I didn't grow up watching the "Elm Street" flicks like many of my friends. Although throughout the years I've caught bits of them on TV and figured out pretty quickly that they aren't my kind of movies anyway. In early college I did finally see the first film in the franchise(the only one Wes Craven planned to make at the outset) which I thought was not so bad.
My problem with the original franchise is that it failed to remain scary. From the get go, Freddy was a villain who was there to entertain the audience as much as he was there to scare them. Before long, he failed to be scary and turned into a walking bad one-liner machine, breaking the fourth wall to connect with the audience in a way that drains power from any movie monster. This couldn't have been demonstrated much better than in the last Robert Englund Freddy movie, "Freddy Vs. Jason", which I saw in theaters out of morbid curiosity. (And yes, it was about as bad as you're imagining.)
Seven years later, Hollywood is taking another crack at reinventing the character. (The first attempt was in "Wes Craven's New Nightmare".) And this new vision is one I can say I really enjoyed! Jackie Earl Haley is unsurprisingly wonderful as Fred Kruger. He shows an unexpected softness in the flashback sequences about his origins and couldn't be more different as the genuinely frightening nightmare creature that haunts and stalks the protagonists.
The changes in make-up for Freddy were a big plus, as he now looks much more like a real burn-victim. There is a strange touch of sympathy I felt for Freddy as I looked at his scars, but this was vastly overwhelmed by the way he creeped me out. Freddy is not here to entertain in this movie. He is here to torment and kill. Although he does have a few lines flavored with gallows humor, they weren't designed to make the audience laugh, but to remind us of how disturbingly evil Freddy is.
There are no big names (aside from Haley) in this film, but a few familiar faces. For a film of this genre, the performances are solid and certainly a vast improvement over the standards set in the 80's. Special effects are also enjoyable, without many tell-tale CGI moments.
A downside of this movie is that it is a remake, rather than a re-imagining of the original "Elm Street". Several scenes and shots have been pulled from the original film and redone with new effects and from different angles, but there are not any creatively original effects gags in this movie. The plot is also nearly identical to the original film, though with a better script that focuses more on Freddy and his motivation to do what he does.
There are no strong philosophical themes in this movie, but one reference is a bit peculiar. One character is wearing a cross of some kind. Non-typical in design, it is not a cross that evokes traditional Christianity. When the character is asked why he wheres it, since he doesn't seem like the "religious" type, he says that "you've gotta believe in something, right?" Near the end, this character gives the cross necklace to a friend before she attempts to do something she is frightened of and he again says, "you've gotta believe in something, right?" Neither the necklace nor cross play any role in the resolution of the story. It just seems injected without purpose, except perhaps as a subtle nod to the "Freddy Jump-rope Song" used in this movie: 5, 6, grab a crucifix. The line is a reminder again that in the self-defeating philosophy of "pop-spirituality", belief in itself is what is important, while the object of belief is irrelevant.
This is a genuinely scary move that both fans and non-fans of the original franchise should check out if they are in the mood for a fright or if they just love a good monster movie.
Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language.
Quality: 9.0/10
Relevance: 7.0
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