A Nightmare on Elm Street [DVD] [2010]

A Nightmare on Elm Street * * *
New Line Cinema
1000121780 (UK edition)
RT 01:45

`One, two, Freddy's coming for you, three, four, he's at your door' - and so on. Newline brings back one of the cinema's biggest villains in this latest remake. Now, for someone who has seen every one of Mr. Krueger's films over the years, this had to be good. The new cast sounded promising, with Jackie Earle Haley playing Freddy, Kyle Gallner as Quentin Smith, Rooney Mara as Nancy Holbrook, Katie Cassidy as Kris Fowles, Thomas Dekker as Jesse Braun, Kellan Lutz as Dean Russell, Clancy Brown as Headmaster Alan Smith and Connie Britton as Dr. Gwen Holbrook.

The format this time takes us back to the originals roots, with teenagers terrorised in their dreams by Mr Krueger the moment they fall asleep. As anyone who has seen a Freddy film knows, death follows quite sharply afterwards, and indeed in this one after just 10 minutes. With the teenagers deeply troubled and the adults not believing them, Nancy begins to suspect that not all is what it seems. When her mother and the headmaster become evasive about her questioning of past events, it's up to her, Quentin and Jesse to unravel what's happening and to try and save them from Freddy.

As with any Freddy film, the mood is captured perfectly. From the initial diner set up, with a lovely switch in lighting, Dean is about to meet his maker. It's a credit to the director Samuel Bayer and his cinematographer that they convey just the right amount of tension for major shock value, and they deliver in spades.

What is interesting this time is the back-story of Freddy himself, which for most of the previous films they only skated over. This explains in quite graphic detail of whom and how Freddy came into being and what the parents may ultimately be responsible for. This all sounds pretty good so far; however, this film has one big problem.

Jackie Earle Haley is a top name actor and as Rorschach in Watchmen he was utterly spellbinding. However, in this, whilst the acting is there, the makeup on Freddy doesn't seem to work. This is despite it being more accurate for a burns victim! Now, unlike Robert Englund, who had a little humour in his portrayal, Haley plays this dead straight. This is far nastier than some previous versions and takes a different slant on Freddy, which in some ways doesn't work. For the most part, the acting and nastiness win through, however there is something lacking from the performance and this is a problem when it's your main character!

Special mention must go to Kyle Gallner and Rooney Mara as they act their socks off in this, Gallner really evoking someone fighting sleep and not knowing who's after him and Mara portraying a haunted Nancy who does seem to know, but can't put a face to the horror.

The music by Steve Jablonski cleverly utilises the original themes from the first Nightmare by Charles Bernstein. Mixing this with his talents, what we have here is a score that has a class touch. From the main titles, we have that theme chilling the soul. Add in the creepiness on the diner, a fast pulsating beat as Jesse makes his run, a fast percussive run as Quentin sees how Freddy was dealt with. A very competent effort.

The special effects are well done and it's nice to see some computer trickery used to frightening effect, especially with the final shot, which wasn't expected at all. The short 13-minute extra basically delves into the re-creation of the Freddy franchise and into his roots, plus talks with the cast and director.

What we have here is a remake that brings new ideas but sadly lacks something in the delivery. If you have never seen a Nightmare, you may quite enjoy it. If like me, on the other hand, who has seen a lot, it's enjoyable but flawed, because the main character isn't quite realised enough.

I will be blunt. I hated the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

The redesign of Freddy's appearance doesn't sit too well with me. I had heard that the crew were going to make Freddy scary again. This really didn't materialise. I'd actually prefer Robert Englund in the role of Freddy using the original make-up that has made the character a classic.

The `witty' one-liners that Krueger comes out with are just terrible and had me cringing at multiple points during the movie, "how's this for a wet dream?" springs to mind. Uttered when Nancy is running down a hall and the floor turns to some kind of tar-like substance. Other cringe-worthy one-liners include "I'm your boyfriend now", "your mouth says no but your body says yeeeeessssssss" and "I'm your nightmare". Truthfully, most of them are taken from the previous films, but they really don't age well at all.

On a more positive note, the re-tooling of Freddy's background was an effective alteration. In the original, Freddy is a child murderer, but in this "reimagining" he is a child molester. This helps significantly in making him more evil and really pushes you more towards hating the man. Rooney Mara is also specifically notable as her fantastic portrayal of Nancy brings the rating of the film up a little.

Nevertheless, this isn't enough to save this abysmal remake. Awful CGI (the blood Nancy falls out of in a dream), poor story progression and ineffective plot twists, not to mention the various obvious plot-holes and mistakes altogether with the fact that it's just not scary make this very so-so indeed.

having grown up with the original this has got to be one of the worst re-makes ever! (halloween re-make is the worst of all time). this is terrible remake and its honestly not even worth the watch! (if you havent seen it yet watch the original). the person that plays freddy just doesnt do the part! and his voice really dont suit it! (i heard its a womans voice but i dont know how true that is) either way overall its just a really really poor re-make! shame!