Posted on: April 28th, 2010 REVIEW: A Nightmare On Elm Street
Freddy Krueger is a legacy. An icon. A pop-culture staple and a household name. He’s been the boogeyman. He’s been a comedian. He took audiences by the throats, making the Nightmare on Elm Street series one of the most successful horror franchises in history (behind Saw and Friday the 13th). There is no doubt about it, Freddy Krueger is celebrated by hordes of fans, from the most unassuming fright-virgin to the most weathered scare-junkie. So there was no surprise when it was announced that the film would be given the remake treatment from nefarious re-imagineers Platium Dunes.
My knee-jerk reaction when I learned of the remake was predictable: I cursed and dismissed the film with great resentment. Wes Craven’s original Nightmare is a bona fide horror classic that needed not any enhancement care of modern special effects. Robert Englund perfectly embodied the dream-demon Freddy in a way – I thought – that no one could. Fume all I want, that remake was going forward. It was with the announcement of director Samuel Bayer (long-time music video director – trust me, you’ve seen his work) behind the camera and actor Jackie Earle Haley inside the glove, that I started to warm up to the idea of a new Nightmare.
As a huge fan of the original films, well, most of them, I can say this: I dug the hell out of the Nightmare remake. While the film isn’t a departure at all from what we saw in the original, Bayer’s Nightmare completely eradicates the camp and cheese that came after Craven’s 1984 film. This new one is harsh, it’s creepy, and it commits to the characters and the tone. Most importantly though, the film is legitimately creepy with some definite scary moments.
If you’ve seen the original, you know what you’re in for, plot-wise – various high school students in the town of Springwood begin having similar nightmares with Freddy Krueger, and one by one they are murdered in their sleep. The film follows Nancy – a slightly different version from Heather Langenkamp’s – as she uncovers the horrific origin of Krueger while struggling to stay awake…. and alive. You like that? I should be a writer. So the story is really a pound for pound retelling, nothing new, but Bayer’s version delves much deeper into Freddy’s origin, and twists our villain ever so slightly.
The big question on everyones mind is whether or not Jackie Earle Haley could pull off Freddy. In my opinion, Haley was exceptional as the blade-wearing slasher. As with any successful remake, Bayer’s Nightmare manages to balance the fine line of paying respect to the source material while standing on its own. Haley’s Krueger is no doubt Freddy enough to connect with on a visual way, but he also manages to show a different side of the character. Long gone is the wise-cracking, one-liner-spewing, pinball-machine-playing Freddy of sequels past. This new Freddy is entirely and completely unlikable and downright repulsive. He’s not an anti-villain like Freddy became. There’s no self-referential humor or pop-culture references. This Freddy is pure malevolence. They really upped the creepy perv factor in this one. While the mythos has stayed reasonably ambiguous over the years – was Krueger a slasher or a pedophile? – the remake makes no mistake about it- even before being burned alive and returning in your dreams, Fred Krueger was the worst thing imaginable. That kind of villain has presence.
Visually I love the revised look of Freddy. His look is far more realistic this time around, his face resembling that of an actual burn victim, perhaps a little more gory. The absence of lips and eyebrows is a nice touch in distancing us from Englund’s Krueger, while keeping the trademark fedora and striped sweater reminds us the universe we’re playing in. You can tell Haley wanted to make this version of the character his own, and that he does; from the way Freddy talks, down to the way he moves, the character is reinvented and reinvigorated for a new audience. This Freddy is a monster with a purpose, one that bides his time like a shark circling a wounded seal.
Where this movie succeeds the most is its atmosphere. Everything feels very genuine and tangible. Part of the appeal of a Nightmare remake, is how much potential there is to craft some incredible dream sequences. The dreams in the film are very effective, and far more seamless than the previous entries. Like the character in the film, you’re almost not sure when a dream begins. Next thing you know some creepy little girl is walking you down a snowy hallway while a goat bleats from the darkness, then the all-too familiar scraping sound of claws echos off the pipes that line the boiler room. The film also succeeds in creating a villain out of the very real horror involved, sleep. Everyone needs to sleep, everyone is vulnerable, but what if you had to force yourself awake? It’s almost torturous watching the kids in the new Nightmare fight to stay awake. Though to a lesser degree, I think Bayer’s Nightmare does for insomnia what The Descent did for claustrophobia. The sleep element is almost its own character in the film, something very important that the sequels in the franchise failed to really utilize.
Nancy (played by Rooney Mara) and Quentin (played by Kyle Gallner) are really the centre of the film, and do decent jobs with what they’ve got. While this Nancy lacks some of the recognizability of the old Nancy, she does manage to stay beyond the glossy model-looking girl in a modern horror film stigma. Gallner, in what is closest to the Johnny Depp role from the original, is a pretty strong young actor, who is entirely convincing as the young Quentin. The rest of the cast does alright, though there isn’t much there, but includes small roles from the great Clancy Brown and the mom from Friday Night Lights. It should be noted that the Asian-American actor, Aaron Yoo, has a small role in this film as well as a role in the Friday the 13th remake. Talk about crossing the streams.
All eyes are on director Samuel Bayer, with this Nightmare being his first feature. Previously, he’s been known for his iconic music videos such as Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, The Cranberries’ Zombie, Green Day’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and countless other recognizable songs. There’s no doubt Bayer brought a very specific style to those music videos, and he does the same with Elm Street. I’d say Bayer really came through the gates running with this one, as the film looks great and has a definite thought and style behind it. You can tell Bayer has a real attention to detail and composition and how each scene will flow into the next. I’m excited to see where Bayer goes from here, as I think he’s a more than competent director with some substance to convey.
As a remake I’m quite surprised at just how much I enjoyed the film. It detracts nothing from Craven’s original and gives us something different while improving on what we love. While I wouldn’t say it’s the best horror remake ever made, it certainly is the top of the list for Platinum Dunes. I really think they’ve got the potential for a killer new franchise on their hands (see what I did just there?), though they’ve got to keep their head focused on why this new Nightmare works. It’s unique, it’s uncompromising and it’s dark as hell. Jackie Earle Haley has confirmed that he’s signed on for three pictures, should Platinum Dunes proceed with them, and, well, you know these characters can never stay dead.
Go check out A Nightmare On Elm Street, and wash the taste of Part II through Freddy vs. Jason out of your mouth. Freddy is back and he’s better than ever.
One Response to “REVIEW: A Nightmare On Elm Street”
-
BD REVIEW: A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more Says:
November 14th, 2010 at 5:31 pm[...] Read my original review, circa April of this year, here. [...]