13 Filmmakers Who Should Get To Make The Next 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Film

With The Conjuring film series, James Wan has shown an ability to effectively juggle visceral supernatural horror and taut family drama.

This combination is exactly what A Nightmare on Elm Street needs. 

The actor and producer has his sights set on A Nightmare on Elm Street, but only on one condition: Robert Englund must return to the fold. Wood stated:

You have to bring Robert Englund back for one more film. I think, especially if you’re going to open up a new franchise and take it in different directions, you have to establish it with him and then you can move on. I don’t think it’s interesting to tell the same story over and over again, we don’t need another origin story of Freddy Krueger, I don’t think it should even really be so much about Freddy.

Whether Wood would write and/or direct a new Nightmare film remains to be seen, but his production company SpectreVision is behind a few really solid horror films (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night among them), so we can definitely expect a quality film should Wood win the bid.

The visionary director behind Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House - both unique adaptations of horror novels by Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, respectively - has already expressed interest in a new Elm Street film, stating that he and his wife/frequent collaborator Kate Siegel have a "killer idea" for the franchise.

Mike Flanagan proves time and again his mastery of the supernatural horror narrative, so his take on Freddy Krueger would no doubt be fresh.

Ari Aster has a nearly unrivaled talent for creating intensely upsetting images - an ability he put to good use in Hereditary and Midsommar.

Were he to create nightmare set pieces for a new Freddy film, they would undoubtedly give viewers severe nightmares, as well.

The man behind Get Out and Us cites A Nightmare on Elm Street as a key influence on his horror movie career.

Furthermore, Jordan Peele shares the late Wes Craven's penchant for socially charged horror films that blend psychology, drama, and trauma with visceral scares.

Perhaps the premier monster-maker of the 21st century, Guillermo del Toro injects his films with tons of imagination and attention to detail. 

His take on the Dream World alone would no doubt be the most elaborate and horrifying yet.