Went and saw the new "Nightmare on Elm Street" last night at a free screening. I tried to walk into the movie with little to no expectations since we all know that remakes usually never live up to the originals. Well the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake I thought was actually great and that was put out by Platinum Dunes also, but don't get to excited they are also the same company that put of the "Friday the 13th" remake.
The movie is thrown together kinda of like an unorganized hodgepodge of events. There is no real character development and you actually don't care about anyone in the cast. The new "Nancy" is this emo girl that is just not endearing and you don't care if she lives or dies, where as the old "Nancy" you actually liked her and you saw her growth throughout the movie. The pace of the film is all over the place and they seem to catch on to the events so quickly and just instantly believe they're all having this same dream about the same man and he's killing them in their sleep and everyone just so quickly buys into it. In the original it takes a lot of convincing for anyone to believe it's really happening, I mean Johnny Depps character doesn't believe at all, until it's to late. The climax is also just so anti climactic, and it wraps up so fast. I had read a lot of early trip reports about the movies and also reviews from test screenings and it sounds like a lot of scenes had been written and filmed and changed various times and a lot of scenes have been cut or altered from the first version. I would LOVE to see that version since they think this version they put out is an improvement.
Lets discuss Jackie Earl Hayley's rendition of Freddy Kreuger now there is no doubt that he is a great actor and does amazing jobs in his movies. But would you really be frightened by Rorschach w/ knives for fingers and a man that probably weights 130 wet and stands at 5'0? They have kept the details of his face tightly under wraps and I was excited to see how technology would change and hopefully improve his face. I think the makeup and effects were amazing but alas Robert Englunds makeup was better. This time around Freddy Kreuger does look more like a burn victim but he also has so many feline features it reminded me of the people from Stephen Kings "Sleepwalkers"
This Freddy is a lot darker and there aren't "as many" Freddy jokes as in years past. But also they divulge into his back story and you learn a tad more about his history with children which was interesting and gave you the willies a lot more with the new Freddy. He wasn't as scary because of his appearance this time around but rather the history was of him was creepy. Would I have been happy if I had paid for the movie, eh maybe.
But Platinum Dunes, you fail again. This is one instance where I would rather watch the original. Robert Englund and Wes Craven for the win!
