The antichrist of Hollywood (Michael Bay) strikes again, with yet another remake of a horror classic. This new version is slick, yet this does not detract from its pointlessness.
The teens of Springwood are having nightmares, all featuring the same frightening character. Things take a turn for the worse when Freddy Krueger starts to cross the line from dream into reality…
Samuel Bayer’s remake does not stray too far from the original material. Many of the characters and set-ups are kept intact. A noticeable exception to this is the absence of Nancy’s father, a police officer. The lack of police presence in the remake is palpable. With the violent suicides and murders that occur, Bayer’s film is made all the more incredulous by a lack of interest from the authorities.
A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s chief character is of course Freddy Krueger. Jackie Earle Haley offers a performance not overly dissimilar from Robert Englund’s. However, Freddy seems to have longer strings of dialogue in this film than the original. The lack of explanation from Freddy in 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street certainly enhanced the fear factor of the iconic film character. You can’t help but feel that if a remake of this film was deemed necessary, director Bayer has missed a trick in not altering the antagonist to a greater extent.
Elsewhere performances are adequate, never illuminating. The effects utilised in the film are convincing, although the original seems gorier in comparison. The soundtrack works well, particularly the use of The Everly Brothers’ ‘All I Have to Do is Dream’.
With all the action and jumpy sequences that precede it, the climax appears a little lacklustre. Whilst the film is reasonably enjoyable, hopefully it will not be successful enough to spawn an unnecessary sequel. 1985’s A Nightmare on Elm Street part 2 was bad enough.
I Heart The Talkies 