A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET A Frightful Remake

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

A Frightful Remake

Directed by Samuel Bayer
Starring Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Thomas Dekker, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Kellan Lutz, Connie Britton, Clancy Brown

For the most part, many feared a remake of Wes Craven’s landmark frightfest A Nightmare On Elm Street. Part of the charm of Craven’s 1984 flick – which told the tale of a badly-burnt demonic figure who knocks off teenagers in their dreams – was its low-frills charm; there was something magnificent about the guerilla-style filmmaking and special effects techniques then-broke writer/director Craven and producer Bob Shaye were forced to use on the film.

But in addition to that, most were up in arms that Robert Englund, the thespian who’d made the character of ‘Freddy Krueger’ his own, playing the role in eight films, wouldn’t be returning. Unlike fellow horror monsters Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees (from Friday the 13th), and Leatherface (from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Krueger wasn’t a mute monster that lurks in the shadows – he had a voice, a presence, and a way about him. Quite simply, one couldn’t imagine an Elm Street movie without the wonderfully wicked comical stylings of the terrific Englund under the make-up.

But then the trailer for director Samuel Bayer’s remake of Elm Street surfaced - and, quite frankly, it didn’t look too bad. The new Freddy, played by Oscar Nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children, Watchmen) would take some getting used to, but the fact that it ‘suggested’ it was as much a prequel to Craven’s film as were a remake, coloured most of us intrigued.

Platinum Dunes’ (they’re the crowd who also remade The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday The 13th) remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street is exactly that – a blatant scene-for-scene remake. The ‘back-story’ of Krueger that the trailer hinted at? Sure, it’s there, but it lasts about all of ten minutes, and the rest, an audaciously slothful scene-for-scene clone of the original – just without the punch or power of its predecessor.

The kids of Springwood are all having bad dreams about the same guy – a badly-burnt dude wearing a Christmas jumper and fedora who dons a razor-bladed glove. The guy is, of course, Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) a revenge-seeking demon who, many years before, was burnt to death by the parents of Springwood, after it was discovered he’d molested their children. Freddy’s somehow (it’s never explained here; suppose it was never explained in the original either so no big beef) discovered the power to kill the children, now teenagers, who ratted on him all those years ago, via their dreams. One-by-one, Nancy (Rooney Mara) and her friends (played mostly by recognisable young TV and Twilight stars) are hunted down in their slumber by the sadistic sucker.

Bayer’s remake may have had more money, but it has none of the heart – it’s made by people who have no respect for the franchise (that was pretty clear from day one though, being that they never even asked for Craven’s blessing to remake his film), scripted by Wesley Strick who has added nothing even remotely new or interesting to proceedings, and filmed with less flair than an unsponsored race car driver’s speedster. This is sloppy point-and-shoot plagiarism.

To be fair, the always-good Jackie Earle Haley makes for a pretty fine Krueger, and in a better movie (even a better remake), we mightn’t have minded so much that he’d stolen someone’s pass to gain admittance to the Boiler Room, but the fact of the matter is Englund could’ve still have played the part here – remake or no remake, there’s no real reason for the actor to have been replaced, especially considering he spends over three-quarters of the film in make-up anyway.

The young cast, try as they might (Melrose Place’s Katie Cassidy and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ Thomas Dekker faring the best), are also no match for the ensemble of the original film. Basically, this lot are bland, and unlike the main protagonists in the original picture, we don’t so much care what happens to this lot – so long as they suffer.

Like the central teens in this disgusting clone, hopefully Hollywood wakes up to itself before it’s too late. Only Dreamworld worth visiting this year is located on the Gold Coast.

_CLINT MORRIS