Written by Wesley Strick And Eric Heisserer
Directed by Samuel Bayer
Freddy: "Little Nancy. Now that you caught me, what game do you wanna play next?"
Nancy: "Fuck you!"
Freddy: "Ooh, sounds like fun. It's a little fast for me. How about we hang first?
We got to this point and it only took 26 years. Eight original movies, a TV series that ran for two seasons (I'll review at a later date) and a face off with Jason Voorhees, where else could this franchise go? Oh, that's right, it was time for the inevitable remake and here it is.
The 2000s and 2010 was a time for doing that, before the requel thing would give Hollywood a better middle ground for long running horror franchises. After Rob Zombie's disastrous Halloween movies, could this franchise remake succeeds where they failed?
From a financial perspective, yes this was an undeniable success, which makes the fact that no follow up ever happened but from a creative perspective, it's more of a mixed bag. For the most while this remake s nowhere near as good as the original, it's surprisingly better than expected and somewhat has a more sinister quality to it as well.
While Wes Craven never went in with Freddy Krueger being a child abuser (as well as a child killer), this movie didnt shy away from that idea one bit. Here, Freddy abused several kids when he was a janitor at a school. The parents took their revenge. Now he's taking his out on the teenagers he blamed for his demise by killing them in their dreams.
In eight movies and a TV series, Robert Englund had made the role so iconic that any actor taking on Freddy Krueger was going to have a hard time getting audiences on board. To his credit, Jackie Earle Haley does a very good making this version of Freddy quite menacing while getting a few pithy and downright inappropriate quips as he took out various teenagers in Springwood.
The teenagers in question being the likes of Dean (Kellan Lutz), his girlfriend Kris (Katie Cassidy) and her former boyfriend, Jesse (Thomas Dekker). The ones who proved to be an obstacle of course were Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara) and her love interest, Quentin (Kyle Gallner).
Freddy's dynamic with Nancy was one of the most iconic dynamics in the franchise and it's replicated somewhat differently here with the two having more of a personal history together. It's not quite as strong but it certainly has its moments as the two bring their feud to a bloody climax. The ending alone clearly felt like bait for a sequel we'll never get.
- Both Connie Britton and Clancy Brown get semi competent/sympathetic parental roles but both are ineffectual against Freddy overall.
- Fun facts being that Rooney Mara hated being in the movie, Heather Langenkamp was offered a cameo that she declined and originally this was going to be a prequel.
- Standout music: There's an excellent use of All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Every Brothers.
- Chronology: I'm assuming 2010, the year of it's release.
I avoided watching A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) for many years because of its very bad reputation and having caved in a few years, I thought it was deserving of that reputation. However watching it more recently, it's actually okay on its own merits with some good performances from Jackie Earle Haley and Rooney Mara (in spite of the latter's hatred for it). It could've been a lot worse.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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