How would you handle the look of Freddy on a Nightmare reboot?

[T002 Tyrant]

I've been thinking, shouldn't Freddy have black, burned skin that's still smouldering, internal organs showing? Both current iterations of Fred Kruger have more of a healed or skin grafted look?

I think it'd be visually interesting to see at least initially a completely charred corpse, and the more souls he claims the more healed he becomes, and later we see more of a classic Freddy towards the end of the movie?

The Mummy had something similar about regeneration and I just thought that would work well in a Nightmare reboot.

How do you think they should handle the make-up on a NoES reboot?

 

[AstralSphere]

Whatever they were to do, not making him look like an alien would be a good start.

 

[PennyStonks]

I like your idea. A complete corpse killing its way to a more iconic Freddy.

The only problem/difficulty would be selling and setting up the twist that its not a "w/e" horror movie but really a nightmare on elm street towards the end

 

[Dad_and_Videogames]

I get what they were trying to do with the reboot by making him look like a person who had realistically been damaged in a fire, I think it's a bit insensitive. You kind of need to lean more into the demonic/spirit of vengeance angle. Maybe if they were to reboot again, and I don't know if they ever will at this point, going for a more "charred" look to a degree would be better.

Honestly, though, Freddy has such an iconic look I don't know that anyone could do it in a way where viewers would be happy without completely sticking to the original look.

It's weird because one of the things I liked about each Friday sequel was the unique look Jason would have (I love them all, but part 6 and 7 Jason are my faves), but for the most part (Jason Goes to Hell can, well, go to hell) they all were Jason. They all felt like Jason, and didn't offend me. I even really like part 5 "Jason" with his new mask, which is really cool in its own way.

I can't tell you why a little variety is okay for Jason but not for Freddy or, say, Michael Myers, which I thought all the various shitty masks they've tried over the years was ridiculous.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

The next reboot should be directed by James Wan.

The conjuring films have become pretty schlocky but at least he knows how to set up a suspenseful jump scare.

 

[Hektor]

That's just the first Hellraiser tho

 

[Z-Beat]

Something more akin to the box art on the older nightmare on Elm Street movies

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

 

[Gaia Lanzer]

I get what they were trying to do with the reboot by making him look like a person who had realistically been damaged in a fire, I think it's a bit insensitive. You kind of need to lean more into the demonic/spirit of vengeance angle. Maybe if they were to reboot again, and I don't know if they ever will at this point, going for a more "charred" look to a degree would be better.

Honestly, though, Freddy has such an iconic look I don't know that anyone could do it in a way where viewers would be happy without completely sticking to the original look.

It's weird because one of the things I liked about each Friday sequel was the unique look Jason would have (I love them all, but part 6 and 7 Jason are my faves), but for the most part (Jason Goes to Hell can, well, go to hell) they all were Jason. They all felt like Jason, and didn't offend me. I even really like part 5 "Jason" with his new mask, which is really cool in its own way.

I can't tell you why a little variety is okay for Jason but not for Freddy or, say, Michael Myers, which I thought all the various shitty masks they've tried over the years was ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

Freddy's makeup, in the original series, has changed from movie to movie:

The first movie, he looks more like a burnt guy with open sores:

NOES2, he's got more that iconic look, but was also said to have been designed to look witch-like (this is the Freddy that used to scare me as a kid):

NOES3 is a little more softer take (less thick, more fitting to Robert's face, allowing more expressive detail) on NOES2's design:

In NOES5, he has that weird deformed arm:

Freddy's Dead, visually, looks the cheapest in the original series:

Then there's New Nightmare, which looks less like a burn victim and more like his face was ripped up/shredded, and he also has the bone claw that was featured in Matthew Peak's original poster art for the first movie:

 

[Dad_and_Videogames]

Freddy's makeup, in the original series, has changed from movie to movie:

The first movie, he looks more like a burnt guy with open sores:

NOES2, he's got more that iconic look, but was also said to have been designed to look witch-like (this is the Freddy that used to scare me as a kid):

NOES3 is a little more softer take on NOES2's design:

In NOES5, he has that weird deformed arm:

Freddy's Dead, visually, looks the cheapest in the original series:

Then there's New Nightmare, which looks less like a burn victim and more like his face was ripped up/shredded, and he also has the bone claw that was featured in Matthew Peak's original poster art for the first movie:

Click to shrink...

Yeah, fair points. I noticed the changes in New Nightmare naturally, as they're pretty drastic, but I guess I'd never seen the film-by-film changes laid out for Freddy like that before.

A lot of them are pretty subtle, but there was definitely a progression.

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

NOES2 is by far my favorite look and it's hard for me to recommend anything else. The witch or demon-like appearance is an externalization of Freddy seeing himself as a force of vengeance.

Tho what could be interesting is varying his look subtly depending on how much he's in control. As his targets deconstruct him and fight back, he could loose his exaggerated features and regress more towards looking scrawny and burned, less healed. Then morph back again if he regains momentum.

 

[Gaia Lanzer]

I remember there was this concept by a dude who, I believe, was a SFX artist. His take on Freddy was that he still had a similar burnt look inspired by the original NOES movies, but was still burning and in the dark, you could see the embers within his body glowing:


I remember when the guy pitched it (it was before the release of the Platinum Dunes reboot).

As for my opinion on how Freddy should look:

1. Cast an expressive, interesting-looking actor.
2. Make sure the makeup doesn't hinder the actor's expression or look.

One of the bad things about the reboot's Freddy (other than his direction, as you might've gotten something better if you had a director that WANTED to be there) was that Jackie Earle Haley, as he is, has a unique looking face (just like Robert Englund does). You need to build off those facial features for Freddy. The problem was, they built OVER those features, thus lost Jackie's unique face and the makeup was so caked on you lost a big part of what makes Freddy "Freddy", his expressive face. I remember Platinum Dunes (Fuller and Form, the two producers and guys that work under Michael Bay) were always touting the whole "But man, this is gonna be a grounded, more realistic take on Freddy!". Remember those days when everybody and their mothers were aiming to be grounded and realistic? Sometimes that shit ain't a good fit for certain things.

 

[Bishop89]

 

[MamaSpaghetti]

Definitely lean more into realistic/"movie enhanced" burn victim look, with some vfx touchups like someone said up above with smoldering embers in their skin perhaps. Freddy is of course iconic, but his burn victim look diverged a lot over the series until the final movie where he's more of a hellraiser esque character.

 

[I am a Bird]

I would say keep it similar to his design from 2 and 3. That look is iconic, just embrace it. Just do some modifications that make it look more realistic without loosing the original look.

 

[Laserdisk]

The Cg wasn't a bad addition in the remake, but his best looks were

Melted witch in 2 and the look from New Nightmare but with better shading

 

[deimosmasque]

It's kinda funny that this thread popped up in the middle of my partner and I doing a Nightmare re-watch this weekend

 

[Psychotron]

2 and 3 are best for sure. By 5 it looked really cheap. The new one lost all expression in favor of realism.

 

[nilbog]

Make it a new dream monster. Freddy's had a good run, but they don't need him to make another one. I think it'd be cool to see a female dream killer next time.

 

[FelRes]

I don't know, but semi-related I had a horrible vicious dream about Freddy being out to get me and getting some painful slashes in. Last time I try a different allergy medicine.

 

[Spooky_Lantern]

Keep the hat, claws, and sweater, but barely show his face in full lighting. Lot of shadows and silhouette work. If I recall the first movie was more sparing about showing his face