A Remake on Elm Street: A Discussion on the new Nightmare

A little while back, when I used to post my reviews on facebook, I wrote a little ditty about the script for the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Today the newest trailer has popped online and, whilst I still have massive misgivings about the whole thing, I'm now above being intrigued to actually being a little excited.

My opinions on the script still stand: flawed but has potential. Whilst it doesn't deliver anything new and goes about it's motions in generic Nightmare fashion, the one thing I dug was how dark it was. The premise of someone haunting your dreams is still terrifying and what the makers of this, admittedly needless, remake have sussed is that Kruger is the ultimate boogeyman. Gone is the camp-ness of the latter movies. Here Freddy is pure unsympathetic evil. Hayley, on the back of his brooding performance as Rorschach in Watchmen, seems like a no brainer casting wise (I love the delivery of "Why are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet").

But there is a definite style to this new beast. The colours are stark and bleak and there's no denying, even from the brief footage shown in the trailers, that this is a good looking movie. However, as Friday the 13th showed, a good looking film does not denote quality and whilst Samuel Bayer has made some prolific and decent music videos, more often than not (with the exception of David Fincher of course) these talents do not gel well on film. Just look at Michael Bay (although it is interesting to note that Bayer has clashed with his "hands on" producers. A case of too much studio interference me thinks?).

I'm being cautiously optimistic. Acting chops seem typically limited for this kind of film but so long as they can at least make an effectively creepy picture and not a complete disaster (again, I'm looking at Friday the 13th) I'll be happy. The potential is there and it's certainly the best material Platinum Dunes has had to work with. Then again, they have a tendency to fuck these things up. It could be a train wreck.

I am biased though. I've been a Freddy Kruger nut since about the age of 10, back in the days where he terrified the crap out of me.

Thoughts?

Luke Allen