Jim Carrey as … Freddy Krueger??? |

Jim Carrey as … Freddy Krueger???

This is an interesting story from the Elm Street realm.

I’m not averse to this choice. In fact, it’s kinda … brilliant? After all, Freddy was always a very funny character. He was always spouting one liners and smirking at his terrified victims. Taunting them.

At author workshops, I sometimes speak about three huge horror franchises from the 1980s. They are also known as slasher films, and the “Holy Trinity” might be Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. They successfully captured the public’s consciousness and together are responsible for over thirty films (!!!), not to mention video games, TV shows, books, and more. Each franchise keyed into a specific fear or a commonality in the audience, and brilliantly so. In terms of Freddy, Robert Englund created a remarkably likeable killer. There were always creative kills and the dream sequences (where he stalked and terrorized his victims) were clever and spooky. The villains in the three franchises have a supernatural quality, are actually forces of nature, and rooting for heroic teenagers as they face off against unkillable killers is compelling indeed. These three franchises were pivotal additions to the horror genre, and there is much to learn, from a storytelling perspective, from all three.

Now comes this news from Dread Central, where Chuck Russell, the director of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, is saying that he thinks Jim Carrey would make a great Freddy. There has been a distinct lack of Nightmare and Friday the 13th in recent years. Halloween has made an incredible comeback, with three recent movies and a video game on the way, and Friday the 13th actually has a new streaming TV show on the horizon. But there has been little news about a new A Nightmare on Elm Street movie since the 2010 version with Jacki Earle Haley starring as Freddy.

Chuck Russell said this, over at Dread Central:

“Yeah, that would be great. Jim, in my opinion, could almost do anything if he put his heart into it. For Jim to do it, we’d have to do something that was another leap in the Elm Street series — a little bit like what Wes did with his very meta New Nightmare. I think Jim would only consider it, and I’d only consider harnessing Jim, if there was a bold new direction for Elm Street.“

I’m game for this if Hollywood wants to pursue it. Jim Carrey could put a magnificent stamp on this franchise, as long as he would be okay with a little violence, gore, and death. After all, he’s been mostly focused on kids’ fare lately … would he jump into this dream?

Happy Halloween 2025, everyone. Be careful this year, especially in your dreams.

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 30 October 2025

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007