There is no disputing that the original Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is a classic. Wes Craven did a spectacular job at taking what we hold sacred, which is of course our sleep, and made us terrified of it. He made us afraid to sleep or the burned man will take his revenge.
In 2010 though, Hollywood thought that we were due for Freddy Kruger to hit the big screen again. His last time on the big screen was in 2004 with Freddy VS. Jason and his last solo movie was in 1994 with Wes Craven's New Nightmare.
If you have never seen or heard of the plot of A Nightmare film, it is about a bunch of kids who whenever they go to sleep start to see a burned man, in a green and red sweater and a glove with knives on it. Eventually the character, known as Freddy, starts to kill them in their dreams which then kills them in real life.
The remake keeps some of the same themes and elements but also expands on a lot of them. For instance, and this will be a SPOILER ALERT. They decided to make him a full blown pedofile. In the original he was a a child murderer pedofile who was let free on a technicality but in this one they went all out with the sick factor, including some of the dialogue as well as showing some pictures he took of the kids (out of focus). This turn for the character was okay but I do not think that it was necessarily needed. It was better to leave the viewer with an imagination of what he did instead of putting the social commentary on justice against pedofiles up front.
Jackie Earle Hayley (Watchman, Shutter Island) does a decent job at playing Freddy but Robert Englund ruined the roll. The rest of the actors in it are just there, not necessarily bringing anything to the story. The audience is just waiting for the next person to die, you just don't care about any of the characters. But that is what these new remakes were trying to accomplish. A high body count with no substance.
There isn't really much to this movie. If I were to choose whether to watch this or the original it is really no contest. But if you are looking to have something on that includes gory deaths as you are making dinner, then feel free to watch this. I only wish that if they are going to try and reboot the franchise again, that they try an add a little more back into the story, make the characters actual characters and create a film that is not only fun but has substance as well.
Grade: D
Genre: Horror
Cast: Jackie Earle Hayley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner
Rated: R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language
Director: Samuel Bayer
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