For those that have seen the blockbuster IT (and is there anyone who hasn’t yet?), it can be confirmed that the terror factor is off the charts. However, with the retro 80s backdrop how cool would it have been to see horror movie icon Freddy Krueger pop in on the action? That fantasy scenario for horror movie aficionados was apparently a lot closer to coming true than anyone knew. IT director Andy Muschietti was recently interviewed by Aint-It-Cool-News, and revealed that Freddy terrorizing Derry was definitely an idea being bounced around in pre-production.
Muschietti went into detail with the site on how close Freddy’s appearance came to fruition. “Obviously we considered that for a bit, but I wasn’t too interested in bringing Freddy Krueger into the mix,” he said. “It’s distracting and it didn’t feel right, for some reason. I wanted to bring fears that were a little more layered and related to childhood trauma and more surprising in general.”
New Line Cinema was a fledgling studio in the mid 1980s when its release of A Nightmare on Elm Street became one of its first hits. From there, many dubbed New Line “The House that Freddy Built” as its popularity exploded and their releases became more mainstream. New Line, now a division of Warner Bros., also released the remake of IT. So there is the connection, and why the opportunity presented itself.
For those that feel sneaking Freddy into one of the biggest horror movies of the last decade would’ve been shoe-horning at its finest, his connection would have actually made sense. Author Stephen King originally set the “Losers Club” portion of the novel in the 1950s, where the kids are terrorized by their versions of horror. In this time period, that would include the classic Universal Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc.). However, with the movie set in the 1980s, who better to represent the personification of terror to a child than good ol’ razor-fingers (with Jason, Michael Myers and Leatherface close behind). This would’ve been yet another easter egg for the audience in a movie already full of 80s nostalgic goodies.
As cool as this would’ve been for the audience, in the end it was a good move as the appearance of Freddy, even for a moment, could potentially take some of the spotlight off of Bill Skarsgård’s brilliant portrayal of Pennywise. IT, which racked up an incredible $179 million worldwide in its opening weekend, is currently in theaters nationwide.
Click here for more news and information on the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
