New Nightmare

Long before the critics started wetting themselves at post-modern, self-referential (and self-indulgent) shows like Extras and Arrested Development, Wes Craven beat them to it. His New Nightmare stars Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund playing themselves in a movie within a movie written by Wes Craven playing himself writing the script as it unfolds. How Charlie Kaufman is that?

It is a terrific idea, and has Heather discovering that she, Englund and Craven have accidentally provided an ancient evil with a portal into the real world in the fictional creation of Freddy Krueger. Now that the series of movies has ended, this entity has started invading her dreams as Freddy - and it thinks if it kills "Nancy" it will be unleashed for real.

So that's the good news. The bad news is that once this premise has been laid out for the viewer, it's all downhill from there. Heather Langenkamp's acting hasn't improved with age, Wes Craven spends his time being "mysterious" (i.e. vague and annoying) and it's left to Robert Englund to save the day. Sadly, he's not in the movie as either himself or Freddy nearly enough.

It gets worse. "Real Freddy" looks even more fake and rubbery than the 80's version, if that were possible, plus the main focus of the dreamtime incursions this time is Langenkamp's young son. Now I am against child actors at the best of times, but when this bug-eyed little squirt starts screaming and yelling about Freddy, you'll just want to give him a kick.

The climax to the movie is pretty similar to every other film in the Nightmare series, which is somewhat disappointing. However, this film is almost worth it - almost - for the creepy sequence where Heather realises she's back in Elm Street for real.

Still, New Nightmare is easily the best follow-up of the series, and way more imaginative than any slasher sequel has the right to be.

Freddy Krueger began as a very scary character who scared the hell out of everyone. As the movies went on, Freddy lost his edge and looked liked a bad stand up comic with horrible one liners.

Freddy seemed dead with the sixth film of the series, but Wes Craven brought him back from his rut and made him someone to fear again. This of course helps prove my theory that a good Nightmare on Elm Street movie cannot be made without Craven.

Two things make this film so good. One, the story is original. The Nightmare movies just kept repeating themselves, with Freddy coming back and going after the people who stopped him before. This rime around, we see Freddy trying to break into the real world, outside the movies. Very original. Two, the movie is not filled with constant gore. This shows how good the movie because any movie filled with gore obviously has a pathetic story and is not worth watching. This movie is and is one of Freddy's best yet.

The First Nightmare on Elm Street was scary and original. It had the great idea of a killer killing people in their dreams. All of its sequels (except for part 2, which went in a horrible direction) just built on to that idea, and the idea wasn't scary anymore as the series progressed. Now with New Nightmare, Wes Craven came up with another original idea. It turns out that Freddy is in fact real, some kind of ancient evil that took the form of Freddy Krueger and could only be contained through storytelling, IE: the Nightmare On Elm Street movies. But since the series has ended, the genie is out of the bottle, and this ingenious film unravels.

I wouldn't say this movie is that scary, it's more creepy than it is scary, but I love its imagination. It plays mind little mind games and you wonder what is real and what is not. Freddy Krueger is even credited as "himself". It's a must-see for any Freddy fan and in many ways it stands on its own...but only if you've seen the other movies. If that makes any sense.

This is one of the best sequels in the Nightmare series and it's nothing short of brilliant. It's nice to see that Freddy is back in the bottle where he belongs, and hopefully will be for a long time...

My Rating: 9/10

The original 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' is still to me one of the scariest and best horror films there is, as well as a truly great film in its own right and introduced us to one of the genre's most iconic villains in Freddy Krueger. It is always difficult to do a sequel that lives up to a film as good as 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' let alone one to be on the same level.

After the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' series showed signs of severe fatigue, that it was suggestive of the series being completely dead, original director Wes Craven makes a welcome return and brings new, fresh life to the series. 'New Nightmare' may not be as good as the original, none of the follow-ups are (though two of the previous sequels, the third and fourth, were good), but it is the best of the follow-ups since the third and is one of the best in the series.

'New Nightmare' has its faults. Its biggest one is the ending, it is just ridiculous and jars tonally with the rest of the film, which took a darker and more serious direction (perhaps more so than the original). Count me in as another person who didn't care for Freddy's look here, it looks rather goofy and doesn't do Robert Englund's creepy performance and the way Freddy's written justice.

Heather Langenkamp also seemed a bit bland and seemed rather anaemic for a character written more dramatically than previously.

On the other hand, 'New Nightmare' looks very atmosphere and made with a good deal of style and slickness. The production design has a suitably nightmarish look and the special effects are great and perhaps superior to the original's. The music score is haunting.

The writing may lack the one-liners seen before, but the more serious direction the dialogue took was appreciated after the fifth and sixth films did such a poor job with the one-liners and comedy. The dialogue isn't mind-blowing but it flows decently and intrigues at least. The semi-documentary-style adopted for some of the film is very interesting, making for one of the most original ideas of the follow-ups and the series overall too, while still delivering on the shocks, suspense and creepiness.

Despite the goofy look for Freddy, Englund is very creepy and even with not much screen time he burns long in the memory.

In summary, one of the series' better entries and worth staying awake for. 7/10 Bethany Cox

'A Nightmare on Elm Street' was a scary, gory 80s horror movie. Its sequels were awful. Only two of them were watchable, the third and forth. But still, they never even came close to the original. This is when that changes. 'New Nightmare' introduces a new Freddy. One which is darker, scarier and not the joke that the old one was. This is the only sequel that should have been done in the first place. In my opinion, its even better than the original because it's much darker and special effects are way better.

It's a bit rare to find good acting in a horror movie, but here's not the case. Acting was amazing. Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund gave an awesome performance. The kid was surprisingly believable and the rest of the cast was great too.

Watch this movie straight after watching the first. If you have to watch a sequel, see the third and forth, but this is the one you should immediately go for. I give it a strong 10/10