A remake of the 1984 suspense slasher film by Wes Craven. This new version of the original follows along the same lines as the original. Teens are having horrible nightmares about a burned man with knives on one hand. As they are killed in their nightmares they are also killed in real life. Trying to stay awake and find out what is going on, Nancy, finds a way to bring Freddy out of the dream world in order to kill him and be rid of him for good.
The plot is an exact copy of the original, but this was to be expected. The pacing of the movie on the other hand was horrible. Within minutes into the film you are able to clearly see the main antagonist. Bye bye suspense. The transitions between the real and dream were too clear on this remake. In the original it would take the viewer a few minutes to realize in which world the movie was in. This added to the confusion and lack of safety. The remake did away with this as well.
The actors in the film had horrible scripts to follow and the dialogue seemed contrived in several parts of the film. Not only was the acting simply average, but the characters were unimpressive and undeveloped. When one of them would be killed you would not find yourself gasping in horror, just simply yawning and looking at your watch. Lastly for a slasher film this remake had the lowest bodycount of its genre.
Verdict: Flat characters, no suspense, nothing scary about it. (2 out of 5)
An interview of Wes Craven by a local radio station revealed that he long ago lost ownership of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise, and so had nothing to do with the remake.
ReplyDeleteAt least there's that much of a saving grace.