes such as racism, misogyny, gay panic, media manipulation, and xenophobia in films like Get Out, People Under the Stairs, Tragedy Girls, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, American Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Mist, They Live, Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Cruising, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Videodrome, Let the Right One In, and Fright Night.

The October 7th screening of Tyler MacIntyre’s Tragedy Girls will be the New England premiere at Women With Guts, a celebration in partnership with Rue Morgue Magazine. The event will also screen Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood followed by a Q&A session with its stars Lar Park Lincoln and Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees) moderated by The Faculty of Horror podcast.

The post Bloody Disgusting Podcast “The Horror Show” Live at Salem Horror Fest! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

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Forever Midnight is a joyful discussion of horror in cinema for all horror fans, not just know-it-all nerds (and also for know-it-all nerds).

You can interact with the guys from Forever Midnight on Twitter and Instagram.

The Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network consists of The Horror Show, Women in Caskets, Forever Midnight, Test Pattern, and Virtual Pros. All of these shows can be found on our iTunes Provider Page as well as the Bloody Disgusting App on all iOS and Android devices.

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So, with a new take on one of cinema’s most iconic horror villains coming soon, I ask myself, “How much do I really care?”

Several months ago in anticipation for the release of Adam Wingard’s The Blair Witch, screenwriter, Simon Barrett, was making the rounds to promote the film. He stopped by The Canon podcast to vouch for the original film’s inclusion into, well…”The Cannon”. During the conversation, Barrett explains the need he felt to avoid answering all the questions set up by The Blair Witch Project. Those who have seen the sequel know that while some new details are teased out, there is still plenty left up for debate. This is no “Blair Witch: Origins”. Ultimately, Barrett argues against that type of storytelling:

“There’s the Star Wars prequels thing where it’s like, you know, you are explaining something that is basically what everyone sort of assumed happened, but they kind of thought it was going to maybe be cooler. I never want to do that in a horror film, because if you hint at something, what’s in your audience’s imagination is automatically, probably going to be scarier to them than anything you can come up with…Eduardo and Dan [directors of The Blair Witch Project], it’s not like they were pulling a weird kind of – second half of Mulholland Drive where they were just like, ‘We don’t really know what this is.’ They knew what it was…They didn’t over explain it. That’s what I think makes the mythology get under people’s skin.”

It’s a valid point and perhaps, a bit cliche. What you don’t see can sometimes be far more horrifying: the shark in Jaws, the lack of any real bloodshed in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or the “baby” in Rosemary’s Baby. I’ll never forget the horrific image of that demon spawn I had conjured up in my mind. It lingered in my memory only for me to realize upon revisiting Polanski’s classic film years later that no demonic infant is ever shown. Specifically speaking on prequels, a lot of fans were left cold by young Michael Myers’s troubled home life in the Rob Zombie prequel/remake. News swirling around the almost 13th installment of the Friday the 13th franchise was we were rewinding to show the father of Jason, Elias Voorhees. The general consensus was, “No thanks.” Yet filmmakers continue to go back to this well of origin stories. Perhaps it has something to do with the success of superhero films that weave humble beginnings into billion dollar franchise monsters?

All of this to say, is there a valid reason to explain what once was deemed terrifying “just because”? In doing so, do we dilute the magic of what has come before? One of the most recent examples we have is Alien: Covenant, the first in a proposed trilogy of prequels. I personally found the film thrilling and highly enjoyable, though the more I think about it, the more sleight the overall story seems. Yes, it might be building towards something epic, but the details provided so far amount to nothing more than (MINOR SPOILERS) a fucked up mad scientist riff on Frankenstein. The revelations revealed herein line up quite expectantly with the trail of breadcrumbs from Prometheus.

Sure, the lack of any big surprises in Covenant might have robbed the film of a sense of purpose, but it remains a rousing action/horror hybrid. It was damn entertaining. Is that purpose enough? The film left me with several questions I now hope to have answered in future films. But if this were it, would I be okay with where things left off? Yeah. This isn’t a backstory that I NEED. Furthermore, whether you love or hate Ridley Scott’s obsession with creationism, it doesn’t take away enjoyment of the original film in any way whatsoever. The “Space Jockey” is still an awe-inspiring image in 79’s Alien despite it being nothing more than a spacesuit for an oversized albino creature with a God complex. Ripley still kicks ass, and the xenomorph is still terrifying.

In the case of Leatherface, we know very little at this point. What I can say is that while I might not have been clamoring for ANOTHER Chainsaw prequel, at least this one is taking a rather unexpected approach by setting itself up as a quasi mystery. Which one of the demented youths will claim the title of “Leatherface”? Taking a look at The Beginning, the prequel to the 03′ remake, the plot was precisely the type of unimaginative dreck we might have expected. A deformed baby left to rot in a dumpster is taken in by a group of backwoods cannibals. Natch. I may not have asked for another TCM origin story, but I’ll accept one that flexes its creative muscles. At this point we can simply hope that Leatherface is respectful to the original and manages to offer a few surprises that we, the humble fan, couldn’t have whipped up ourselves during an epic nerd debate.

Now more than ever our culture has become obsessed with revisiting our fondest pop culture memories. By revising our favorite stories with a modern slant we transport ourselves to the “simpler times”. Reboots of everything from Twin Peaks, Puppet Master, and the X-Files have already been rebirthed. While horror already went through a mass of remakes in the mid-aughts, it’s only a matter of time before our genre catches a case of “reboot-itis”. I’m personally more interested in the “alternate timelines” we’ve been teased with the upcoming Halloween or Neill Blomkamp’s proposed Alien 5 than with a string of “before they were legends” genesis tales. On the one hand, it seems disrespectful to just pick and choose what films “matter” and disregard a legion of fan interest that withstood years of diminishing returns, but it’s also that precise vision that excites me.

At the end of the day, I’m not afraid of filmmakers “ruining” my treasured franchises. Someone wants to reboot Hellraiser by detailing the creation of the Lament Configuration (ala Bloodlines)? Go for it! Someone wants to create a courtroom drama centered around Freddy Krueger? Sure. Why not? Want to settle the age old mystery of just what the hell is a Mogwai? The point is, none of this can take away your enjoyment of the classics you love. Retcons and reimaginings throw the concept of “cannon” into upheaval all the time. People have already begun to hypothesize that Ridley Scott might be dumping the idea of an alien Queen from his mythology. But if you sit down to watch Aliens and choose to ignore everything presented in the prequels, you’ve just created your own canon!

There are those who have no interest in these prequels and re-imaginings, and that’s completely understandable. For me, though, I say, “Bring em’ on.” You never know, we could be thoroughly surprised by Leatherface (despite the numerous setbacks with its release). For every Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, we could find ourselves with another Amityville 2: The Possession! Don’t judge me. That’s one wacky, awesome movie.

So of all the prequels and origin focused reboots, what’re some of your favorites?

The post Horror Prequels and Origin Stories – Too Much of a Good Thing? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Horror movie poster art just doesn’t get any better than the hand-painted posters that artist Matthew Peak whipped up for the original five films in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Peak did such a fantastic job with his poster for Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, one of the most iconic movie posters of all time, that he stuck around for the majority of the franchise – it’s impossible to imagine the Elm Street films without Peak’s art attached to them, as it was his art that initially drew many to the franchise on the shelves of their local video shop back in the ’80s.

Peak’s Elm Street art damn sure won me over as a kid.

Now, all these years later, the folks over at Bottleneck Gallery have partnered with Matthew Peak for a brand new poster that brings the artist’s one-of-a-kind talents to a whole different horror franchise. Just unveiled and going up for sale at 12pm EST today, Bottleneck’s Halloween poster was hand-painted by Matthew Peak, and two slightly different versions are available.

Bottleneck explains:

Matthew’s print encapsulates both the old-school movie poster feel of classic horror film art, while bringing some modern printing magic into the mix. The classic image of Michael Myers’ weapon of choice in Halloween, a kitchen knife, has a reflective varnish layer that’s just killer in person.

Check out the prints below and head over to Bottleneck Gallery to learn more and grab yours!

The post ‘Elm Street’ Franchise’s Original Poster Artist Just Made a ‘Halloween’ Poster appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The popularity of these films always tend to run in cycles. Each cycle contains its own specific clichés and characteristics. Despite this, a slasher-is a slasher-is a slasher, and they all retain certain tropes and themes that are instantly recognizable.

The Slasher’s Past

For instance, the 70’s proto-slashers such as Black Christmas, Halloween, and The Redeemer were setting the groundwork for what the subgenre would become. Their focus was more on building suspense and less concerned with piling up the bodies. The “Golden Age” of the 80’s saw the rise of the psycho-killer as an anti-hero. Audiences flocked to the Friday and Nightmare films. They could care less about most of the characters. Fans were practically rooting for the next successive death to outdo the last in terms of shock and gore.

After that, the slasher film laid dormant for quite some time until the late 90’s. Films released during this era were too hip to simply follow the previous blueprint. All the clichés and tropes were old hat, the mystery of “who is the killer” came to the forefront with self-referential humor poking fun at what had come before. All the more salacious bits of T&A, creative kills, and the unstoppable madmen fell to the wayside. Then, audiences grew tired of it all. Our slasher surrogate for the early 00’s was “torture porn”. So…what’s next?

I’m genuinely asking. You see, I’m currently hashing out an idea for a screenplay that would present the slasher from a different angle. It’s not what I would call groundbreaking in any way, but it provides a modern update to all the tropes we’ve come to love and fear. At least, this is my intent with the project. There’s a fine line to toe between “something different” and “something unrecognizable”.

Breaking the Slasher Mold

The truth is, there has been a lot of innovation within the subgenre through the years. If Freddy never came for the Elm Street kids in their dreams, we might not have ever gotten the supernatural slasher. If the giallo (Italian murder mystery) film didn’t greatly inspire the original Friday the 13th and it’s shocking (spoiler alert) reveal of Jason’s mother as the killer, would we have gotten Scream? However, while innovation and “original” concepts are always begged for, we don’t always welcome them.

The Friday series has become the quintessential poster child of the body count film. When you plop down in your seat for a new Jason flick, you know just what you’re getting into. That said, some Friday films have taken pretty big risks throughout the years, much to the chagrin of some fans. Friday the 13th V: A New Beginning dared to give us “Fake Jason” in a twist that hearkened back to the original. The franchise has also gifted us “Slug Jason” and “Uber Jason” (I prefer the term “Mecha-Jason”, but I’m a Big G nerd).

The majority of fans have not have not been too kind to those chapters in the franchise. I happen to enjoy all three to various extent, but am fully aware they don’t fit in the provided F13 mold. Every time a cinema psycho is launched into space (Pinhead, Leprechaun) or given familial ties (Freddy, Chucky) to try and spice up the formula, they are greeted with less than mild applause. Why change things up at all?

The Slasher’s Present

I personally believe, in essence, there’s no original stories left to tell. There’s only so many ways to seclude a group of characters and only so many ways to unleash a murderous evil upon them. When Carpenter made Halloween he was already cannibalizing Clark’s Black Christmas. He pretty much copied the man’s idea for a sequel and made it his own. 

Mark Twain put it best:

“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.”

Those same pieces of colored glass are coming back into play, and while I believe a lot of horror fans are hungry for “more of the same”, will they be happy if that’s all they get? If the new Friday the 13th is nothing but a bunch of quick murders, minimal suspense, and no actual plot – would fans rejoice? Or would they prefer the same pieces to be presented in a new combination?

A simple shift could make all the difference. A group of teens return to Camp Crystal Lake for “insert reason here”. They soon learn the legend of Jason Voorhees only to be slaughtered one by one by the hockey masked murderer. The new angle would have all the “filler” characters bite the dust half way through the film, leaving only our final girl. An entire 45 minutes could be spent with the lead trying to escape, outsmart, and survive.

My favorite part of most slashers are the chase scenes, so why not make that the major focus? See? There’s nothing really original in that concept, but we take a tired story and present it in a slightly different way…Or do we change nothing?

The Retro Slasher Revolution

The release of Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse opened the floodgates to faux-retro cinema. I can’t stand it (this coming from someone who utilized fake film scratch on a movie I shot years ago…lame). I’m all for a “throwback” or an “homage” if done through ones own creative kaleidoscope. No matter what, though, digital video looks like modern technology. I don’t care how many scratches, “missing reel” inserts, or cigarette burns you add to your footage. This is not the 80’s. Why is it that indie filmmakers insist on doing this?

Because, the 80’s were the Golden Age, and nothing has come along since to ignite the subgenre the same way. Yes, Scream was great, and some the films that followed its success were fun. The point is, the revival of the 90’s didn’t last very long. Upon Scream 3’s release in 2000, the slasher was already on its last leg…again. So, whether we grew up in the 80’s or the 90’s, we still fondly look back to the Golden Age with memories from either the cinema or the video store. We want to recreate that magic.

The Possible Slasher Solution

Two recent indies that come pretty close to that magic are All Through the House (2016) and Lake Nowehere (2015). ATTH is a blast of Christmas cruelty, shot with slick digital photography, served up with all the sex and gore an 80’s stalk n’ slash fanatic could dream of. It works because it plays its ludicrous killer Santa plot straight, and it delivers on the expectations of the genre without resorting to faux-retro gimmicks. Lake Nowhere does exactly what I’ve already rallied against; it presents itself as a lost VHS classic. Hypocritical? Sure, but the filmmakers handle this exceptionally well. The film only lasts about 50 minutes so as not to wear out its welcome. Different from ATTH, Lake Nowhere works by NOT delivering on the expectations of its premise, a partying group of kids spend a weekend at a cabin in the woods.

There are two examples of modern films in the subgenre that work for different reasons. ATTH is a film that borrows the tropes and clichés of the 80’s and presents them without any knowing winks to the audience. Lake Nowhere passes itself off as an old school slasher only to go in a wildly different direction, ending on an almost mystical note. Is this the future of the slasher, an amalgam of old and new?

The Slasher’s Future

I don’t claim to have all the answers. I believe the key for future slashers’ successes are in the details. Filmmakers must crack the modern audience code in order to elicit maximum scares and minimum eye rolls. Only it can’t be done by ignoring the over 40 years of lessons the subgenre has to offer.

We can’t rely on the meta approach of the 90’s. This brand of humor has been done to death with increasingly diminished returns. Maybe “self-referential” could be replaced by “self-reflective”? If general audiences won’t show up for the meat and potatoes vibe of the 80’s, a subgenre has to make money to thrive after all, maybe we can at least bring back the crazy practical effects and inventive kills of the period. The pacing of 70’s genre fare may bore some of today’s moviegoers, but suspense is always in style. If you can’t blow people away with an original idea, blow them away with masterful filmmaking.

My idea is far from revolutionary or game-changing. It’s pretty simple. Take some of the old, subvert the expectations of the audience, add a pinch of personal style and voila! You have yourself a modern slasher film.

I hope I’ve given you something to chew on. Do we want more of the same, something radically different, or just a fresh take on an old idea. I’m genuinely curious to know what you guys think. What do you want from the upcoming slate of slasher movies? Do you agree there’s no original ideas? Let’s chat down below, fiends!

The post Slashing Back! How to Revive the Slasher Genre appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We can compare and contrast the big horror franchises until we’re all blue in the face, but one thing that nobody can deny is that A Nightmare on Elm Street is the clear winner in the art department. The hand-painted posters for the first five films in the series are as iconic as the imagery in the films themselves, and we have artist Matthew Joseph Peak to thank for them.

Fresh out of art school, Peak was hired to design the original A Nightmare on Elm Street poster for New Line, and after knocking it out of the park – who could ever forget the image of Nancy sleeping in her bed, with Freddy’s glove looming overhead? – he subsequently stayed on board to create the posters for the first four sequels. That art played no small part in popularizing the franchise and its outside-the-box villain, undoubtedly helping to drive home video rentals and sales – passing by those tapes at the video store was nearly impossible, as I can attest.

What’s interesting about Peak’s Elm Street posters is that it’s not until Dream Warriors that Freddy is physically depicted on them. The more popular Freddy became, the more of him you saw on the posters; in the art for the original film and its sequel, Freddy is more of a rough concept. Like the films, the poster art was wildly creative, further setting the series apart from the pack.

Peak explained his process in the documentary Never Sleep Again:

I had absolutely no direction from anyone. All of the Nightmare on Elm Street poster art was conceived from a pencil sketch idea, and then brought to a type of opaque watercolor. A lot of movie work is, ‘Oh, here’s a picture of a person. Here’s a picture of the scene.’ And I never approached artwork that way. It’s always been on a concept basis and getting to the core of what’s there. I’m pretty proud of having done the first five and helping launch it. Helping create it.

Below you’ll find Peak’s original Elm Street 1-5 paintings without any text or credits, which is really cool to see because you can truly admire the raw artwork. Peak did not design the poster for Freddy’s Dead, but he did do the art (also below) for the soundtrack. Also take note that the Dream Child art was originally a bit different; the baby was eventually replaced by a carriage.

Hand-painted movie posters. You just can’t beat ’em.

The post Check Out All the Original ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Poster Paintings Without Text appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I want to take a moment to talk briefly about each film as they all have an importance about them that needs to be acknowledged. So, let us come together to pay homage to these three great films and all that they had to offer!

Released on November 9th, 1984, Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street has gone on to become a cultural phenomenon. It’s almost impossible to find someone who doesn’t know who Freddy Krueger is, even if they haven’t seen the films. He has been parodied and paid homage to in cartoons, movies, comics, video games, songs, etc… He became a manifestation of fear in a place where we have no control: our dreams. It is because of his ability to enter our nightmares and take control that we fear him. After all, are we not at our most vulnerable when asleep?

ANOES was made for less than $2 million yet went on to generate over $25 million at the box office, ultimately becoming the franchise that led New Line to earn the nickname “The House that Freddy Built”. As of now, there are 7 sequels and a remake. A reboot is in the works, although we haven’t heard anything new on that front for a while.

While Freddy was after teens in their dreams, Chucky terrified audiences in a different way. He was manipulative and conniving, ultimately trying to cause harm to a child, something that is taboo in most mediums (a feat which we laud).

Released on November 9th, 1988, Child’s Play followed serial killer Charles Lee Ray as he transferred his soul into a Good Guy doll so as to evade death during a police chase. He was later alerted to the fact that his only chance at living life as a normal human was to do the ritual again, transferring himself into the first person that found out he was human. In this case, it was six-year-old Andy Barlow, who would have to endure terror from Ray not once, not twice, but three times. Then there were three additional sequels with a seventh currently in the works.

Made on a budget of $9 million and drawing in nearly $45 million, Child’s Play is one of the few long-running horror franchises that doesn’t contain a remake or a reboot. While pediophobia (fear of dolls) has been around since dolls were invented, Chucky certainly didn’t help matters, causing untold numbers of children to hide their stuffed animals for fear that they would come alive for the most sinister of reasons.

The original Silent Night, Deadly Night has an interesting legacy as it was a highly controversial film upon release. Made for a bit over $1 million, the film only took in just under $2.5 million. The reason for this is that the film generated protests galore from families and individuals who were mortified, shocked, and appalled that Christmas and Santa Claus could be used as the foundation for a horror film (even though this movie came out a few years prior). Critics lambasted the film, viewing it as absolute trash that needed to be pulled from theaters as quickly as possible. Film critic Gene Siskel even called out the production companies and emphatically stated, “Shame on you.”

Four sequels were made over the years and a loose remake from Steven C. Miller came out in 2012. Funny enough, it came out on December 4th, just in time to celebrate the Christmas spirit.

The post This Day in Horror History: a Dream Killer, an Evil Doll, and a Deadly Santa appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Today, they posted a video where they tried to determine which horror franchise reigns supreme above all others. It’s an interesting question and they approached it in a rather clever way. What they did was take the top 16 horror franchises by box office gross (adjusting for inflation) and then set a series of rules by which the franchises had to adhere to. Then Screen Junkies placed them in a bracket and let three guest judges weigh in with their thoughts on each bracket. The winner by majority would move on to the next round to face their next challenger. It’s not fool proof by any stretch of the imagination but it’s a fun enough concept.

What I decided to do while watching this is weigh in with my thoughts on each bracket. Now, I realize that I can’t change the outcomes of the video, so it’ll simply be whether or not I agree or disagree with the rulings made by the judges. Regardless of my decision with each bracket, I’ll honor theirs and then debate the merits of each competition along the way.

If that sounds confusing then I apologize. I’m a little under the weather while writing this, so I might be a little delirious. However, I think everyone will catch on rather quickly. So, without further ado, here we go!

Round 1: The Exorcist vs. Hellraiser

Alright, so this one is pretty tough right off the bat. I love me some Clive Barker and I recognize just how unique that series is. However, I also think that’s what kinda works against it. The Exorcist is more relatable to a great portion of the global population because they fall under some form of Christianity and the thought of demonic possession is very real and very scary to some of those people. Cenobites, while awesome, don’t have the same impact as the Devil itself. Plus, the Hellraiser films really took a nosedive in terms of quality pretty early in the franchise while The Exorcist, while not flawless, had some stellar moments throughout.

My winner is The Exorcist.
Screen Junkies chose Hellraiser.

Round 2: Poltergeist vs. Paranormal Activity

Another interesting fight here but I think I gotta agree with Screen Junkies and go with Poltertgeist. Without those films, I really wonder if we’d even have had films like Insidious or even the Paranormal Activity films. There’s something about the Freelings that feels more human and relatable than any family shown in the PA series. Plus, I’ll be that guy and say that Poltergeist 3 was fucking awesome.

My winner is Poltergeist.
Screen Junkies chose Poltergeist.

Round 3: Halloween vs. the Living Dead films

No question here. If it weren’t for Romero and his Living Dead films, I really believe the horror landscape would look far different today. Yes, Halloween was one of the most important slashers in horror history but Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead,, and Day of the Dead are such brilliant social commentaries that it wins hands down. Plus, the makeup and practical FX are fucking great.

My winner is Living Dead.
Screen Junkies chose Living Dead.

Round 4: Scream vs. Child’s Play

Gotta go with Scream on this one. While Child’s Play introduced a horror icon in the form of Chucky, it never really poked fun at the genre the same way it did with itself. Scream, on the other hand, knew flat out that it needed to poke fun at something more than itself and it did it brilliantly. The sequels were also damn solid and kept that meta attitude running throughout.

My winner is Scream.
Screen Junkies chose Scream.

Round 5: Friday the 13th vs. Evil Dead

Hooo boy, this one ain’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. Remember, they’re asking for the best horror franchise and Jason has a much longer and stronger legacy than Ash and the Evil Dead films. However, I find myself agreeing with the judges as they explain that the Evil Dead films are simply more memorable. Case in point: for most horror fans, I could bring up a Jason kill and they’d probably be hard-pressed to remember which film it came from. But if I told you about a scene from the Evil Dead films, you’d know right away.

My winner is Evil Dead.
Screen Junkies chose Evil Dead.

Round 6: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre vs. Saw

After several rounds of agreeing with Screen Junkies, here’s where our paths diverge once again. While I believe The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the greatest horror films of all time, the sequels don’t really do anything for me and I’m the rare guy that doesn’t like the reboots and its prequel. Now, while I also pretty much loathe the Saw series after the first film, I have to admit that they were such an iconic part of the horror genre and really pushed the idea of the story, and its twists, being the most interesting and fascinating aspect of the films. I simply didn’t like that the traps became such an integral part of the appeal. Perhaps this is something I’ll write about on a future date.

My winner is Saw.
Screen Junkies chose The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Round 7: A Nightmare on Elm Street vs. Insidious

Okay, this is about as easy as they come. I don’t think anyone would have trouble saying that the A Nightmare on Elm Street series is the better, more influential franchise. The impact of Freddy and those films is simply undeniable. Yes, the Insidious films are really enjoyable but Freddy wins hands down.

My winner is A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Screen Junkies chose A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Round 8: Final Destination vs. Psycho

A brilliant point was brought up during this round where it was stated that Psycho didn’t need to be a franchise. I 100% agree with that statement, even though I don’t want to take a way from the sequels that came out. Meanwhile, the antagonist in Final Destination is Death, who is a universal character that can happily exist in any sequel you put it in.

My winner is Final Destination.
Screen Junkies chose Final Destination.

Round 9: Hellraiser vs. Poltergeist

I already made it clear that I believe The Exorcist should’ve beat Hellraiser but I also promised that I’d respond to each round as they stand, so let’s do this!

Poltergeist, easily. While Hellraiser has some great characters and really wonderful practical FX, the franchise just collapses with each new release. While the Poltergeist sequels didn’t reach the same level of greatness as the first, the second and third films had some really fantastic moments and I adore them. I’ll happily take Poltergeist 3 over any Hellraiser film after the second one.

My winner is Poltergeist.
Screen Junkies chose Hellraiser.

Round 10: The “Living Dead” films vs. Scream

Once again, while I love Craven and his brilliant work on the Scream series, I have to give it up to Romero and the Living Dead films. They are the clear winners in my opinion thanks to their influence and biting commentary.

My winner is Living Dead.
Screen Junkies chose Living Dead.

Round 11: Evil Dead vs. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Another round that I would’ve liked to see different, I’ll have to go with Evil Dead on this one. Once again, the former is far more entertaining and memorable while the latter simply became…weird. Gimme Ash over Leatherface any day of the week!

My winner is Evil Dead.
Screen Junkies chose Evil Dead.

Round 12: A Nightmare on Elm Street vs. Final Destination

Is there even a question here? A Nightmare on Elm Street wins. The Final Destination movies have FAR more clever and well thought out kills but Freddy is a tangible villain who is exciting and charismatic. I love watching him just as much as I love the rest of the films, something I can’t say about Death in Final Destination.

My winner is A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Screen Junkies chose A Nightmare on Elm Street, although it was close.

Round 13: Hellraiser vs. the “Living Dead” films

Clive, you’ve got a very special place in my heart but I’m sorry to say that I really do believe that the Living Dead films are more important and are a better franchise overall. Now I can only hope that I don’t get a Lament Configuration in the mail…

My winner is Living Dead.
Screen Junkies chose Living Dead.

Round 14: Evil Dead vs. A Nightmare on Elm Street

God dammit… Look, I love me some Ash Williams and the Evil Dead films are badass but Freddy and the A Nightmare on Elm Street series is what got me into horror. I’ve gotta agree with the Screen Junkies panel here and go with Mr. Krueger.

My winner is A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Screen Junkies chose A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Round 15: A Nightmare on Elm Street vs. the “Living Dead” films

This is beyond tough. How can you really try to decide between Freddy and Romero’s Living Dead films? Ultimately, it boiled down to me thinking about how many really good and solid entries there are in each franchise. For A Nightmare on Elm Street, there’s the first, third, and seventh films that really stand out as being great films. For Romero’s Living Dead series, there’s obviously the first three and then the remake of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead are both really damn good. By those numbers alone, I’m going to have to go with the Living Dead films.

My winner is Living Dead.
Screen Junkies chose Living Dead.

Conclusion:

So as you can see, the panelists and myself were pretty much in agreement over the majority of the decisions laid out. There were a few times where I disagreed and chose the option that didn’t end up winning but that’s what makes horror so awesome and fun. We each have our own opinions and they laid theirs out really well.

As you watch the video and read through my rebuttals, what are your thoughts? Which franchise would’ve ended up as your champion? Let us know in the comments!

The post Rebutting Screen Junkie’s “Best Horror Franchise” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While people were asked to pick a side for 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, YouTube makeup specialist Madeyewlook decided to let bygones be bygones and mash the two of them together to create a hybrid Freddy/Jason look that brings together our two greatest killers! You can see the video instructing you how to do this on your own below.

To check out last year’s Halloween Treat’s, check out our tag!

The post You Can Be Both Freddy AND Jason This Halloween [Halloween Treat] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Considering that Tinder is one of the hottest and most popular apps available today, I thought it’d be a lot of fun to put together a pseudo-Tinder style selection of horror characters and you get to decide if they’re worthy of your attention!

Just like with Tinder, all you have to do is swipe left for “no” and swipe right for “yes”. You can use your mouse or your arrow keys.

Now, head on down and give it a swipe!

The post Horror Hot or Not: 1st Edition appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I am a child of the 80’s, having been born in 1984. I grew up with Saturday morning cartoons, Batman, Garbage Pail Kids trading cards, and an Apple computer that I used to play Dark Castle on. And, as mentioned above, I enjoyed some truly awesome movies, ones that were fiercely original, wearing their bizarreness on their sleeves. Movies like Ghostbusters, Robocop, Back to the Future, and more were all films that embraced the idea of giving the audience something they could never have but making them okay with it. After all, we didn’t have time travel or spooks haunting our streets at the time.

The folk over at Smash TV have decided that they need to put something together that celebrates the energy and excitement that the 80’s (and early to mid 90’s, although there’s not as much from here) had to offer. What resulted is a video that’s almost an hour and a half of classic clips that all play into one another, featuring, “…thousands of cuts from more than 80 movies.”

Now, I have to warn you that there are bare breasts in the video, so let’s absolutely call it NSFW. But the moment you get home and get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend doing so! And if you can identify all the movies that are in the video, I’ll be supremely impressed!

Also, if you want to download the audio from the video, it’s been split into two parts: “Turbo” and “Beyond“.

The post ‘Megaplex’ is Nearly 1.5 Hours of Nothing But 80’s and 90’s Goodness appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

NECA’s site explains:
“This is the first time the Part 2 version of Freddy has ever been released in quarter scale form. With over 25 points of articulation, the gruesomely detailed figure is highly poseable, plus it comes with an alternate head and two different right hands (classic glove and organic monster hand with blades).”

Freddy’s Revenge came out in 1985, one year after the release of Wes Craven’s now iconic slasher horror.

Check out a gallery of images for the figure below.

The post NECA Unveils 1/4 Scale Freddy From ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 2’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

CaptionBot makes the following claim: “I can understand the content of any image and I’ll try to describe it as well as any human.

So I decided to put Microsoft’s creation to the test to see if it can actually tell us about some of our favorite horror icons. Does it succeed? Or is it another case of AI showing its limits? Let’s find out with some of horror’s most recognized icons!

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a man wearing a hat talking on a cell phone.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a man holding a baseball bat.

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a close up of a person standing in a dark room.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a cat is wearing a hat and he seems .”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a man wearing a tie and he seems .”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a bird that is sitting in the dark.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a man sitting on a elephant.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a close up of a mug.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a close up of a statue.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a black motorcycle.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s an image of a bird feeder.”

“I am not really confident, but I think it’s a man making a face and he seems . I am 98% sure that’s Anthony Hopkins”

YAY CaptionBot! You got one!!!

Alright folks, if you want to give CaptionBot a try of your own, head on over here to upload your own images!

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Us horror fans have some incredibly vivid and wild imaginations, thinking up incredible ways to take a character and give them a clever spin, one that will take them into another universe, perhaps one that’s far, far away.

That seems to be the mentality of the folk over at Halloween Love, who decided to put together a series of images that take iconic horror moments and replace them/add in weapons with lightsabers, the iconic blade of the Jedi and Sith.

Below are several examples and you can see the full series at the link above.

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That’s why I’m absolutely hooked on The Homicidal Homemaker, a YouTube channel that features horror-themed recipes that are fast, easy, and, above all, really entertaining to watch!

From “Zombie Finger Food” to Twin Peaks-inspired “Black Lodge Cherry Pie” to “A Nightmare on Elm Street Soul Pizza”, the Homicidal Homemaker is creating recipes for all of us to have some horrific fun in the kitchen.

Head on in to see all the recipes and let us know if you have any such recipes of your own!

The post Looking for Horror-Themed Recipes? The Homicidal Homemaker Can Help! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Shaye tells Deadline that the film is, “…about a young aspiring musician preparing for a competition and is incredibly confidant and gets herself involved in a frightening trap that she has to find her way out of. It raises the question, if an insane person is telling a story, is it real? The audience will have to decide.”

The film stars John Kroft, Katherine Hughes, Giles Matthey, Kyanna Simone Simpson, Dylan McNamara and Sonoya Mizuno.

Shaye’s New Line Cinema is the “House that Freddy built”, thanks to the massive success of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films. Shaye himself has appeared in several of the films in small bit parts. For example, he played himself in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

The post Robert Shaye’s ‘Gifted’ Sounds Intriguing appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The original 1933 film was an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel of the same name, which followed Griffin, a mysterious man who managed to make himself invisible but was unsuccessful in finding a way to reverse the process. The film was directed by James Whale and produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., who also produced The Mummy.

Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan are producing and spearheading the revival films, which is clearly one of Universal’s biggest priorities for the next several years. The idea of a MCU-esque world where horror icons interact with one another over several films is extremely exciting, even though it’s been done before. Still, the possibilities are pretty much endless and it’ll be fascinating to see how they pursue these stories and create something fresh and new with them.

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Well, I say fuck that. Let’s take the rose red of Valentine’s Day and soak it in blood! And what better way to do that then by joining El Rey and their 45-hour (!!!) A Nightmare on Elm Street marathon?

That’s right, El Rey will be hosting a nonstop smorgasbord of Freddy Krueger goodness that kicks off February 13th and doesn’t end until late night on February 14th. And even better is that this entire event is being hosted by Robert Englund, the man who played Freddy in every incarnation aside from the remake. Oh, and the remake is not going to be shown, although sadly neither is Freddy’s Dead or Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

However, to make up for those two losses, El Rey will be showing several episodes of “Freddy’s Nightmares”, so those of you who haven’t seen them can get a taste of what the show had to offer!

Below is the full schedule.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH

6:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: BLACK TICKETS”
7:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: LOVE STINKS”
8:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: THE ART OF DEATH”
9:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: NO MORE MR. NICE GUY”
10:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET”
12:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE”
2:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS”
4:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER”
6:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD”
8:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET”
10:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE”
12:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS”
2:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER”
4:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD”

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14

6:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: DEADLINE”
7:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: JUDY MILLER, COME ON DOWN”
8:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL”
9:00 AM ET/PT “FREDDY’S NIGHTMARES: SISTER’S KEEPER”
10:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD”
12:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER”
2:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS”
4:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE”
6:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET”
8:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE”
10:00 PM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS”
12:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER”
2:00 AM ET/PT “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD”

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But how many endings do you actually remember? If, hypothetically (read: it’s below and I’m being a jackass) there were a quiz that showed you several ending images from various horror movies, do you think you could identify them?

Well, go ahead and give it a shot! I got 10 out of 12 because a couple threw me 100% off but I fully admit my mistake on them. Take the quiz and then let us know in the comments how you did!

The post Guess The Final Image: Horror Classics appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This video is pretty amazing to think about, considering the amount of work needed to not only find the perfect words but to also cut them out of the film, time them perfectly, stretch where necessary, and put it all together into one cohesive package. Serious kudos to The Unusual Suspect for this incredible video!

The films used represent a wide variety of genres, including comedy, drama, sci-fi, adventure, and more. When it comes to horror, I casually noticed Child’s Play, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Interview with a Vampire, and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. Did any of you catch some that I missed?

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Well, it seems that this tradition has continued as the season finale of the horror comedy series “Ash vs Evil Dead” hid Freddy’s razor glove in the fruit cellar of the cabin where the last few episodes took place.

Below is a photo that shows the glove on the wall, although it seems to be missing the actual razors. Still, there’s no denying that what you’re seeing is the weapon of the Springwood Slasher!

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Then there’s the palpable anticipation for what’s to come.

The last eleven months have done a decent job of keeping the horror-hungry masses entertained while it builds up the already palpable anticipation for what may very well be one of the most intense years the genre has seen in quite some time. This is especially true if you’re fond of stab ’em ups.

In addition to the Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Child’s Play films that are expected by 2017, a growing interest in slasher games will only help sustain that momentum. The unexpected success of Until Dawn and the thousands who donated nearly $1M to the crowdfunding campaigns for Friday the 13th: The Game and Last Year is proof enough that there’s a sizable audience who’s ready to see stab ’em ups carve out a home in video games.

And since Konami doesn’t seem all that interested in continuing the Silent Hill series, maybe that’ll free them up to make another bad Saw game. That’d sure be something.

I’d like you to tell me which slasher franchises, if any, you’d like to see get video game adaptations. There are a lot of them so I’ve opened this poll up a bit to allow for your own answers. Now go, dear reader! Go forth and exercise your right to vote in online polls!

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But what if you had a magic wand or a genie or something along those lines that could get you a few of your most desired props? Are there any specific pieces from horror movies that you’ve been craving for a long time?

Below are a few of mine and then I want you to tell me about the ones that have the greatest appeal for you!

Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions – Nix’s Mask

If you haven’t seen this movie in a while, do yourself a favor and grab the director’s cut and give it another chance. The theatrical version is pretty awful. It’s rife with plot holes, awkward edits, and just strange progressions. But the director’s cut adds a ton of content that really takes this movie from a 0 to a 10 real fast.

Nix’s mask is one of those props from this film that just looks incredibly cool and has a fun story mythology it. Again, watch the movie to get the details.

As a quick side note, R.I.P. Daniel von Bargen. I hope you have found peace.

Evil Dead – The Necklace

While everyone is probably clamoring for the necronomicon or the chainsaw, I want the necklace because it’s such an integral part of the story AND it’s just a rather charming little piece. Plus, I can hang it from the neck of a Frankenstein statuette or something similar to mix films.

Alien – Sleeping Pod

Many, many years ago, I had a subscription to Nintendo Power. This was back when it was covering games only on the NES and Game Boy. In one issue, they had a contest where they were giving away one of the sleeping pods from I think it was Alien 3. In any case, I desperately wanted it and I still do to this day. In fact, it’s a prop that I would actually use. I’m one of those people who is comfortable in enclosed spaces, so this would be a great place to get some sleep. For example, whenever I have needed an MRI, I pass out within minutes of being fed into the machine, even with all the loud clanging and scanning.

A Nightmare on Elm Street – Freddy’s Glove

Okay, so this one is probably one of the most obvious choices in horror history. But can you imagine having an actual glove that was used by Robert Englund in your house? How frickin’ cool would that be?! Michael’s mask? Whatever. Jason’s machete? I can live without it. But Freddy’s glove? That’s something unique and creative, something that really stands out

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Artist Ian Simmons decided to take those lines and give them some serious love by creating amazing hand drawn quotes that are themed after the movie they come from. While he does all kinds of movies throughout the year, October saw him focus on horror movies such as The Ring, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, and more. Below is a gallery of some of these images.

You can follow Simmons and his work on Instagram. If you’re interested in buying a print of Simmons’, check out his Etsy Page.

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Once again, using the tiny canvas that is a coin, Palsis has carved horror icons such as Leatherface, Freddy, and Michael with incredible detail. There’s also a terrifying looking clown and the Joker, who is wearing his own skinned face. Look for yourself and marvel at the amount of work and talent that goes into making something like this.

The post What if Your Loose Change Had Horror Icons On Them? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Another consequence is that things that used to scare us no longer do. It’s not the fault of the medium that used to give us such terrors, it’s simply that it doesn’t speak to us on the same level. It doesn’t hit that same primal spot that fills us with fear.

There have been several horror movies that I’ve watched over the years that used to scare me tremendously but no longer do, no matter how I watch them. That doesn’t mean I don’t get a lot of enjoyment out of them but it means that I enjoy them in different ways. I figured I’d share a few of mine with you and then see if you’d share some of yours.

Event Horizon

I remember when this movie used to terrify me. Something about the story really resonated with me and I was ever full of fear when watching it. I rewatched it a few years back and found that I didn’t once, at any point, feel that fear. It’s a visually cool movie that has a few nice jump scares but the dread was gone.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Oh man, the scene where Tina is in the bodybag in the school? Holy shit, that absolutely terrified me. The rest of the film had its own fair share of really scary moments when I was younger but that scene left a lingering stamp of fear on my psyche. Then, years later, I watched it again and it just looked cool. I was more focused on the practical applications and how they crafted the shot. I still love the movie and think it’s a classic, but it doesn’t scare me anymore. I wonder if that’s because of how the character of “Freddy” turned out.

Evil Dead

I remember buying this movie on VHS from my downtown Borders (which, as a side note, was the very first Borders ever built). It came in a clamshell case and I felt like I was the coolest teenager ever. I went home, popped it in, and proceeded to figuratively shit my pants in terror. Yeah, there are some amusing moments but I never felt like they were intentional. I always thought that Sam Raimi was setting out to make something truly scary and that the laughs that came with the movie were coincidental.

When I finished that movie, it took me a few weeks before I was able to conceive of watching it again. But I did and it still scared me silly.

Now, I’m fine when I watch it. I will feel tinglings of suspense but that’s really about it. I enjoy it and love everything that’s come from it (well, maybe not the games) but it just doesn’t create the nightmares that it used to.

The post Which Horror Movies Used To Scare You But No Longer Do? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Considering that we just moved beyond Halloween, I imagine that some of you probably wore one of these characters as your costume. So, to see if you were worth of donning the gloves, the machete, or the mask, take this short quiz!

Here’s my result:

You got Michael Myers! You are fearless, brutal, clever and ruthless…. your weapon choice, though, is simply a knife. You are unstoppable with it, though! You have a bitter hatred for the world. You want to kill every one, even people close to you. It doesn’t bother you… at all…nothing does.

The post Are You Freddy, Jason Or Michael? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Hosted by Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund), each episode took place in Springwood, OH, many of them also taking place on Elm Street itself. While Freddy rarely played a part in the storylines, there were often hints and suggestions that he was the puppet master that was indirectly pulling the strings.

According to Wiki:

One element that makes the series unique is its two-tier story approach. Most of the episodes feature two different stories that each take up the first and second halves. Every second story, however, usually built on a character who played a minor (or supporting) role in the first.

When El Rey picked up the rights to broadcast “Freddy’s Nightmares”, they also got the rights to several other shows, such as “V: The Series”, “Mortal Kombat: Conquest”, and more. You can read our coverage here.

You can check out El Rey’s schedule for other upcoming titles.

The post “Freddy’s Nightmares” Returns This Week to El Rey! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It’s October, which means we want to help you plan your Halloween spookfest! Be it a big costume party, a small gathering of your close friends, a night in with your loved ones, or even just you chilling on your own, the mood needs to be properly set and what better way to do that than with a solid horror score? From playfully delightful to eerily sinister to full out nightmare chaos, we’ve compiled a list of 31 essential horror scores that you need to check out!

Below is full list, which includes composers such as Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, Goblin, Howard Shore, Douglas Pipes, Takefumi Haketa, Krzysztof Komeda, and much, much more. Additionally, this list isn’t just movies. We’ve also tapped a few video games as well as TV shows, so there’s a nice bit of range to this list.

Give these tracks a listen and let us know which ones you think we missed out on!

1.) The Perfume of the Lady in Black – Nicola Piovani
2.) Suspiria – Goblin
3.) Alien – Jerry Goldsmith
4.) Rosemary’s Baby – Krzysztof Komeda
5.) The Beyond – Fabio Frizzi
6.) Halloween – John Carpenter
7.) Insidious – Joseph Bishara
8.) Friday the 13th – Harry Manfredini
9.) Silent Hill 2 – Akira Yamaoka
10.) Resident Evil 2 – Masami Ueda, Shusaku Uchiyama, Syun Nishigaki
11.) Lord of Illusions – Simon Boswell
12.) Clive Barker’s Undying – Bill Brown
13.) Twin Peaks – Angelo Badalamenti
14.) Nightmare on Elm Street – Charles Bernstein
15.) Hannibal – Brian Reitzell
16.) The Fog – John Carpenter
17.) The Omen – Jerry Goldsmith
18.) Trick r Treat – Douglas Pipes
19.) Psycho – Bernard Herrmann
20.) Evil Dead – Roque Baños
21.) Beetlejuice – Danny Elfman
22.) Jaws – John Williams
23.) Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Wojciech Kilar
24.) Kairo (Pulse) – Takefumi Haketa
25.) It Follows – Disasterpeace
26.) Dawn of the Dead – Goblin
27.) The Addams Family – Marc Shaiman
28.) Sleepy Hollow – Danny Elfman
29.) Cape Fear – Bernard Herrmann
30.) Candyman – Philip Glass
31.) The Fly – Howard Shore

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The folk over at PredatorHelmetsDirect have put together a pretty fantastic infographic that takes 10 films from the 80’s and explains how you can survive the villain in that film. You’ll see how to make it in films like Predator, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Lost Boys, The Thing, and more!

Check it out below.

The post Here’s How to Survive 10 80’s Horror/Sci-Fi Scenarios appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

But there are several others that have appeared throughout horror cinema and HalloweenCostumes.ca has created an inforgraphic, which you can see below, that goes over several memorable “final girls” and a little bit about each of their endeavors.

WE RECOMMEND RIGHT-CLICKING ON THE IMAGE AND OPENING IN A NEW TAB FOR FULL RES

The post Learn All About the Horror Final Girls That Got Away appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Throughout October, both theaters have plans to showcase some amazing films that fall under horror, sci-fi, and, in the case of John Waters, pure gross out nastiness! Below are the films they’ve got coming up and links to get tickets. And who knows? Maybe you’ll see me there!

Nosferatu – October 27th

This very special presentation of the 1922 film classic will have live organ accompaniment on the Michigan Theater’s grand Barton Organ by the Michigan’s gifted organist, Stephen Warner (who will play an original score he wrote).

A special Gold Card pre-event reception will take place at 5:30 PM. Contact Amber Duncan at aduncan@michtheater.org for more details.

An Ann Arbor tradition continues with Nosferatu — the first vampire movie! A real estate agent (Gustav von Wangenheim) begins conducting business with the eerie Count Orlok (the beyond-creepy Max Schreck), who goes on a rampage when he becomes obsessed with the man’s beautiful wife. Roger Ebert said it best about this Michigan Theater Halloween tradition: “[Nosferatu] doesn’t scare us, but it haunts us. It shows not that vampires can jump out of the shadows, but that evil can grow there, nourished on death.” (tickets available here)

Steven Spielberg Series – Michigan Theater

Close Encounters of the Third Kind – October 5th

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER! After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a blue-collar worker (Spielbergs second collaboration with OSCAR WINNER Richard Dreyfuss) feels uncontrollably drawn to an isolated mountain in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen. Also stars OSCAR NOMINEE Teri Garr. (tickets available here)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence – October 12th

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE! An advanced android child (OSCAR NOMINEE Haley Joel Osment) longs to become “real” so that he can regain the love of his human mother. Co-written by Stanley Kubrick and based on Brian Aldiss’s short story. With OSCAR NOMINEE Jude Law, OSCAR WINNER William Hurt and more. (tickets available here)

War of the Worlds – October 19th

OSCAR NOMINATED action man Tom Cruise stars in this loose adaptation of H.G. Welles novel as an estranged father who finds himself fighting for his own and his family’s survival in the devastating wake of an alien invasion that has potentially been centuries in the making. (tickets available here)

John Waters Series – State Theater

Pink Flamingos – October 7th

Underground criminal DIVINE lives under the pseudonym “Babs Johnson” with her mentally ill, egg-loving mother Edie (EDITH MASSEY), delinquent son Crackers (DANNY MILLS), and traveling companion Cotton (MARY VIVIAN PEARCE). They all live together in a pink trailer on the outskirts of Phoenix, Maryland, in front of which can be found a pair of eponymous plastic pink flamingos. After learning that Divine has been named “the filthiest person alive” by a tabloid paper, jealous rivals Connie (MINK STOLE) and Raymond Marble (DAVID LOCHARY) set out to destroy her career but come undone in the process. (tickets available here)

Female Trouble – October 14th

Female Trouble is less offensive than JOHN WATERS” “chef d’oeuvre” Pink Flamingos, but no less perversely enjoyable. The incomparable DIVINE plays a dual role–one in drag, one in male mufti. As with all of John Waters’ films, Female Trouble is a matter of taste–or rather, lack of same. (tickets available here)

Desperate Living – October 21st

A recently released mental patient (MINK STOLE) conspires with the maid (JEAN HILL) to murder her husband, and then both escape to the equally demented village of Mortville for more murderous adventures involving transsexuality, disfigurement and lots of gore. (tickets available here)

Polyester – October 28th

Filmmaker JOHN WATERS offers his own inimitable and invariably vulgar take on the American middle class in this off-beat satire that stars transvestite actor DIVINE as a lonely housefrau who escapes the numbing drudgery and horror of life with her freaky husband and hellish children by falling in love with a handsome owner of a drive in (TAB HUNTER). When the film was originally released, viewers were handed special scratch-and-sniff cards to participate in “Odorama,” a gimmick by which they could smell revolting odors at key moments in the story. (tickets available here)

Midnight Movie Series – State Theater

Rosemary’s Baby – October 3rd

A young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move to a New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and odd neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet (Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Gordon). When Rosemary becomes pregnant she becomes increasingly isolated, and the diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth. (tickets available here)

A Nightmare on Elm Street – October 10th

In Wes Craven’s classic slasher film, several Midwestern teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on the teenagers in their dreams — which, in turn, kills them in reality. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends’ parents may be the key to unraveling the mystery, but can Nancy and her boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) solve the puzzle before it’s too late? (tickets available here)

John Carpenter’s They Live – October 17th

Nada (Roddy Piper), a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens. (tickets available here)

Rocky Horror Picture Show – October 23rd and 24th

In this cult classic, sweethearts Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), stuck with a flat tire during a storm, discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), a transvestite scientist. As their innocence is lost, Brad and Janet meet a houseful of wild characters, including a rocking biker (Meat Loaf) and a creepy butler (Richard O’Brien). Through elaborate dances and rock songs, Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation: a muscular man named “Rocky.” (tickets available here)

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“You can imagine Freddy to be anything you want,” Englund began. “My theory is the word “child killer”, there’s something darkly…darkly poetic about that. It’s a very frightening phrase. Child killer! That should be enough. And I think there’s something symbolic about being a child killer. He kills children because children are their future and there’s no place for Freddy in the future. And it’s revenge on the parents! It’s the most painful thing a parent can do is to lose a child before they die. I mean, I can’t imagine how anybody…how any adults or parents survive that, the death of a child. So that’s nasty enough!”

Interestingly, apparently there were thoughts of Englund’s “Freddy” being a child molester in the original film! “Now, I’ll be honest, when we did the first movie, for a while that was sort of the idea. In Los Angeles there was this terrible child molestation case going on in the news and we wanted to avoid that, so we just changed that.”

Furthermore, Englund told them what he’d really like to see done with Freddy’s character, saying, “Well, I’d like to see ‘Nightmare in the Hood’! I would! I think it’d be really interesting to do a line of, like, retro 80’s hip hop ones and get a black actor to play “Freddy” and all the kids are, like, hip hop. Just do it the same!”

But perhaps the best words from Englunds mouth were about his thoughts on remakes and what filmmakers should focus on instead. “You don’t do remakes! I would do ‘Freddy 9’, you know? Or I would do ‘Freddy vs Michael Myers’. Or I would do a prequel.”

I’ve always thought that a prequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street would be fantastic. It’d offer the chance to be an incredible horror thriller that doesn’t pull any punches. After all, a movie where children are being murdered left and right? I’m into it.

You can watch both interview clips: Part 1, Part 2

The post Robert Englund on the ‘Nightmare’ Remake: “Child Killer…That’s Nasty Enough!” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Now, we have some rumors and speculation that comes from an interesting source – Robert Englund, who played franchise slasher Freddy Krueger in eight Elm Street films. (Samuel Bayer directed the 2010 reboot that introduced Jackie Earle Haley as the new Freddy.)

Red Carpet News TV sat down with Englund at the 2015 Showmasters Bournemouth Comic Con in which he dropped a bomb of information. It should be noted that he very specifically acknowledges that he’s just speculating, and it’s obvious that he’s using the platform to vie for a cameo in the next Elm Street. With that said, could New Line be planning a remake of the 1987 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors?!

“[There’s] gossip that apparently they approached Tuesday Knight (pictured above), the young actress from Elm Street 4 who replaced Patricia Arquette,” said Englund. “I tried to think, what does that mean? They can’t possibly be remaking A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 1 again? They just did that! It’s like remaking Godzilla twice in a row – they should have learned from lesson by now.

“I think they may be remaking A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 3,” adds Englund, pointing out that this is all speculation. “Dream Warriors is the most successful and popular of the franchise. It would make sense for them in a kind of A Nightmare On Elm Street cinematic pun, to hire Tuesday to play the mother…because that would mean she’s playing her own mother.

[Related Post] Here’s Who Should Play Freddy Krueger in the New A Nightmare On Elm Street

For those of you who are keeping hope alive that Englund may return as Freddy, he’s not only retired from the role, but it sounds as if the studio has zero intentions of even attempting to bring him back.

“They’re not gonna be bring me back for Freddy,” he explained. “Perhaps they’d bring me back in a cameo as an elderly dream expert at the local clinic for dream analysis or therapy?”

Again, he clarifies this is all speculation: “I don’t really know any details at this time.”

Englund On Why the Remake Wasn’t Good

A second video was added in which Englund discusses his thoughts as to why the 2010 A Nightmare On Elm Street wasn’t very good. First, though, he tips his fedora to Jackie Earle Haley, who replaced him as Freddy Krueger: “I’m happy to hand it off to Jackie… Jackie is a terrific actor.”

In regards to why the Platinum Dunes reboot was panned by both fans and critics alike, he blames it on timing:

“I think the problem with the reboot was in timing,” exclaimed Englund, who gives nods to the impressive cast that also included Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Clancy Brown and Connie Britton.

He continues: “I think they had just released the deluxe Blu-ray digitally remastered box set of all of my [Elm Street] movies – months before, within the year before the reboot – and an entire new younger generation saw those films on a 50″ flatscreen in dad’s man cave during an adolescence sleepover.” He adds: “Those movies look great that way, and they hold up, especially Part 5, the double bill of Part 3 and 4, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, and Freddy vs Jason, which is a comparably recent film. They had just seen those. It was just too soon [for the remake] and it suffered by comparison.”

While I think that’s absolutely ridiculous, I do think he has a point about the opening of the film…

“There’s also a rumor they reshot the entire opening,” says Englund. “It does cast a pall over the film [as] everyone is already tainted by Freddy. There’s a black cloud over the kids already. I think you need to meet the kids, the fathers, meet the Elm Street brats before they’re under the shadow of, and haunted by Freddy.

He adds: “[They needed] the ‘before and after’ before Freddy begins the cat and mouse with them all. That ingredient was stepped on, that design was stepped on by their reshoots, which set it deeper into the curse of Freddy before the movie began.”

Orphan scribe David Leslie Johnson is currently penning the next installment of A Nightmare On Elm Street.

Thanks to Gabriel Porto for the tip!

The post Robert Englund Thinks New Line is Remaking ‘Dream Warriors’ as ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ Followup! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The composers included in this release are Charles Bernstein, Christopher Young, Angelo Badalamenti, Craig Safan, Jay Ferguson, Brian May, J. Peter Robinson and Graeme Revell.

A very cool addition to this collection is the music of the video game featured in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare as well as the theme from Harry Manfredini’s Friday the 13th, which was heard in Freddy vs Jason and was performed by Machine Head.

Also, as you can see in the images below, the set comes complete with the trademark knitted Freddy sweater encasing the outer box! This truly is a piece of horror memorabilia that any Freddy fan would be proud to place on their shelf!

Pre-orders for the set open up tomorrow at www.varesesarabande.com.

The post Varèse Sarabande Releasing 8-Disc ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ Box Set (Exclusive) appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Depp’s reply, courtesy of Variety:

Wes Craven was the guy who gave me my start, from my perspective, for almost no reason in particular. I read scenes with his daughter when I auditioned for the part. At the time, I was a musician. I wasn’t really acting. It was not anything very near to my brain or my heart, which is pretty much how it remains to this day.

But Wes Craven was brave enough to give me the gig based on his daughter’s opinion. I guess she had read with a bunch of actors, and after the casting sessions, she said, ‘No, that’s the guy.’ I always think of her for putting me in this mess, and certainly Wes Craven for being very brave to give me this gig. But he was a good man — so rest in peace, old Wes.

Depp played “Glen Lantz”, Nancy’s boyfriend in A Nightmare on Elm Street, which was his first acting role. His death is considered to be one of the most memorable Freddy kills in the entire franchise.

The post Johnny Depp Shares his Thoughts on Wes Craven appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Themed off of A Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween, and Friday the 13th, these sweaters and scarves are phenomenal homages to the films they represent. For instance, the NOES sweater is Freddy’s own infamous green and red sweatshirt. The Friday the 13th sweater actually glows in the dark and is a nod to the 1989 NES game. And the Halloween scarf is perfectly colored for the Halloween season!

The apparel was designed by Middle of Beyond and will be available to order via Mondo’s official website on Monday at 1:30pm EST.

The post Mondo Releasing Horror-Themed Sweaters and Scarves appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Funko’s Pop! Vinyl series has a new horrific figurine in the form of A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Krueger with syringe fingers! This figure comes directly from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, when Freddy converts his fingers into syringes to kill Taryn, who was a former drug addict.

The figurine is currently available through PopCultcha.com.au, which means that shipping from Australia is probably going to be absolutely horrific. Maybe the figurine will make its way to other countries in the future? One can only hope.

The post Syringe Finger Freddy Gets A Pop! Vinyl Figure appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The mashup works incredibly well and the final product is a film that I’d actually be 100% up for watching! Give it a watch below and tell us what other insane mashup ideas you think would work.

The post ‘Inception’ Meets ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ In This Wicked Mashup appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We asked you, “Tonight we say goodbye to the master of horror, Wes Craven. I want to spend a few minutes sharing stories. What are your favorite memories?”

Below is a selection of the responses that we got, many of which were incredibly touching, many of which simply reinforced the importance and love that Wes Craven so richly deserved.

As you read through these, we encourage you to think of your own stories and memories to share with us in the comments below.