Hollywood seems determined to remake just about any classic movie that’s ever been made, especially in the genre of horror. We seen new versions of Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and now we get A Nightmare on Elm Street. I’m not sure if the executives and producers are just running out of new ideas, or if they honestly feel that the original movies can be improved upon in this new century. Whatever their thoughts, I’m a huge fan of horror films and therefore going to see this new Nightmare was a given. Plus, I’m a big fan of Jackie Earle Haley’s work and wanted to see what he would do with this icon of horror, Freddy Krueger.
I won’t really rehash the story of this for you, because most people already know the premise. I’ll just say the story doesn’t differ much at all from the original except for the fact that this Freddy is made out as not only being a killer of children, but also a child molester. This one change did make me hate this version of the villain and made him an even scarier monster knowing that he’s capable of anything. He also had a creepy and bone chilling way of rubbing the knives together that would put you on edge and let you know he was ready to slice. Jackie Earle Haley is by far the best thing about this new film, but even he couldn’t make it enjoyable to watch and he didn’t bring that much more to the character than Robert Englund did.
The rest of the cast is nothing much to speak of. They are all playing virtually the same roles as the original however this cast seemed to lack the believability that the first cast possessed. They all have the same character names as the original, they all die like in the original or very similarly. Despite the fact that the original movie is 26 years old, the special effects in the original far surpassed the ones employed in this one. I am a total believer in the use of practical effects whenever possible and only resorting to the computer generated ones as a last resort. This is especially true for horror films. In this film however, you could absolutely tell which scenes contained computer generated effects. If they were going to be so obvious why not just go the practical route? The computer effects make it even less scary than it is.
If you have any love for the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, do yourself a favor and pass this one by. I really wished I had just stayed at home and watched that version again. Do they still give you your money back if you didn’t like the film? If so, can I have mine back please?