This modern remake of the classic Wes Craven horror flick; ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street,’ unfortunately lacks any of the charm or creativity of the original as Samuel Bayer’s bland direction and Jackie Earle Haley’s eerie but not incredibly memorable portrayal of the beloved horror icon leaves much to be desired.
Plot Summary: A group of suburban teenagers all 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 stay alive…
Whilst the film definitely isn’t the worst remake I’ve seen in recent years, it most certainly is one of the most forgettable, as the film never really does anything interesting of note to give a reason for its existence (other than the production company wanting to make a large profit of course), as everything from the cinematography, to the acting, to even some of the CG effects, all come across as something from your average, low-budget slasher.
As mentioned previously, Jackie Earle Haley’s version of the ‘Freddy Kruger’ character is most certainly one of the better elements of the film. Although definitely not as memorable as the original (as Robert Englund will always be the true nightmare, in my opinion), Jackie does a respectable job of delivering his own take on the iconic character, making him more menacing and extremely creepy when on-screen as opposed to constantly cracking jokes. Freddy does still make the occasional quip every so often, however. The rest of the cast aren’t as quite as entertaining due to their limited direction and weak characterisation (as well as the poor screenplay), meaning Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner and Katie Cassidy have very little to work with.
The film’s cinematography by Jeff Cutter is generally passable, as while not as impressive as his work on ’10 Cloverfield Lane,’ for example, is it most certainly not painful to look at throughout most of the runtime. However, one aspect of the film that is visually repellent, is the horrific colour palette the film goes for, as the film utilises an oversaturated blue and orange colour palette similar to that of a Michael Bay blockbuster, which doesn’t fit with the style or tone of the film at all.
Even the original score composed for the film by Steve Jablonsky, is a remarkably bland horror soundtrack with nothing really interesting about it, even with the classic “Elm Street Jingle,” in the background, the score really doesn’t add anything to the already boring atmosphere. The only element truly fresh to this remake is the enormous amount of jump-scares throughout the narrative, which is pretty much to be expected from any modern horror, nowadays.
As technology and filmmaking techniques have greatly evolved since the release of the original ‘Elm Street’ film in 1984, I was really expecting the film to get extremely creative with the ways ‘Freddy Kruger’ can invade people’s dreams and slaughter them, similar to the way they did within the sequels to the original film over the years. Sadly, the film pretty much recreates many of the iconic scenes from the original film almost exactly, without much thought or creative effort put into it. I did personally enjoy the new look for ‘Freddy’ though if I had to focus on a positive element of the film.
In summary, I was very disappointed with this remake, even after going in initially with very humble expectations, as aside from a few interesting CG effects here and there, the film simply isn’t memorable in the slightest. Employing the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ title without understanding what actually made it such a popular and iconic franchise in the first place, leaving the film feeling like nothing more than a lethargic cash grab. Final Rating: low 3/10.
Joe Baker - Film Reviews 