A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Wed, April 28, 2010 
A Nightmare On Elm Street, the original Wes Craven film is widely considered across the board a classic. Praised by almost all horror fans myself included , it spawned seven sequels including the slasher team up Freddy Vs Jason. It's fair to say that Freddy Kreuger is a horror icon, so much so, you would think his loyal fan base would be ecstatic to hear he's returning to the big screen after a seven year absence. However, this was not the case. Why, Because they re-cast the comedian serial killer previously portrayed by Robert Englund, for none other then Academy Award Nominated actor Jackie Earle Haley. How dare they, I know.
What was the result? It wasn't an absolutely mind blowing performance from Haley, but still easily the best on screen incarnation of Freddy Krueger to date. He's not so much funny anymore, as he is clever and sadistic.
A group of teenagers living on Elm Street in the small town of Springwood Ohio, all friends, are having the same nightmare. They’re being terrorized by a man, who’s horribly burned , wearing a tattered red and green sweater, a beaten up brown fedora, and a glove with razor sharp knives at the finger tips.
One by one he stalks them in their dreams, where he controls the rules, and the only way out is to wake up. When one of them dies a violent gruesome death, they soon realize that what happens in their dreams happens in reality, and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake. Turning to each other, the survivors try to uncover how they all became part of this same nightmare.
The opening sequence in the film is amazing, the re-introduction to Freddy Krueger was not at all what I was expecting. The trailers really don't give much away, and in a lot ways really don't do it justice.
We're introduced to all of the main characters within the first five minutes, they're attending a friends funeral, and don't worry I'm not spoiling anything. From here we follow Kris (Katie Cassidy) for the first portion of the film, and where it stands apart from the original, is she has little actual involvement with Nancy (Rooney Mara), aside from talking to her briefly at the funeral. At first it almost feels like Nancy has been replaced with Kris as the main character, as we see very little of her to begin with.
The jail scenes from the original are successfully updated, only hardly taken advantage of. Much like before, this ends fairly quickly.
Nancy then joins forces with Quintin (Kyle Gallner)to help one another stay awake, and find the connection between her friends, and Freddy Krueger the man from all of their nightmares. She knows her mom is hiding something, so convenient dialogue and plot leads to her soon finding out how she really knows Freddy, and how long her friends and her have actually known one another.
The story moves along fairly quickly altogether, but unlike the original it has far less plot holes. They attempt to give Freddy somewhat of a back story in the form of a few brief flashbacks about half way through, but decided to cram all this into only 102 minutes running time, as opposed to making it a full two hours and fully developing the back story.
The most important aspect, the portrayal of the icon himself Freddy Krueger, is done extremely well by Jackie Earle Haley. The new Freddy is no longer comedic, nor is he fun. He's creepy, weird and disgusting as shit, his face is absolutely nasty. The only real downfall for Freddy is every time we see him, he has a different voice and a new clever quip, sometimes perverted, and others very angry or sadistic. There is no doubt in my mind, Haley is a huge step up from what we were getting with Englund in the past, and I say this as life long fan of the franchise.
Said and done, Haley brings his A-Game for us, where as Englund brought only his charisma and shitty make up.
Yes, the new make up does actually look really good. Once you see it in action, you'll forget how shitty it looked in almost all those trailers you saw. The same can almost be said for his voice as well, its definitely a lot better then what you've heard yet, but it does change through out the course of the entire film for no apparent reason.
The kills, I would say are a huge step up from "most" everything we saw in the original franchise. Except for the throw backs to the original, the bathtub scene was changed entirely, and the jail "suicide" was very "meh", and not so much of a suicide anymore either.
The dream scenes are done extremely well, Samuel Bayer has brought a whole new take of this aspect to the nightmare franchise. The differentiating between the dreams and reality isn't always seamless like it was in the original, but the dreams themselves are done much better in the remake. Bayer, seems to really capture the feeling of what its like to be sleeping and inside an actual living nightmare.
I think that new fans to the franchise will easily consider Haley to be the definitive Krueger, as he did do a great job, but returning die hard fans of the original may not like the way Freddy looks or sounds, and I'll expect to hear as much from them.
I'll admit that in some ways I went into this with a slightly biased opinion, because I've grown up loving the original franchise for years. But I think that Platinum Dunes and Samuel Bayer have put together a great Nightmare film. I was worried I'd have my expectations set too high and end up disappointed, but I really liked what they did. They have officially succeeded in making Freddy Krueger scary again!
Aside from the story moving almost too quickly, and the dialogue being repetitive and convenient at times, A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) is arguably the best incarnation of Freddy Krueger yet.
My one real complaint for the remake, would be re-using a line from Freddy Vs Jason. I won't say what line, or where it's used, but when you hear it you'll know right away what I mean. Of all the movies to take from, why Freddy Vs Jason?
Now lets just hope that the sequel gets the green light from NL/WB, assuming it will be more then successful at the box office. Fingers crossed.
I'm giving 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' 3.5/5
"A Nightmare On Elm Street" opens everywhere this Friday
Reader Comments (33)
Fuck ya buddy sweet review, 230am...you meant late! lol I've been checking back every 1/2 hr for it...
I'm gonna check out the midnight show, I'm fuckin glad Haley was good, that was my main concern. I'll let you know what I tought after I see it
I had alot of concerns about this one, but if your saying the trailers aren't doing the movie justice, I'll check it out.
He looks like shit, and he sounds retarded in most of the shit released, Was there a reaon his voice was all over the place? does it end with freddy drving an ambulance, like the leaked script said???
I think I might actually see this one in theaters, I was worried the reviews were gonna start coming in horrible, and I was gonna wait for it come out on video.
If your telling me Haley is better than Englund I have to see this for myself, but even still, I find it hard to believe that he came in and did a better job on one film then Englund did in 8! we'll see, i'm probably going to it tommorow.
I can't believe you said it was better then the original!! You call your self a life long fan?! NOONE can top Englund, I saw the advance screening from a contest i won, Haley is nowhere near as good, he looks ridiclulous, he sounds retarded, and less plot holes???? what does that even mean, they did a couple flashbacks now were in the know? BS
and Steve-O he does drive the ambulance and they used no lines from Freddy Vs Jason, hes full of shit, I wish they would have because its the same fuckin exact script that leaked back when!
@neversleepagain
You obviouslt didn't see the movie, I work for a radio station that gave away passes and I saw it lastnight.
Most of what you said made no sense what so ever, Freddy does not drive an ambulance, and it is NOT exactly like the leaked script.
The line from Freddy Vs Jason was in there, if you saw it, and you are as much of "fan" as you claim to be, you would have notcied it right away.
Nice try though dickhead, people will see the movie, and they will most likely enjoy it, sorry pal.
Let's keep it sophisticated.
sounds like neversleepagain is a hater im going to the midnight show tonight. I thought the preview were great so i guess i should love the movie if your saying they dont do it justice
I love the old ones, I'm just hoping this at least on par with what they did, but I'd like to see something better...won't hold my breath though. Nice review ;)
I like Freddy Vs jason, why does is it seem like its such a horrible thing they borrowed a line? Haley topping Englund, doesn't seem like a hard thing to do. I can't figure out why everyone is putting him on such a high pedestal, his performace wasn't that great in any of the originals, I like how you phrased it< all he brought was his charisma and shitty makeup...was the new look really that good?
Englund was great but the bar was not set very high for JEH to out do him. Cool review
I doubt Haley could top Englund, maybe bring a new approach and even be somewhat as good, but I grew up on these movies...Englund is the man!
I'm still gonna check it out though, it better be as good as Freddy Vs Jason if not better, given you comments!
I saw it yesterday too, I loved it! Freddy is way more scary then where he was last left off at.
And there is no freddy driving an ambulance scene, just so you know.
I think JEH is gonna completely destroy what Englund did, I'm glad to hear someone actullay liked it. I read a few reviews where all they did was trash it...I think I'm going to it tonight, thanks for the review
how were the actors is what I want to know, they look retarded in the trailers, especially Rooney Mara, she looks like can't act for shit.
They acting was decent, JEH obviously steals the show though. They said before that he didn't have much lines, but he actually does talk a fair bit.
you really think the remake is better? weird coming from a life long fan, im checking it out in a couple hours, hopfully lives up the hype you've built around it in your review.
Just got back from the midnight show, I dont think Haley tops englund at all, i hafto disagree with you their.
it isnt better then the original but its pretty good, ill buy it when its out on dvd
Haley blows Englund out of the water by a long shot, it was a little short though...they're either setting it up for a sequel or they just did a shitty job of developing the backstory.
Haley does a great job, but he keeps saying the same shit, lets play, we have time to play...creepy fucker..
I agree with your 3.5/5 I heard some ppl saying it was shit and others saying it was mindblowing (younger people)
it comes in between, it was good but different, they included some shit for no reason it seems, like the freddy vs jason line..they could have done better then that.
it was definitley differernt, but it was still good. I thin Haley did do better but he also had cooler shit to say and do...his make up looked better then the previews but i think the old make up is still more scary even if it isnt realstic,
i doubt we'll get another one tho, they shoulda just made it longer and said everything they wanted to now
you were pretty spot on with the review, but for some reason I think the old make up is still a lot more scary.
The new Makep does look way cooler once you see it fully though, and his quips were great...he's like that creepy unlce that molested you, its horrible and disturbing, but I think that's what they were going for here.
A lot more quick scares in this one, but It was okay, they needed to adapt to the horror of today to stay relevant with todays youth.
this movie was awful! worst movei of 2010! I can't belive you gave it such a good review, I think your the only one,
I really appreciate all the feed back, but like Peter said, Pleas keep it sophistaicated. There are some very weird comments on here.
Let me know what you think, once you've seen it.
That last comment was obviously directed at Megan for her molesting Uncle comment lol, sick.
I saw it tonight, it wasn;t better then the original and Haley comes no where near Englunds level of charisma and talent. I hope they stop here, they've done enough damage already
saw it lastnight, it was the biggest peice of crap film i've ever seen, they have officially ruined almost every 80's hororr property
3.5/5 is very generous! It's hard to believe your a "life long fan" of the franchise. This movie was garbage, hot wet garbage. Freddy isn't even scary any more, I'm happy with the box set I already own, thanks for the shitty review.