Rating of
2/4
Even Nightmares Can Become Dull
DivineTragedy92 - wrote on 05/31/10
Directed by Samuel Bayer
Starring Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Rooney Mara, Kellan Lutz, and Jackie Earle Haley
This re-imagining of the popular horror classic is not bad nor is it good. I personally was never bored throughout the film but it did suffer from some major problems. This film severely lacked creativity which made the dream sequences feel slightly dull and seem a bit uninteresting. The characters are a bit one dimensional but that is expected from horror films, and ultimately this film offers nothing new that the original films didn't already deliver. Despite those flaws, I have to admit that I was entertained by this film. As far as remakes go, this film was far more impressive than I expected it to be. Some of the cast members were quite good while others were quite boring. This film could have been great, but unfortunately I think it was merely made as a cash-in.
For the first time in the history of the series, Robert Englund does not reprise his role as the dream demon Freddy Krueger. This time, the killer is played by Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley. In my personal opinion, I think Jackie does a wonderful job of portraying the perverted murderer. What I really liked about his version of the character is that he is not as cartoonish as Englund was. Jackie makes the character darker and grittier, which I appreciated. The kids in this film are portrayed by both good and mediocre actors. Kyle Gallner and Katie Cassidy are both talented people, while most of the other youngsters involved are not. Kyle is a wonderful actor who I believe will go far in the world of cinema, and Katie is an actress who is just as talented as she is beautiful. The one performance that was completely boring and lifeless was from Rooney Mara. This girl just seemed like she couldn't care less about the film and since she is the lead of the young cast, her presence damaged the film. She's a cute girl, but her performance in this film was boring. Thomas Dekker is a decent actor but he achieves nothing special in this film. I'm sure it's quite difficult to be memorable in a horror film because of the fact that they don't possess much character development, making it difficult for the viewer to really care about anyon in the film. I cared about Kyle Gallner's character, but that's because I like him as an actor and not because his character was interesting. Kyle, Katie, and Jackie are good, while everyone else is a bore.
Overall, A Nightmare on Elm Street is an entertaining and enjoyable horror film but it's not at all scary because of the fact that it's nearly impossible to be scared by the same thing over and over again. The original film scared me, but after seeing several of these films all based around the same ideas and scenarios, I really don't find them to be that great anymore. The one thing I hated about this film is it's use of loud sounds as jump scares. Of course some of us jump when that happens but not because we're truly scared, but because the music is so damn loud and random that some of us jump a little. That's not an effective scare, that's called a cheap scare. This film is not terrible, but it's nothing memorable either. I had a fun time with it but I doubt it's a film I will remember years from now...