So this was the first movie I saw in the theater with Raylene. I also brought my buddy, Ron. I introduced Raylene as Hookerbot. I’m classy.
You have to forget everything you know and have seen regarding the original 7.5 movies to appreciate this one. Nobody can replace Robert Englund, that’s a fact. But the casting was really well done here when you take it at face value. Consider that this has Rooney Mara from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Connie Britton from season 1 of American Horror Story and Nashville and Friday Night Lights, Kellen Lutz who was some lame-ass vampire in the Twilight films, Kyle Gallner from A Haunting in Connecticut, Jennifer’s Body, and was Beth’s boyfriend in the season premiere of season 4 of The Walking Dead, Katie Cassidy who was the star of the remake of Black Christmas, Thomas Dekker who played John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Oh yeah, and Clancy Brown who was a hoss in Shawshank Redemption, Highlander, Starship Troopers, and the voice of Lex Luthor in the Justice League cartoon series. The casting was really amazing actually.
I loved that this movie started right off with a dream sequence. That’s the right thing to do. So we get to see Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy. The first impression from me was, the makeup was decent. The big problem was the voice. And here’s where I realize that no matter what, I could not separate his portrayal from Englund’s. If you had never seen the previous ones, I will say that Haley’s performance was really good, in the dark sense. He doesn’t charm us with funny one-liners, he sticks to being a badass mother fucker, which a lot of fans were clamoring for. It’s like they gave us fans what we asked for, but we still, perhaps unfairly, held it to the ridiculously lofty expectations of Nightmare’s past.
I gotta also give this movie props for trying to go for the kill early on with some good dream sequences while keeping some of the classic elements. A diner, or in a school for instance. These are cornerstones to build upon. Oh, I am very pumped that they did the infamous bedroom kill. It’s one of, if not the most famous death scene in Nightmare history.
They did honestly try to give the loyal fans enough blasts from the past while still making this unique.
I definitely enjoyed having a scene in the bookstore. I myself once filmed a “spooky” sequence in a bookstore, and I have always been fascinated by the rows and rows of bookshelves. Everything collides and comes together, it feels claustrophobic at times. To me, it’s a vastly underrated place.
Hey, we even had the infamous bathtub scene. So they took almost all of the iconic moments, recreated them fairly close to the original, and then added a different story to surround them. Most importantly, in my opinion, is how the give us Freddy’s origin story.
The bloody body bag scene!!!! I do prefer the original’s take on that much much better. I felt they could’ve done that to make it creepier or more disturbing.
I love to hear “All I Wanna Do Is Dream” by the Everley Brothers. Great song to use for the film.
The character development for Freddy is tremendous, and they tied Nancy’s character much, much closer to him this time. I don’t know if I really like some of the special effects. Sometimes I really do prefer what they did 30 years ago.
In conclusion, they tried. It was a really good effort. I think this gets dismissed because unlike say a remake of Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the 13th where the killer doesn’t speak, you can substitute anyone in that role. With Freddy, it’s hard as hell. You can’t remake Rocky, you can’t remake Wizard of Oz, you can’t remake American History X or The Usual Suspects and have somebody replace that iconic figure and expect the audience to react positively. The only way you do that is what they did with Heath Ledger with the Joker, and in that sense, the Joker was a completely different character than the one Jack played. With that all being said, it’s still a really good and effective movie. You can nitpick all day, I get it. But was the original Nightmare really truly a flawless movie? Hell no. It’s my favorite horror franchise, but the original has tons of flaws. But I love it and that’s how I treat this movie, minus the nostalgia. I give it a 6.6. It was very well done. And if you wanna debate this, bring it on.
Final Rating: 6.6
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
- New Line Cinema (presents)
- Platinum Dunes
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