Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Samuel Bayer
Cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, Katie Cassidy, Kellan Lutz, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Released By: Warner Bros
Rating: M18 (Violence & Gore)
Official Website: http://www.nightmareonelmstreet.com/

Opening Day: 3 June 2010

Synopsis:

Freddy Krueger returns in A Nightmare on Elm Street, a contemporary re-imagining of the horror classic. A group of suburban teenagers share one common bond: they are all being stalked by Freddy Krueger, a horribly disfigured killer who hunts them in their dreams. As long as they stay awake, they can protect one another...but when they sleep, there is no escape.

Movie Review:

One, two, Freddy's coming for you.

Back in the 80's a whole splurge of horror genres totally engulfed our twisted minds that became the iconic figure of the slasher spread. There was Michael Myers of Halloween, Jason Voorhees of Friday The 13th and Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street. Gore was the theme and there was no shortage of blood supply and mangled body parts. Scaring/scarring ourselves silly, no matter how much of a scaredy cat we were, the sudden jolt of surprise always gives a dose of good fun and adrenaline. Personally though, sometimes the killings can be rather bland and off the hook, driving us to become jaded. But that wasn't the case for Freddy. Freddy was like the Final destination of today in terms of creativity. Every killing, the writer had to chug their brains to come out the most craziest way of getting killed/be killed and pays off because, there was nothing but endless posibility. Even after seven series, the last appearance, New Nightmare, was a phenomenal sequeal even though it didn't break any box office. Its new twist gave life to a dying breed and Freddy was back! (Ignoring the VS sequel that made it die alittle...)

Three, four, better lock your door

Fast forward to today. In the era of reboot, old classic horrors were conjured up again with fresh faces to level with the new generation. In some cases, it had better atmosphere that drove a better story, much like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and then there are some that just rehash the same feel and even worse loses its touch somewhere along the line. In this case, namely, Freddy. Scares are aplenty. Sudden loud music, Freddy popping out from nowhere and unexpected happenings just hit us right on our forehead. Maybe we're jaded from being exposed to all the horrors in this new age but i was expecting more. Nightmare on Elm Street was about imagination. There is a certain feel to this genre that worked better with visual effect than CGI. The taunting coming from new Freddy just wasn't as playful as before. I applause on the new face of Freddy to be more realistic, just like a burn victim, but it just made him more pitiful then scary. Less expression but thank goodness the puns never ceased. He is a one-liner factory.

Five, six, grab your crucifix

Although the massive dissapointments dawn much to my dismay, there were a couple cool scenes that stood out. The classroom scene was nicely done when it changed atmosphere and the updated sinking into the floor was a much improvement from the cookie batter we've seen previously. Of cos, everything has to have the dark undertone from the campy/creepy predecessor. The writers pretty much bumped up the creep factor by playing up the preschool incident. Also it did help that Jackie Earle Haley does have the creepo effect (No offense but he's really good playing creepy old man, Little Children and Shutter Island). Other than Jackie, the rest of the cast were pretty much fluff and extra blood to be splattered throughout the film.

Seven, eight, gonna stay up late

That said and done, when reboot comes into play of favourite classic features, please do study them and see what makes them tick. Stop following the majority and formulas going around and listen to the audience who loves the series. If it worked then, it shouldn't fall far from the original. Please do have fresh faces and bump up the coolness of it to drive it furthur but one should never lose it essence. Sure, it's going to be a fun horror sleepover activity and had its moments scattered around but coming from a true fan, unfortunately, it didn't deliver it's full potential.

Nine, ten, never sleep again

Movie Rating:



(Freddy just had a creative block)

Review by Lokman B S