One, two, Freddy’s comin’ for you, three, four, better lock your door…why? Freddy is here to ruin your life in a completely different way. So who is to blame here? There are many different elements that contribute to the mediocre remake that is A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
Everyone should know the tale of Fred Krueger by now. In the 1984 version, Krueger was a child murderer who was hunted and killed by the parents of Springwood when a technicality released him from all charges. Krueger weaseled himself back into the picture by torturing the teens of those parents in their dreams. The remake tells a similar tale, but adds something that wasn’t used in the original. The new Krueger played by Jackie Earle Hayley was a child molester. Wes Craven threw the idea out with his film due to the fact that highly publicized child molestation cases going on in California.
In Bayer’s version, Krueger had a thing for little Nancy (Rooney Mara) during her preschool days when Freddy was a grounds keeper. The awkward relationship is quite unsettling and uncomfortable. I honestly thought to myself, “I actually liked it better when he was just a child murder.” To put it in a less abrasive way, it was better when there was no real method to his madness. Craven thought that a killer who was also a child molester was one of the worst things he could think of. The label adds to the creep factor, but in my own opinion doesn’t add anything to the material.
Another problem I had with this film was the lack of screen time given to the actual heroine, Nancy. Instead I have to deal with some girl name Kris’ story instead of getting to the person who matters. It may not have been so bad if they may had casted an “actress” (I’m using this term loosely) that didn’t completely suck. Maybe Katie Cassidy has shown her talent in something else, but I didn’t see it here. Instead we got dead eyes and an inability to correctly emote. It wasn’t even campy. It was just flat out terrible. Kellan Lutz should thank his lucky stars. You’ll understand what I mean if you decide to watch it. Kyle Gallner plays the role of Nancy’s potential boyfriend. Gallner’s character Quentin is a little different than Glen played by Johnny Depp in the original. Quentin isn’t dating Nancy. The two become close over the course of the movie since Nancy feels like she can only trust Quentin. Gallner and Rooney do the best job here, which isn’t saying much.
Now I will get to what you really want to hear about. How does Jackie Earle Haley’s Krueger measure up? Not so good. First and foremost I’d like to throw it out there that it’s hard to measure up to a character that’s been going strong now for nearly thirty years. Robert Englund created a persona that can never be topped or replaced by anyone. Haley is a great actor, but isn’t nearly as terrifying. As I explained before, it may be the fact that in this story Freddy has a method to his crimes. Instead of trying to banish him from the planet Earth, you just want to put Hayley’s Krueger in jail.
Wait…so whose fault is it? Samuel Bayer actually didn’t do a bad job directing. The story visits some of the more familiar scares of the original: the girl thrown around the ceiling, the body bag, and the glove between the legs in the bathtub. It sort of tries hard to be something separate from the original, but doesn’t quite pull it off. The dialogue was a bit stale as well. What it really comes down to is the fact that this should never have been remade.
Video: The quality is pretty average here. It’s one of the more important aspects since most of the film is set in darkly lit places. Sometimes the darks came off too dark with no visible contrast. Overall, you still get the pretty just not to it’s fullest potential. (2.40:1 Widescreen).
Audio: What the Blu-ray lacks in video, it makes up for in audio. The sound is what most horror films should shoot for. You can hear every little sound. Great quality. (5.1 DTS-HD).
Freddy Krueger Reborn (14:00) This basically where you get your interviews with the cast and crew of the film. They discuss differences between the original and the remake. I hoped that this would end up as more of a deep look into Krueger, but it wasn’t that at all. Can I have that instead?
Maniacal Movie Mode: This plays throughout the movie while you watch it. There’s a lot of interesting information about the production. Another neat thing is learning about all the research and detail that went into Freddy from the crew and Hayley. There are a lot of tidbits here that I think people would really enjoy.
Focus Points featurette (20:00): This is the behind-the-scenes part. There are seven different little parts that contain different aspects of the film from make-up to stunts. If you aren’t into stuff all over your screen, you might try this instead of Maniacal Movie Mode.
Additional Scenes (7:00): This includes the alternate opening for the film, which starts out in a hospital. The next is an obvious throwaway scene of Nancy and Quentin walking down the street until she goes into a micronap. Last is the alternate ending, which is total crap. Just watch. You’ll agree.