A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2010
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Samuel Bayer
Genre:	Slasher remake
Starring:	Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner
Rating:	2/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179056/
Tagline:	Never Sleep Again.
Favourite line:	"Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet!"

Michael Bay's attempt to remake every horror movie of worth from the late seventies, early eighties continues apace with this reinvention of the dream-killer classic.
For those familiar with the original, no description of the plot is necessary, but for the four humans in the Western world who haven't seen it, here's a summary:
Freddy Krueger, a paedophile praying on the kids of Elm Street, is hounded out of town by their angry parents, trapped in a boiler room and burnt to death.
But that's not the end of him.
Oh no.
He returns, a maniac wielding a rather nifty blade fingered glove, to continue his child stalking, only this time in their dreams. For the Elm Streeters, there is only one way to live: Do not fall asleep.
The updated version has the exact same plot. Indeed, this is a fairly faithful adaptation, with most of the major set-pieces present and correct, as well as some of the character names. Krueger himself looks great, his face a patchwork of scar tissue and gaping holes in his cheeks you can see through, and the actor does a decent enough job with the rather limited material he was given to work with.
So it must be great if it's exactly the same as the source material.
Right?
Wrong.
When producing the movie, Butcher Bay forgot one crucial element, as is his tendency: atmosphere. The 1984 movie has gallons of the stuff, dripping from the screen, whereas here everything is anaemic and feels almost sterile. It's dull, too, to the point that I started thinking about other things about half way through - why the fluff between my toes is black when I only wear pink socks, how long could I survive eating nothing but Haribo Starmix, just exactly what is the meat in crab flavoured sticks? - and only really tuned back in for the Krueger backstory and the odd moment of gristle, and the ending itself is so abrupt you actually think 'Huh? Is that it?'
Whilst not as gut-crunchingly awful as I was expecting, I wouldn't recommend anyone go see it.
Do yourself a favour: Rent / download / steal / borrow the original instead, you'll have way more fun.