Key Insights
- Horror Empire: New Line Cinema is recognized for creating a significant horror empire beyond just Freddy Krueger.
- Founding History: The company was founded by Robert Shaye in 1967, initially distributing foreign and art films.
- First Productions: New Line’s first produced film was Stunts, released in 1977, marking its entry into film production.
- Franchise Success: The release of A Nightmare on Elm Street solidified New Line’s status in the horror genre during the 1980s.
New Line Cinema, lovingly known as the House That Freddy Built, is so much more than just the razor-gloved dream stalker. The company doesn’t always get the credit it deserves for building one hell of a horror empire. At one point, New Line had its hands on more major horror franchises than most companies could possibly dream of.
What other major horror icons did New Line Cinema control or distribute besides Freddy Krueger? What was the company’s first produced film, and which early movies helped establish its connection to horror? And how did New Line survive into the 21st century to remain one of the best-known names in genre filmmaking? Keep your eyes open for random Lin Shaye appearances as we look at the horror empire built by Robert Shaye and New Line Cinema.
The Birth of New Line Cinema
Throughout the history of movie production, there are always people and companies that mean something. Steven Spielberg is the king of the blockbuster, Martin Scorsese is the master of the crime movie, and the House of Mouse has long been at the top of the mountain when it comes to animation. But what about horror?
From Universal and its beloved monsters to Hammer Films reviving those creatures with bloody, colorful reinventions, horror has always had its own legendary movie houses. More recently, Blumhouse and A24 have carried that torch into a new era.
New Line Cinema is a sneaky one. It doesn’t have quite the same feel as the classic horror houses like Universal or Hammer, nor does it have the modern identity of companies like A24 or Blumhouse. New Line came along as the old American International Pictures era and gothic horror were winding down, while Roger Corman’s New World Pictures and Charles Band’s various studio ventures were making their own mark on genre cinema.
While certain studios had logos that immediately elicited certain feelings, nothing quite hit like New Line Cinema. But it took a while to get there. It took a while for New Line to even start producing its own movies.
That all began with a 27-year-old with a lot of gumption.
Robert Shaye and the Beginning of New Line Cinema
Robert “Bob” Shaye was born on March 3, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan, to a supermarket owner and an artist. He graduated from Detroit’s Mumford High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan before studying at Columbia University and Stockholm University as a Fulbright Scholar. Shaye went on to do a ton with his life, including becoming a member of the New York State Bar Association and serving on numerous health and science boards, as well as with organizations such as the American Film Institute and the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.
For our purposes, though, it’s what he did in 1967 that really stands out. Shaye founded New Line Cinema as a distribution company with the goal of supplying foreign and art films to college campuses across the United States. In a move that feels very appropriate for a company that would later become synonymous with horror, New Line became particularly famous for resurrecting the 1936 anti-marijuana film Reefer Madness. The re-release became something akin to the Rocky Horror live-show phenomenon before that was even a thing, with college audiences absolutely eating it up.
On the foreign-film side, New Line distributed numerous successful movies and even had Oscar gold in its corner long before hobbits entered the picture. Get Out Your Handkerchiefs won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
New Line was no longer just a scrappy distributor. It was building a reputation.
New Line’s First Produced Movies and Early Horror
Nine years after the company was founded, New Line had enough money and credibility in the distribution business to produce its first film. That movie was 1977’s Stunts, directed by Mark L. Lester, who would later make genre favorites such as Class of 1984, Firestarter, Commando, and Showdown in Little Tokyo.
Stunts wasn’t a critical success by any means, but it turned a Corman-like profit, making around $2 million at the box office on a budget of only $600,000. The Robert Forster-starring thriller may rarely be talked about today, but it proved to Shaye and New Line that the company could do more than distribute foreign films and movies that bigger studios didn’t want to touch.
The following years would bring more important steps. New Line took the success of Reefer Madness and applied the same basic idea to one of the most famous horror movies ever made. Night of the Living Dead was already in the public domain, so New Line re-released George A. Romero’s 1968 zombie classic in theaters in February 1979.
Whatever you think of the financial success of that re-release, it was an important early step in New Line’s relationship with horror.
The company would also distribute Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead and get involved with John Waters’ Polyester before producing another movie that would become particularly important to its horror history. That movie was Alone in the Dark.
Alone in the Dark Starts New Line’s Horror Story
1982’s Alone in the Dark (not to be confused with the later survival-horror video game adaptation) is massively important to New Line Cinema’s history. While Stunts was among the company’s earliest produced films, Alone in the Dark was New Line’s first major produced horror movie after establishing itself through distribution and re-releases. And it came at exactly the right time. The slasher boom was taking horror by storm. Halloween and Friday the 13th had demonstrated just how profitable low-budget horror could be, and New Line wanted a piece of that action.
Alone in the Dark was directed by Jack Sholder, who had heard Bob Shaye’s original pitch about getting into low-budget horror. Shaye also contributed to the story and served as a producer.
And then there was Lin Shaye. She appeared in a small role as a memorable patient, beginning the sort of family tradition horror fans would become very familiar with. Bob Shaye himself would also turn up in a number of movies associated with New Line. Seeing Bob and Lin Shaye pop up became almost like a Hitchcock moment for fans. You could keep an eye out for them.
The movie itself featured an incredibly fun cast. Donald Pleasence played a doctor with some controversial methods, while Jack Palance and Martin Landau clearly relished their roles as bloodthirsty inmates. Tom Savini also contributed to the effects. The central family (a doctor, his wife, and their son) isn’t exactly the most memorable part of the movie, but the supporting characters make Alone in the Dark worth remembering.
It didn’t become a franchise, even though it ended with a possible sequel hook, but it did turn a profit and gave Shaye another reason to keep producing horror.
New Line would soon distribute more notable genre movies, including the wonderfully strange alien gorefest Xtro. Then came an even bigger coup: New Line acquired the distribution rights to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, putting Tobe Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece back into theaters. That was a massive step forward. Something much bigger was brewing.
A Nightmare on Elm Street Builds the House That Freddy Built
New Line Cinema is called the House That Freddy Built for a reason. Yes, the company would eventually release bigger-grossing movies and even win Oscars for The Lord of the Rings. But A Nightmare on Elm Street was truly what allowed New Line Cinema to stand out in the 1980s.
Think about what New Line accomplished with Freddy Krueger. While Halloween, Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, franchises have all moved between different production and distribution companies over time; New Line managed to remain deeply connected to A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s series throughout its original run. That kind of consistency is rare in Hollywood.
How New Line Cinema Helped Save Wes Craven’s Career
<b<Wes Craven rightfully gets credit for writing and directing A Nightmare on Elm Street, but New Line and Freddy franchise also helped revive his career at several crucial points.The Last House on The Leftbrought Craven on map whileThe Hills Have Eyesbrought him grisly popular follow-up.
