Review: A Nightmare On Elm Street

Grade: B

A group of high school students all appear to be having the same nightmares. In the dream a man, who is horribly burnt and wears a glove with four blades embedded on the fingers, is chasing after them trying to kill them. The problem is that when he cuts you or hurts you in your dream, you are physically injured as well in reality. This man is killing more and more teens in their dreams and now Nancy and her friend Quentin are being chased by the man in their dreams. As Nancy tries to find out who the man is and tries to find a way to stop him, she discovers a grand conspiracy formulated by the parents in the community.

This is a remake of the classic A Nightmare On Elm Street from only 26 years ago in 1984. Even though I am not really a horror fan, especially horror movies of late, I have always enjoyed the Nightmare On Elm Street series. This movie is a very fun remake and they even have a couple scenes that are almost shot for shot remakes of the original. However, I feel that the writers of this version took a little too many liberties with the original story and changed it just a little too much so I still definitely prefer the original. They changed certain aspects of Freddy’s past for whatever reason but I guess there are worse things they could have done. The movie is also a little slow, it starts off with a bang but then I don’t think it really picks up again for another hour. None the less, it is a far better remake than the Friday the 13th remake from last year. Speaking of, they took little bits from most of the Nightmare movies and even bits from the Freddy vs. Jason movie that added to some of the nostalgia.

When I first heard that they were remaking this movie all I could think was that nobody could replace the infamous Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. Well, much to my surprise they found the only man who could fill those shoes when they cast Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Shutter Island) to play the gloved slasher. He was absolutely perfect in the role and his performance alone as Krueger makes this movie worth watching. His voice just matches the role so perfectly and his mannerisms were just really creepy and scary at times, not to mention his twisted sense of humor with many of his lines. Not to mention the new Freddy Krueger make-up is great and really creepy. Some people might have a hard time coping with the new Freddy simply because this is the first time ever that Freddy hasn’t been played by Robert Englund. The movie also features decent performances from Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker and Connie Britton.

This movie is a lot of fun and is one of the better remakes in recent history. If you love horror movies and/or if you love the Nightmare On Elm Street movies, definitely check this movie out.

Great quote: “Did you know that after the heart stops beating the brain continues to work for seven minutes. We still have six minutes to play.”