A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) - Review

Unlike some people, I don't immediately dismiss remakes. Sure, the lack of originality in Hollywood is kind of lame, but I'm all for seeing a talented filmmaker bringing his or her unique vision to a previous work... if they do it right. I thought A Nightmare On Elm Street was a good candidate for a remake. The original is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and the series is overall quite entertaining. The movies has their various ups and downs. Probably the most hated move was turning its classic villain, Freddy Krueger into more of a comic killer as opposed to a scary dream demon. So it did kind of run its course. Still, a fresh look at the series that would take it to darker and less comedic territory seemed promising. Finally the movie was released... and the disappointment began.

One big red flag I should have caught was that the movie was made by Platinum Dunes. This is Michael Bay's production company (huge red flag there) that is mainly dedicated to remaking horror movies. Their previous releases include mediocre horror remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, The Hitcher, and The Amityville Horror. Even though Bay didn't direct this piece of garbage, you can generally bet that anything that comes from his company will turn out poorly.

The storyline mainly follows the same suit as the previous entries. A grossly-scarred bogeyman named Freddy Krueger is haunting the dreams of teenagers in the town of Springwood, OH. In their dreams, he taunts and attacks them while wearing a glove with four knives on the fingertips... and if he kills you in your dreams, you die in real life. This has been the general premise for the last eight movies and it hasn't changed much here, except for a couple minor differences.

In the original series, Freddy was a notorious child killer who is burned alive by the parents of his victims. In this version, Freddy isn't a child killer, but a purported child molester. Like before, he's burned alive by the town's parents, but after being killed, the townsfolk come upon some evidence to suggest he might have been innocent. That could actually sound interesting if they didn't totally cop out on the ending. I won't spoil it, but lets just say its totally predictable. Their first chance to breathe some originality into this new series... and its a no go.

Like I said, I was all for reinventing the series... or at least taking it back to its darker roots. Unfortunately, the film ultimately sucks out any enjoyment by forgetting exactly what made the previous films so endearing... creativity. The original was such an innovative film, including an original concept, great set pieces, and a scary villain. While the following sequels ranged from fun to not-so-good, they were all entertaining on some level, even if only a little. The remake is either too generic, uninspired, and worst of all... BORING!!! Believe me, that's probably the biggest insult you can ever give to a film. Even the worst of the Elm Street series had creative kills and dream sequences, but not this one. I didn't think it would be possible to make a boring Nightmare on Elm Street movie... looks like I was wrong.

Director Samuel Bayer is an accomplished music video director, with his most notable work being the video for Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Unfortunately, his first feature film just didn't cut it. While some of the camerawork is admittedly good and every so often he'll show some visual flair. Bayer comes off too uncomfortable to try anything new or different. Most of the movie's most notable kills or dream scenes are shamelessly ripped off from the original. Anything new or different is either bland or generic. Most of Freddy's kills involve him just stabbing someone in the gut. Rule of thumb for a nightmare scene... ANYTHING can happen. Seriously, there is absolutely no limit to anything in a dream. Like I said, every other film in the series delivered on some creative nightmare scenes. These ones are just boring and dull.

The only thing that might be worse than the weak nightmares is the casting... with one notable exception. In spite of all the bad things I've said or will say about this movie, they did find a great actor to be the new Freddy Krueger. Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach in Watchmen), is enjoying one of Hollywood's most notable actor comebacks of the 21st century. This being the first Elm Street movie to feature a new actor to portray Freddy, Haley really does a bang up job. His voice, intensity, and overall skill is what keeps the movie from being a total dud. Unfortunately, he's given practically nothing to do on such a meager script. I knew they were going to downplay the one liners and humor (which is a good thing). Unfortunately, Freddy has hardly any personality this time around. Even before he became a cackling comedian, he still had a very dark sense of humor, whether he would cut his own fingers off or try to kiss one of his victims over the phone. He was creepy and scary, and had that personality to differentiate himself from the other silent-brute slasher villains like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees. Again, Haley is great but he's just given nothing to do. What a waste!

The rest of the cast is just lame. I know I keep saying "boring", but that's the best way to describe these actors. Were they given any direction at all? Or did Bayer just keep telling them, "What ever you do, make sure you don't emote! Seriously, never show any emotion!" Not to keep comparing this to the other movies, but the characters in the previous flicks were generally fun and diverse. Even if the acting was bad or they weren't well written, they were at least engaging on some level. This crew was so bland, I was practically falling asleep.

Overall, the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street is a total bust. Despite any bias I have for the others in the series, its still just a very weak horror movie. Aside from Jackie Earle Haley, there's practically nothing innovative, creative, or clever about it. Just go watch the original instead... its basically the same movie only done much much much better.

My Score: 1 Out of 5!