Plot: Freddy Kruger, a man who can attack people in their dreams, is murdering a group of teenagers.
Review: We’ve come full circle with the Nightmare on Elm Street series and we are now at the reboot. After how unwatchable Wes Craven’s New Nightmare was, a reboot may have been the only route to go. The story is essentially the same as the 1984 original, just updated.
Unfortunately, Robert Englund is not back as Freddy. Jackie Early Haley has taken over the iconic role. Haley’s rendition of Freddy is more akin to the serious tone of the first couple of movies and not at all like the ridiculous comedy of the later sequels. He does a decent job as the character, making Freddy menacing, but his appearance leaves a bit to be desired. He just looks like a burn victim, nothing all that interesting or unique about his look. The other characters, with whom we spend most of the movie with, are bland. Nancy (played Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is an emo artist teen this time around and spends the entire movie looking bored. Her friends are just as uninteresting and are only there to die.
The dream sequences feature a lot of CGI… not a good thing. They look like a videogame and take you out of the moment. There is one effect though that is well done. In the movie they introduce the idea of microsleep, where if a person stays awake for too long their body will intermittently fall asleep and wake up. In one scene, Nancy is microsleeping while in a drug store. The aisles change into boiler room pipes while Freddy is walking towards her, appearing and disappearing as he gets closer. It’s a well crafted scene that blends the real and the dream world.
The remake is not a terrible movie but as you watch it you wonder why it was made. It retreads the first movie without changing all that much (except for adding that Freddy is now a pedophile as well as a child murderer). A remake/reboot/retelling whatever you want to call it should take the ideas of the original it is based on and do something to stand on its own. This movie just rides the coattails of the previous series without trying to establish its own lore.
Score: 5/10
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