If you’re not familiar with the story then let me catch you up. Freddy Krueger is haunting the dreams of a group of teenagers. While most people would call what’s happening to them as mere nightmares, the nightmares are physically real. If Krueger wants to kill one of them he can and they die in real life. Confused and baffled, the group does its best to stay awake, but like Krueger it eventually catches up with them. The group must find a way to destroy the nightmares and Krueger.
Let’s talk about the positives before we dive into the negatives.
A Nightmare on Elm Street paid respect to Wes Craven’s original work. They made sure to capture the essence of the raw character that was Freddy Krueger. Jackie Earle Haley did a great job of bringing that raw, scary character that Krueger embodied to life in this remake. While he’ll never truly take over the role from Englund, Haley did establish a very scary Krueger of his own.
Another positive was the setting that director Samuel Bayer created for Krueger to play in. It’s a very contained world that doesn’t let much out. You aren’t introduced to useless characters; everyone that is a major player has enough screen time to contribute something to the overall story (sans the parents). Bayer and crew did a great job with creating a scary, insecure world and it shows in more than enough scenes.
With all of this said, let’s move on to the other side of the coin. The negatives of the film regretfully outweigh the positives.
While Bayer and company captured the essence of the ‘scary’ part of the original they opted out on the sick ‘humorous’ part. One popular element that Wes Craven included in his Freddy Krueger was the character doing something positively horrifying, but follow it up with humor that would dissipate some of that ‘horror’ feeling. Granted, the humor got a wee bit out of control with the other five sequels, but it did offer some personality to the character and film. You won’t find any of that humor in this remake.
On top of this missing element you’ll also find a flat story. The parents played a huge part in the original film and built suspense about Freddy’s past. The big reveal at the end of the 1984 version was that Freddy was burned alive by the parents for a nasty deed he did. The parents hardly play a role in 2010 version of the film and leave the kids to stumble upon random things that eventually connect them to Freddy in a dastardly way. Without the parents the scenes of horror and plot points seem a bit disjointed and uninspired. The parents are the key to this entire story and the suspense doesn’t build without them. There are plenty of opportunities to include them, but all opportunities are wasted. The one flashback that explains the reason Krueger is the way he is seems oddly placed.
Ultimately, the story is a bit of a mess and that’s truly the reason this remake doesn’t work. All the elements of success were there and the story just didn’t make it work, which again is regretful.
Still, there are some redeeming moments of scary that make you forget how bad the story is constructed and you have to appreciate Haley’s Krueger.
Let’s shift gears here a bit and talk about the Blu-ray portion of the film. If you’re looking for a good looking Blu-ray then you’re going to be pleased with what New Line Home Entertainment has done with A Nightmare on Elm Street. It looks good and that bodes well for this horror film. I firmly believe that Blu-ray makes action and horror films better and this is certainly the case with this film. The moments are raw and tough to watch in some areas. For example, when the first kid bites it at the beginning of the film, the knife going into his neck looks positively disgusting in HD. What’s even better/worse is the sound effect that comes with that first slice in the film; it’s positively disgusting and truly enhanced by the Blu-ray format.
What are also enhanced are the special features you get with this release. You get a wonderful alternate ending (not sure if it worked better or not) and a slew of featurettes on how the movie was made. I found the featurettes completely fascinating, as the crew and cast talk the old film and new film, how the make-up was done for Haley, the costumes and how the cast was chosen and their roles. The best part about the featurettes is probably when the filmmakers talk about the old film versus their vision. They pay a sort of homage to Craven’s version and give some reasons for doing what they did with the newer version. It’s really well done material.
There are plenty of good features, all in HD, and they help the film a bit. It’s just too bad they are probably going to be more embraced than the actual film itself.