Remember when the surviving Beatles regrouped in the mid-90s and released Free As A Bird, a new song that was really one of John Lennons unreleased demos? Glam, punk, new wave and grunge had been and gone, the Sixties counter-culture had become The Establishment etc, but if you closed your eyes and listened.Free As A Bird still sounded like a cash-in. Well, Freddy must be the Paul McCartney of serial killers, because after appearing in music videos and on lunch boxes, after cameoing in South Park and being a nostalgic gag in The Wedding Singer, hes Establishment to the core. Elm Street 2010 is his Free As A Bird. One reason why we see Messrs Krueger and Voorhees so often, and Bruce The Shark or Father Merrin so seldom, is that unlike Jaws and The Exorcist, an excursion to Springwood or Crystal Lake doesnt require name actors or expensive effects. You can knock one out for little more than the cost of a DVD movie, so it doesnt matter if theres no story worth telling or vision worth seeing theres no financial risk, either. You could produce a sluggish, awkward film that nobody claims to like, saddle it with a stupid ending, and it will still open bank vaults for you.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
