A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)



It's not really fair to judge a movie without seeing it, I know. But - can we talk about the trailer for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake? Bluntly, it looks terrible.

The fact that it starts out with a mob of outraged parents chasing Freddy to his fiery death immediately suggests that this film is going to get everything all wrong. Fred Krueger, child murderer, is not what's interesting about the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and whenever the movies have previously tried to explain his origin story, it really hasn't worked. What makes the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise different from every other horror movie is the whole nightmare schtick; the clue's in the title, really. The idea that your nightmares might actually be dangerous is a brilliant one, and the franchise is always at its strongest when it finds interesting - and personalised - ways to off its victims. What's scary in a Nightmare on Elm Street movie is, obviously, Freddy, but also the contents of one's own subconscious. Dwelling on Fred Krueger pre-barbecuing seems like missing the point.

The aesthetic of the film also seems uninspired. Blue filters, way too much CGI, flashy quick-cutting... yawn. Aren't there enough films that look like that already?

I wanted to be open-minded about this remake. If I'm honest, as much as I love Robert Englund as Freddy and don't really want him to be replaced, the original Nighmare on Elm Street hasn't aged well. It's not a perfect film, and it's possible that someone could have made a great remake of it. But based on that trailer, it doesn't look like they have.

IMDB link

1 comment:

Oliver said...

I feel sorry for the actor playing Freddy. He already played a paedo before, in the film Little Children. Talk about negative typecasting.