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Hey, what do you know - a PEFRECT opportunity to use this icon! Oh Johnny, you were the greatest Nightmare death of all.
Okay, bottom line first. Platinum Dunes' remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street is the best of their remakes so far. Miles ahead of their versions of Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's better than all but one of the Nightmare sequels (still doesn't top Dream Warriors, though), but that's not really saying much.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
It's a pretty good movie, though neither as scary nor inventive as the original. But did even the most optimistic fan expect that it would be? What it does (mostly) right is truly reinvent the franchise and take it in a new and, most significantly, legitimate direction. Ironically, though, it is that very thing that might have ruined it as a kickoff for more sequels.
The original Freddy was a child murderer who preyed on the children of a particular neighborhood. After his death at the hands of the parents of the neighborhood, he got his magical dream mojo and got back at his murderers not by killing them, but by doling out a far worse punishment - killing their children. Director Wes Craven never showed us Freddy's pre-death crimes, making it easier to enjoy him as a villain. The creep factor is upped with the new Freddy by making him a child molester and, while thankfully not showing us his crimes in any detail, allude to them enough that Freddy is no longer fun but truly disturbing - and quite a bit scarier. He's not killing these kids to get back at their parents - he's killing them because (in his twisted way) he once loved them, and they betrayed him. Like I said, this is a legitimate direction to have taken the character, but in doing so, I'm afraid they've made him into a character whose exploits most people will not want to see more and more of in an endless parade of sequels. At least I hope that's still the world I'm living in.
However, as good as the film might be, there are still more than a few problems.
First, there is too much homage and not enough imagination. Nearly all the blockbuster setpieces from the original show up in some form or another. The glove in the tub, Tina on the ceiling, Tina in the body bag, the death of Nancy's mother, and even a version of the Glenn viscera volcano. The kills in the original Nightmare were things we'd never seen before, but the reboot mostly recreates those kills, only with less exciting results.
The writers seem to have spent so much time trying to craft a smart story (which they do, for the most part) that they didn't have enough juice left to pour into the dialogue. Many (MANY!) of the lines are cribbed right from the other movies, especially Freddy's one-liners, and those that aren't are straight out of Trite Movie Dialogue 101 (such as "Your mouth says no, but your body says yes," which is HELLA creepy, but also hella cliche).
Speaking of Freddy's recycled zingers, some of them are downright out of place. For example, in a scene near the end, Freddy is pursuing Nancy down a hallway, which turns to a river of blood. He then gives us this classic line from the third movie - "How's this for a wet dream?" Um, WHAT? It was perfect in its original context, where a horny teenage boy has a sex dream about a naughty nurse, which quickly turns into a fairly epic Freddy "gotcha." But to say that to NANCY? That's just weird, man.
The main problem with all the zingers and cliches, though, is that Freddy. Talks. Too. Much. Robert Englund, in the original, only had a handful of what I would classify as lines. Seriously, like three or four. He mostly just laughs his evil laugh and calls the characters' names. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the stuff Jackie Earle Haley is given to say is definitely worth keeping. I loved his explanation about how the brain still functions for several minutes after the heart stops. And, seriously, not even in the original was there a line as great as "Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet." But most of it is just not necessary.
In addition to the "wet dream" weirdness, I think the writers missed a perfect opportunity to tweak one of the thrown-in iconic one-liners to better fit the story. "I'm your boyfriend now"? Really? Just going to slap that in there, as-is? When Freddy has his "favorite", Nancy, strapped to a bed wearing the dress she wore when he used to ... do things to her? He's already BEEN her "boyfriend." USE the new context, don't just throw the same old lines at it.
Anyway yeah, it's pretty good, and I really don't get the hate that I've seen thrown at it. But it still could have been a lot better.
Okay, bottom line first. Platinum Dunes' remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street is the best of their remakes so far. Miles ahead of their versions of Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's better than all but one of the Nightmare sequels (still doesn't top Dream Warriors, though), but that's not really saying much.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
It's a pretty good movie, though neither as scary nor inventive as the original. But did even the most optimistic fan expect that it would be? What it does (mostly) right is truly reinvent the franchise and take it in a new and, most significantly, legitimate direction. Ironically, though, it is that very thing that might have ruined it as a kickoff for more sequels.
The original Freddy was a child murderer who preyed on the children of a particular neighborhood. After his death at the hands of the parents of the neighborhood, he got his magical dream mojo and got back at his murderers not by killing them, but by doling out a far worse punishment - killing their children. Director Wes Craven never showed us Freddy's pre-death crimes, making it easier to enjoy him as a villain. The creep factor is upped with the new Freddy by making him a child molester and, while thankfully not showing us his crimes in any detail, allude to them enough that Freddy is no longer fun but truly disturbing - and quite a bit scarier. He's not killing these kids to get back at their parents - he's killing them because (in his twisted way) he once loved them, and they betrayed him. Like I said, this is a legitimate direction to have taken the character, but in doing so, I'm afraid they've made him into a character whose exploits most people will not want to see more and more of in an endless parade of sequels. At least I hope that's still the world I'm living in.
However, as good as the film might be, there are still more than a few problems.
First, there is too much homage and not enough imagination. Nearly all the blockbuster setpieces from the original show up in some form or another. The glove in the tub, Tina on the ceiling, Tina in the body bag, the death of Nancy's mother, and even a version of the Glenn viscera volcano. The kills in the original Nightmare were things we'd never seen before, but the reboot mostly recreates those kills, only with less exciting results.
The writers seem to have spent so much time trying to craft a smart story (which they do, for the most part) that they didn't have enough juice left to pour into the dialogue. Many (MANY!) of the lines are cribbed right from the other movies, especially Freddy's one-liners, and those that aren't are straight out of Trite Movie Dialogue 101 (such as "Your mouth says no, but your body says yes," which is HELLA creepy, but also hella cliche).
Speaking of Freddy's recycled zingers, some of them are downright out of place. For example, in a scene near the end, Freddy is pursuing Nancy down a hallway, which turns to a river of blood. He then gives us this classic line from the third movie - "How's this for a wet dream?" Um, WHAT? It was perfect in its original context, where a horny teenage boy has a sex dream about a naughty nurse, which quickly turns into a fairly epic Freddy "gotcha." But to say that to NANCY? That's just weird, man.
The main problem with all the zingers and cliches, though, is that Freddy. Talks. Too. Much. Robert Englund, in the original, only had a handful of what I would classify as lines. Seriously, like three or four. He mostly just laughs his evil laugh and calls the characters' names. Now, don't get me wrong, some of the stuff Jackie Earle Haley is given to say is definitely worth keeping. I loved his explanation about how the brain still functions for several minutes after the heart stops. And, seriously, not even in the original was there a line as great as "Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet." But most of it is just not necessary.
In addition to the "wet dream" weirdness, I think the writers missed a perfect opportunity to tweak one of the thrown-in iconic one-liners to better fit the story. "I'm your boyfriend now"? Really? Just going to slap that in there, as-is? When Freddy has his "favorite", Nancy, strapped to a bed wearing the dress she wore when he used to ... do things to her? He's already BEEN her "boyfriend." USE the new context, don't just throw the same old lines at it.
Anyway yeah, it's pretty good, and I really don't get the hate that I've seen thrown at it. But it still could have been a lot better.