A Nightmare on Elm Street

September 24, 2010

Rated: R Runtime: 95 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

In 1984 Wes Craven created one of the most iconic film villains of all time. Freddy Krueger tormented teenagers in their normal adolescent dreams, not afraid to make it a little bloody and cheesy. Now in our technologically superior 2010 we have turned A Nightmare on Elm Street into A Nightmare at the Box Office.

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This mockery of a remake takes place yet again in the quiet little town of Springwood Ohio; where the teenagers are attractive and absolutely stupid. The movie starts in a diner, yes you heard me right, a diner, in a film about a serial killer in your dreams we start in a diner. Anyway in the first five minutes you see Freddy slice and dice his first victim, a depressed and sleep deprived Thomas Dekker. After the first predictable bloodfest, we get to meet little Nancy Holbrook ( a cheap rip off of Nancy Thompson from the original) played by Rooney Mara, a girl who makes Kristen Stewart look like Ms.Congeniality. From there the plot follows the traditional slasher movie formula the main character and her friends are stalked for 90 minutes by a killer, who gives them no relief. Oh wait in addition to the formula let’s add a gritty subplot that just makes the audience uncomfortable, adding nothing of real value and overall enitrely detracting from the mystique of the original.

Another serious issue with the remake is Freddy himself. Robert Englund (the original Krueger) created a darkly comic killer, that still made the girl sitting next to you squirm in her seat. Jackie Earle Haley, although he dawns the hat, sweater and glove, was not and will never be Freddy Krueger. Haley didn’t deliver a single witty one liner that Krueger has become so famous for. Even the makeup detracts from the true visage of Freddy, the new designers tried to make him more like a true burn victim, and less like a monster from your own nightmares… something the original knew better than to try.

If you want to see Freddy Krueger kill self righteous teens, go watch the original, you’ll save yourself from this lack luster abomination of a Nightmare!

Contributing Critic… C.C. Edwards

Popularity: 41% [?]

Posted by J.C. Edwards | Filed Under 2 Stars, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton, Horror, Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Samuel Bayer, Theatrical