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- First reviewMay 2, 2010
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JakeWheat's Reviews
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Not Like My Childhood Nightmares
PostedMay 2, 2010
JakeWheat
from Louisville, Kentucky
I can remember being very young, and waiting anxiously for the next “Freddy” movie to come to the big screen, and then going there with anticipation of the creative genius that was presented to me. I was also in the Freddy Krueger fan club, and received a lot of cool stuff from being a member. I had the movie stand ups (thanks to the local video store) and posters – anything Nightmare on Elm Street related that came in – I had.
The same anticipation rushed over me a few weeks ago when I realized there would soon be another Freddy movie hitting the big screen, and sadly this time without Robert Englund. I couldn’t really imagine anyone else playing Freddy, but that was mainly due to the fact that I was a HUGE fan on the classic movie series. I accepted the fact that Englund could not play the role forever, and I looked forward to the new spin on his character.
When I was in seventh grade, I made my own Freddy glove out of some scrap metal, and after several accidental cuts – I wanted so bad to have the full Freddy Krueger costume. I worked in a Haunted House that year downtown, and a man there did the whole Freddy make-up – latex, a really great glove, and the whole costume. He was super cool, and I can remember how great it was to watch the process of him getting all of that latex make-up on. Freddy to me was an icon, a pseudo-hero, and so anything “Elm Street” to me was golden.
“A Nightmare On Elm Street III: Dream Warriors” was my favorite, because I spent some time in a hospital with other troubled teens, and the deaths at this time became more and more creative – I mean, who could forget the girl who got slammed head first into the TV? The characters were rich, and each one of their deaths played into their interests. It wasn’t just about being slashed to death if you fell asleep, but your dreams were customized to their specific talents or hobbies. “Elm Street” classic characters had personality, and they had back stories. They were rock and roll punks, gym rats, computer geeks, and all of them had their own mutual problem – Freddy. Parents would not listen, and they ended up dying from his glove.
I have seen every Elm Street movie, and enjoyed the creativity that each one of them presented. I even enjoyed “Freddy vs. Jason,” and laughed because I understood this was a throwback, or a tribute – clashing at odds with the generational goodness that was our slasher film characters. To the original Generation-X folks, it was like watching two friends playing together.
Now in 2010 we have the re-make, the Jackie Earle Haley “child molester” Freddy who has adult Polaroids of a pre-school aged “Nancy” in his “secret cave” and who victimized an entire class of children? He is “every parents nightmare,” and he is also a reflection on our society today which says that shock value on a person's evils must be exploited to the extreme. The old school Freddy, well - you knew he did bad things to kids, but you didn't get to see the photos - so what you imagined was more of a threat than having it provided to you in such a bland - almost disrespectful way. In the original films, we had Freddy’s back story, which was clever town secret, and was not ripped from an episode of Dr. Phil. True, he was still every parents nightmare, but he was also a horror icon that was getting revenge - and those parents would not listen!
In the 2010 remake, Freddy who slashed through the nightmares of dreamers, has been unfairly given a darker edge that seemed to destroy all that we loved – he has been turned into a petty child predator. He has been turned into the dirty ice cream truck driver. He has been given a make-over by Paris Hilton. blah. His make-up (which is supposed to make him look more like a real burn victim) turned Freddy into a mannequin head-like monster, which had blank persona. Freddy didn't have his cheesy smile - and most of his actions were expressionless due to the make-up.
The “kids” or the “helpless characters” are almost absent to the plot, and void of personality – which is evident in why some scenes seem out of place. One character is swimming in some sort of swimming practice, and ends up almost drowning – but up until that point, nothing was referenced about this character even being a swimmer.
Character development is only there when it was necessary to eliminate them, or to allow Freddy to begin a nightmare sequence. There is never character development that begins to prepare you for a later dream sequence, or to give you more information on a characters special abilities, talents, which may come in useful to fight him. It's just not there.
The 2010 "Nancy" works in a Diner, and there is a reference to a break up of sorts – but nothing matters about that three seconds after it is mentioned – and there is no character depth or back story. Nothing progresses further other than a few more kids getting killed, and with little to no sympathy from me. In the Original “Nightmare on Elm Street” Tina’s boyfriend “Rod Lane” crashed the party, and I could remember the crunching of his black leather jacket as he moved around. I could remember his accent as he spoke about the man with knives for fingers, and how horrible I felt when he was hung in the jail cell, after mourning the violent loss of his girlfriend to Freddy’s blade.
This new remake basically played out the same scenario, only this time it didn’t make me love the characters – I didn’t have a connection with them, so their deaths were not as important to me. When Tina was killed in the Original movie, Rod was helpless – and she was slashed about on the ceiling while Rod was forced to watch, and he had no way of helping her. His “rebel-badass” character was restrained, and all he could do was run and hide helpless himself now. The new movie did not make me feel this way, and when the scene was carelessly redone in the remake I just sat there, and the only way I could compare it to anything was like eating something bland and flavorless. It was just simply there to be there, but all of the flavor and texture was removed.
Nancy in the bathtub was another classic scene, and in the remake it is referenced but not revisited – another flavorless moment. You knew the glove would surface from under the bubbles, but it didn't climax. There was no "gotcha" - it just went back under the water like some cheap special effect. Old school "Elm Street" fans around me in the theater were like, "what?" One person booed, and I just sat there waiting for something exciting to happen.
The worst part was, that by the time Freddy began his classic antagonistic one liners, the movie was almost over. Haley was scary, and I will give him credit on that – Freddy was definitely made over. I think any true Elm Street fan could accept the new Freddy as being more sinister and dark, without having to feel like they were being cheated in the process. However, without the rich characters or an integrated storyline that didn’t beg, borrow, and steal from the original without any other improvements is just pathetic.
I didn't like this movie, and I believe it was just thrown together to say "hey, I did a re-make of a classic - now pay me." I enjoyed at best the fact that Freddy returned to give me some excitement, but like most things as you get older – it’s just not the same. The magic wasn’t there, and there was little to no reason for me to love it for more than what it was – a failed attempt at making my nightmarish hero come back into my dreams.
As we were leaving the theater, there was a young couple in front of me talking. The girl turned to the boy and said, “I have never seen any of the Nightmare on Elm Street” movies, and the boy said “I saw Freddy vs. Jason.” The girl took her boyfriends hand, and kept walking and then she said “Yeah, horror movies back then were awful.”
I almost cried.
No, I do not recommend this movie.
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