Oct 25th, 2010, 09:54 PM
So I have to speak on the topic because I am a passionate fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street series. I have seen each one. I liked most of them. I even wrote an essay about how these films, Freddy Kreuger himself, and the themes prevalent in the films shaped my childhood; being as they were, about growing up first and foremost. Trust me.
That being said, the remake, by Platinum Dunes, AKA the assholes responsible for all those recent shitty horror remakes; have left all of the deeper story subtext (remember when movies had subtext?) back in the 80’s where it damn well belongs. Or something. So, to make things nice and clear, this is not a retelling, it is a “re-imagining”. We have a character named Nancy, but she is not Nancy from the original. There is Freddy Kreuger, and he was a groundskeeper/handyman at a school, and he was accused of killing children and got off the hook and was later burned to death by vengeful parents, but the similarities end there.
In this film the pedophile angle of Kreuger’s character is brought to the forefront rather than being implied. They really ramp it up. Jackie Earl Haley does a good job with “being” Kreuger, but his voice is annoying and his dialogue is sometimes good and menacing, other times stupid. It’s a tough call. I like Robert Englund better. He was more theatrical in his portrayal, in his movements and so forth. But Jackie Earl gets points for trying his own portrayal rather than aping Englund. So it’s a close call.
There is not one damn character we care about in this movie. This is a Platinum Dunes problem. They NEVER bother writing good characters. There are jump scares a-plenty and of course the jump scare’s twin, the fake scare. I thought we had left those behind, but I’m a fool, obviously. The nightmare sequences are cool in this one, as there is a unifying theme to them, rather than the person-specific set pieces in the original. Everything keeps coming back to the school and the boiler room, Freddy’s domain. This was something I truly enjoyed.
The special effects are good, and once the plot gets moving it’s pretty good. The ending was a bit disappointing with the requisite stupid one-liner before the deathblow. I hated the one-liner and the ending. I was still very entertained. It’s a flawed but enjoyable film! It truly is! I prefer the original, and I really was jarred out of it when I realized they were going to set up nods to the original. I hated the nods to the original. Those only served to be annoying and remind me that I could have been watching a superior film.
Should the remake have a sequel? Hell no. Should this remake even exist? NO. Is it worth a watch? Yes. This is in my category of “worth watching once”. Something enjoyable that probably will not stand up in later viewings. 2.5/5
Shadowdancer out!
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