Where to watch A Nightmare On Elm Street
3 Stars
The updated version of Wes Craven’s classic 1984 horror film is a satisfying trip back to Elm St.. Working from a fairly faithful screenplay by writers Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer, director Samuel Bayer and producer Michael Bay have given the picture a glossy look and a few hallucinatory dream-scapes that are beautifully eerie. The return of Freddy Kruger is handled nicely by veteran actor Jackie Earle Haley, his version of the iconic villain is less camp more creepy pedophile. Wherein lies my biggest problem with the film, I missed the sense of wicked mischief that was prevalent in the earlier series and embodied by Robert England. There is a sense of deja-vu that hangs over the proceedings and although the cast is attractive and energetic nobody stands-out. However despite these issues, this ‘Nightmare’ remake is infinity better than last years updated ‘Friday the 13th’. The ending of course leaves the door open for a sequel.
Director: Sam Bayer
Stars: Jackie Earle Haley, Thomas Dekker
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At first I liked the direction the new one took in making it a mystery about Krueger’s origins that the kids find out. Sort of a wrongfully accused sceanrio, but they throw that notion out right away. The dream sequences were not scary because you knew it was a dream. In the original you sometimes couldn’t tell if you were in the dream world or the real world. I will agree that this was better then a lot of the sequels we had, but this does not deserve to be neighbors to the original
This movie would not have been bad except for the fact that they made Freddy Krueger into a child molester rather than murderer and they gave him the appearance of a burn victim with down syndrome.