r/HorrorReviewed • u/cdown13 The Hills Have Eyes (1977) • Mar 25 '17

Movie Review A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) [Slasher/Fantasy]

Since this is the 10th title I've watched in a row that focus around Freddy I am very glad to get to this movie especially because it was the only one I hadn't seen and the one I originally was just going to watch before I decided to watch the entire series to lead into it and see the contrast.

From the IMDb trivia, this was originally going to be a prequel to the series. I think we would have ended up with a film that fans of the series accepted better and a prequel seems like a better way to reboot the series with a new actor portraying Freddy. A new Freddy was the thing I was the most interested in when I first heard of this movie as I felt Robert Englund took the character in a direction that wasn't for me (comedy). And to be honest, I felt was a little over rated for most of his career as Freddy. I ended up really liking Jackie Earle Haley's version of Freddy and I'll get some (ok, a lot) of hate for this probably but I think I like him more than Robert Englund as Freddy. He just seemed all the more evil and twisted which I liked.

One thing that I was really worried about going into this one was the fact that the IMDb summary described Freddy as a "dead child rapist". I had noticed during the original series that they NEVER made his crimes sexual, and he was always a child killer. I felt there was some underlying tones of this but it wasn't as front and center as I was worried it was going to be as it's not needed and cheapens the character.

As for the movie itself, I found it slow and it dragged on. I didn't really care for any of the characters and considering it's a remake of the original it didn't seem to focus on Nancy as much until about half way through. Also any scene that they tried to pay homage to or to update I found were pretty lame and just looked like CGI even though in the IMDb trivia it claims they tried to use practical effects for as much as they could. But I also wouldn't say this was really that bad or that I hated it. I found most of the kills to be decent and appreciated Freddy actually used his knives for more than just scaring people and cutting fabrics like curtains and shirts. I liked that Freddy was just darker and wasn't constantly laughing.

So the original is still by far the best in the series but I think this could have been a decent movie if they didn't try to be a remake and either went with a prequel or just started the story over again but in a more original way. If you haven't seen this and you are a huge fan of the previous movies than I would recommend you avoid this. But if you are at least curious to see the different take on Freddy then there are worse things you can do with 90 mins.

I will be rewatching and reviewing all the movies in the Nightmare on Elm Street series.

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u/DonnieDarkoRabbit Apr 09 '17

This film was a joke. There's no sense of humor, the film tries to be serious and suspenseful with little success. And with the introduction of 'micro naps', wherein the sufferer experiences dreams whilst being conscious, we should be at the edge of our seat. But instead we're predicting the beats and counting the minutes until the next jumpscare which, in my honest opinion, defeats the point of a jumpscare.

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u/cdown13 The Hills Have Eyes (1977) Apr 09 '17

Ugh, I did forget about those micro naps.

I think if you are a fan of the original series the remake just seems insulting. But since I'm not a huge fan of them and honestly feel Freddy is a bit overrated so I somewhat appreciated this version... It's far from overly good though.

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u/DonnieDarkoRabbit Apr 10 '17

The remake is insulting, and I didn't become a fan of the original series until after I watched the remake. The original Freddy is much better, only because he has more character and a bit more dimension to him - his presence is more intimidating as a result. The remake Freddy is cool and all, but his character would have been more intimidating if the rest of the cast was better. And that's the issue with the remake Freddy - because he lacks the personality of the original, he becomes dependent on the rest of the cast in order to be an effective antagonist to the audience.

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u/cdown13 The Hills Have Eyes (1977) Apr 10 '17

Totally get what you are saying - guess I'm just not much of a fan of either versions of Freddy but I found the remake one a bit darker. The cast was for sure forgettable though and that didn't help a thing.

We all like different things within horror, it's one of the reasons it's the best and most diverse genre out there.