There have been several films in the popular A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, but for a lot of people, the 1984 movie is the most well-crafted one. Freddy Krueger is one of the best villains, the teenage characters are fun to watch, and the death sequences are hard to forget. While some sequels don't measure up to this greatness, there's always the potential for a new movie to come out and make fans very happy, as the story of Freddy will always be entertaining.
While fans would love if A Nightmare On Elm Street got a reboot of some kind, it's interesting to imagine if the film could be inspired by Scream (2022), which is a cool and exciting requel.
There are a few things wrong with the latest Scream movie, as Billy Loomis is too sympathetic and Billy's ghost in Scream (2022) is too cheesy to take seriously. But despite these issues, horror fans enjoy the new story and the way that the movie adds younger characters while staying true to the original. A Nightmare On Elm Street could get a requel that is the same as Scream (2022) and it would work perfectly because it would breathe new life into the horror franchise.
Although Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) is a final girl who dies in a sequel, A Nightmare On Elm Street's requel could also be a direct sequel to the first movie and could imagine a world where Nancy survives. This would satisfy fans who enjoy this character and who want a new film to feel connected to what came before it. Scream (2022) is successful because Neve Campbell is back as Sidney Prescott and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) are there to help her out and be part of the mission to stop Ghostface. Nancy would have to return, too, because she's the heart of the story and she would help new characters face Freddy and understand what he's all about.
When Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison) and Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid) are revealed as the new Ghostface killers in Scream (2022), they explain that they wanted to kill people so there would be a new story for a requel in the Stab franchise. Art imitates life and vice versa here, with the Stab movies being a large part of the whole franchise. A new A Nightmare On Elm Street film would of course include Freddy Krueger entering dreams all over again, and the film could include a brand new final girl, a teenage character whose life is altered when she and her friends are targeted by Freddy. While Freddy's powers, strength, and backstory would likely remain very similar, fans would see a grown up Nancy who explains what she has been doing in the years since Freddy went after her and her pals.
Some of the best quotes in Scream (2022) are all about the first movie, with Amber saying, "See, we had to bring the legacy characters back to make it matter. Can't have a bonafide Halloween without Jamie Lee!" Richie also talks about what it's like to be a true, loyal fan: "Because nobody takes the true fans seriously, not really. They just laugh at us, and why? Because we love something? We're just a f*cking joke to them! How can fandom be toxic? It's about love! You don't f*cking understand, these movies are important to people."
While of course Amber and Richie take things too far, they're right that a good requel needs to have the original characters in order to matter and mean something. The 2010 version of A Nightmare On Elm Street is one of the worst horror movie remakes because it's missing that connection to the original story. Instead, new actors play the same characters in a contemporary setting, but seeing Rooney Mara as Nancy Thompson doesn't feel as compelling, as it would be much better to see Nancy as an adult going through her life while facing Freddy once again.
Several fans deeply care about the story of Nancy and Freddy because it's an extraordinary tale of an ordinary and relatable girl dealing with something scary. As Richie says, these terrifying stories matter, and there's still an audience ready and hungy for a new film in this slasher franchise.
A horror movie requel does a lot of things, from letting fans see older characters again, tying the past to the present and future together, and making a franchise fun and cool again. Whether A Nightmare On Elm Street has a Halloween-style reboot or a Scream (2022) inspired requel, one thing is certain: horror fans would jump at the chance to check out a new movie in the famous franchise.