A Nightmare on Elm Street

Yes, we all know that Wes Craven's original is far more superior than this. That doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. And as much as I enjoy the Elm Street series, a few of the sequels did cross the line into way-too-cheesy territory, and lost the horror charm. "Freddy's Dead" will always remain one of the absolute worst sequels of all time to me, it really is unwatchable. This movie isn't great, but it isn't a 1/10 either. I'd place it about around the same level of quality as say, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. I enjoyed it, and I liked Jackie Earl Haley's portrayal of Krueger, despite Englund forever reigning superior.

People are so whiney I swear.

If this was the original nightmare it would be rated far higher. People are just mad cause it's a "remake". I thought it was a very good adaption. Freddy was menacing. The acting, story and effects were also very good.

New version about Freddy Krueger killing teens in macabre style and boasts some startling , gruesome special effects . A re-imagining of the classic Freddy Krueger, a serial-killer who wields a glove with four blades embedded in the fingers and murders people in their dreams , resulting in their real death in reality . Nowadays, some troubled teens ( Rooney Mara, Killey Gallner , Katie Cassidy, among them ) start to be haunted in their nightmares by scar-faced and dream-hunting Freddy Krueger ( Jackie Earle Haley replacing the horror icon Robert Englund ) , a kind of spectre with horrible burns and large knives. He enters their dreams at will and again kill them. The unsettling adolescents plagued by astonishing dreams help themselves to attempt to stop the nasty and demonic Freddy who kill them in macabre ways . Furthermore , there is revealed a dark secret about his past who originally burned him to death.

This is a reworking upon first film's plot by screenwriter Wesley Strick based on the characters created by Wes Craven and dealing with the imaginative premise about a kind of ghost who can enter their dreams at will and intents on taking over both his body and mind . This eerie film packs thrills , chills , creepy events and lots of blood and gore . Special and extravagant visual effects are the spotlights of the movie and the startling make-up on Freddy face , but both of them don't save the story . Young casting and special appearance by Clancy Brown and Connie Britton . Creepy and imaginatively made musical score fitting to terror movie by Steve Jablonsky . Colorful and atmospheric cinematography by Jeff Cutter . The motion picture well produced by the great director/producer Michael Bay is professionally directed by Samuel Bayer , though with no originality and nothing new to show . From original entry directed by Wes Craven , it was followed by a handful of sequels in which horrifying special effects dominate this slasher saga , as ¨Freddy's revenge¨ 1985 by Jack Sholder , ¨Dream warrior¨ 1987 by Chuck Russell , it's one of the best sequels from successful original film by Craven , as ¨Dream master¨ (1988) by Renny Harlin, and ¨The dream child¨ (1989) by Stephen Hopkins , besides a Television series ¨The Freddy's nightmares¨ and this last one ¨ A nightmare on Elm Street¨(2010) that is a simple copy with little imagination , too many flaws and giving routine treatment . Rating : Average .

I had a feeling this was going to be slated, and some of the criticism is justified, but in all honesty I liked it. The opening scenes are fantastic, it's a very smart looking film, it looks great. The content of the film is decent, it's such a shame that Robert Englund didn't do the film, but I can imagine he feels it's a role that's well and truly in the past. That fact was a nail in the coffin for the film, I'm not sure what many were expecting.

Some of the scares are a little on the tame side by today's standards, but the story is good, it deserved a bit more loving that it got. 7/10.

When it was announced that Jackie Earle Haley would be taking on the role of Freddy in the new Elm Street franchise reboot, a collective sigh of relief went up from the fans of the originals. Haley's Rorshach was one of the few redeeming qualities in the abysmal "Watchmen" movie. When pictures of Freddy's new face were leaked, the excitement grew. This Freddy promised to drop the silly one liners and be a return to the frightening, sadistic killer from the first film.

Haley does what he can with what he's given, but even a game performance from him and Rooney Mara(Nancy) can't save this film from mediocrity. The male lead is played by Kyle Gallner. He could generously be called a poor man's Robert Pattinson. He does a serviceable job here but the weak writing and directing don't do him any favours.

Fans of the original will be disappointed by the brief treatment of Freddy's origins, and it's unlikely new viewers will understand what is going on or even care for that matter. My hopes of a scarier Freddy were dashed within the first few minutes. The film doesn't even try to build an atmosphere and Haley spouts the same tired one liners that the later films leaned on so heavily.

Even as the original series aged, one could always rely on the excellent special effects and make-up work to carry the films. The highlight of each film was the creativity of the different "Dream Worlds" that Freddy would take his victims to. Each dream world was unique because it reflected the thoughts of the character Freddy was trying to kill. This new iteration strips away any of that creativity and takes place almost entirely in one location (I'll avoid spoilers, but if you've seen any other film in the series you can easily guess where). The makeup work that looked promising in production stills doesn't hold up well on screen, failing to be as frightening or iconic as the original. The effects aren't great, it would be easy to beat the dead horse of 'computer graphics' being inferior but I think the real problem here is directorial. Samuel Bayer simply can't hold a candle to Wes Craven.

If you want to disregard my comparisons to the original films and simply take this one for what it is, a brainless slasher flick, it still fails. None of the 'kills' show any creativity at all and audiences already fed on a steady diet of graphic violence won't find anything all that shocking or disturbing here. It's just boring.

Adding to that is an over reliance on cheap scares. This film is this the cinematic equivalent of someone shouting "boo!" in your face every ten minutes. This technique becomes annoying almost instantly and becomes increasingly more annoying because it is used in every single scene. It's like the director realized he didn't know how to direct a scary movie and instead of quitting and finding a new job, he decided to edit in sudden loud noises and hope no one would notice.

By the end the audience I saw it with could hardly hold back their titters of laughter and I don't mean that in a good way. This is one franchise that had some potential for rebirth, but I will be amazed if this one makes it to part 2.