A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

One of the most iconic faces of horror cinema is back on the big screen. On April 30th, A Nightmare on Elm Street premiered nationwide with actor Jackie Earle Haley (who gained much more attention after portraying Rorschach in WATCHMEN) as the evil Freddy Krueger who kills you in your dreams. The movie is a remake but is also a re-imagining of the 1984 classic of the same name written and directed by Wes Craven. The storyline is about a group of teenagers who are stalked by Freddy Krueger in their nightmares and one-by-one they get killed off by this monster. They then soon discover that in their childhood, they were all abused and molested by Freddy Krueger in their preschool and that Freddy was burned alive by the enraged parents of Elm street. Now back for revenge, Freddy is killing each and every one of the Elm street children now in high school. When this movie premiered, it received generally negative reviews, however looking at it for what it is, I enjoyed it. You don't leave the theater with a sense of awe like the original but it is an enjoyable movie. Jackie Earle Haley plays a very different Freddy Krueger which is more serious in tone rather than the slightly comical killer that Robert Englund played in the original Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. And instead of being a child murder, Freddy Krueger is now more like a child molester or a pedophile. Another thing that was changed about Freddy Krueger in this film was his face. The face of Freddy Krueger looks more realistic and actually looks more liked a burned victim. However, Robert Englund made such a huge impression on me, in my point of view you just can't replace a cultural icon like that. I do admit that Jackie Earle Haley was much darker, more serious, and [in some cases] far more creepier/scarier than Robert Englund but the comical Freddy Krueger is also what made the series entertaining but also scary because of his witty remarks and comments. But moving on from the character of Freddy Krueger, I believe the teenagers [who are stalked by Freddy] in this movie did a descent job in this movie and showed the horror of being stalked by Freddy. Rooney Mara plays Nancy, which is loosely based off the character Nancy Thompson played by Heather Langenkamp in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, who is a very lonely girl and was Freddy Krueger's favorite child at the preschool. Many of her friends played by Katie Cassidy, Kyle Gallner, Thomas Dekker, and Kellan Lutz are also systematically stalked and killed by Freddy. These actors, along with Rooney Mara, do not bring anything special to the movie but only serve as just ordinary and helpless victims of the murder. Overall, the acting was not inspiring, except the portrayal of Freddy Krueger by Jackie Earle Haley. However the special effects in the movie are great, especially when the real world transitions into the nightmares as well as the horribly burnt face of Freddy Krueger along with great cinematography. In general, I say go check this movie out for a good scare. As a movie I'll give it a 55 out of 100 but as a Freddy fan, I'll give it a 75 out of 100 because this is one of the better films in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.