The original Nightmare on Elm Street horror film series made Freddy Krueger so popular that fans welcomed his appearances when they were supposed to fear him. But the creators of the new Nightmare on Elm Street want to make Freddy scary again, and star Katie Cassidy said they succeeded: She was terrified.
“It’s going to scare the s–t out of people,” Cassidy said in a group interview earlier this month in Pasadena, Calif., where she was promoting the CW series Melrose Place. “I definitely think people are going to freak out. It was really emotionally and physically draining for me, but it was great. It was a great experience.”
Cassidy’s character, Kris, was not in the 1984 original film. Rooney Mara plays Nancy, a character brought over from the original. Does that make Kris the new Tina (played originally by Amanda Wyss)? She’s the character who famously got herself ripped up by Freddy’s finger blades in the first act of Wes Craven’s original Nightmare, while Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) survived to the end.
Cassidy (Supernatural, Harper’s Island) hinted that the reboot, from director Samuel Bayer and Friday the 13th producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, might flip expectations. “Without giving anything away, [I’m probably] one of the two, but you never know,” Cassidy teased. “I don’t want to spoil anything.”
Originally portrayed by Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger invaded dreams for eight films and a two-season TV series, Freddy’s Nightmares. His nightmares ranged from the standard gutting to the more elaborate human roach motel. Cassidy said new Nightmare director Bayer has scarier things in store for his Freddy, played by Watchmen’s Jackie Earle Haley.
“It’s visually going to be insane,” Cassidy said. “Sam Bayer is such an artist, and I was so thrilled to work with him.”
Cassidy had not seen the original film before filming the new Nightmare, nor had she seen the original Melrose Place, her current project. “I know that it was a huge classic, and with Sam Bayer directing and Jackie Earle Haley being a part of it, I was on board, definitely.”
Credit: scifiwire.com
