Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

JohnnyTwoToes has no nightmares seeing this lame remake!

As a fan of the original 1984 Nightmare On Elm Street, I was nervous about watching the 2010 Hollywood retread of Nightmare On Elm Street with Rooney Mara (The Girl With Dragon Tattoo) in her first major studio role. Sadly, this version reportedly with a $35 million budget and the backing of Hollywood mogul Michael Bay, is not only not nearly as good as its original but in reality, its quite a bad film, seriously!

This time around, Jackie Earle Haley plays the pedophile razor blade gloved, striped sweater wearing, evil psychopath Freddy Krueger who invades your dreams and GETS YOU! If you die in your dreams, you die in real life. Of course, no one believes such hogwash and more teens are mercilessly slaughtered until Nancy (Mara) and Quentin (Kyle Gallner) manage to pull a solution out of their asses and figure a way on how to kill evil Freddy. 

Teens who have not seen the original 1984 cult hit will no doubt like (or even love) this film, but those of us who have some years will know that the Wes Craven first edition is still king. Visually at least, this  2010 edit offers all the blood works expected of a big-budget horror slasher flick and more so, maybe because Samuel Bayer, the director is well-known for his prowess in making TV ads and popular music videos for bands like Nirvana, Rolling Stones, Green Day and many more. 

However, the acting is very average and the script by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer is flat all the way through, inherently shallow and weak. Oscar nominated Jackie Earle Haley is no doubt, a fine actor who has done it all (just look at his resume on IMDB) but he seems to lack the depth and skills here to match the kind of macabre, twisted fun and wicked wit you got watching the original Freddy (Robert Englund). 

Unlike the original which spawned 8 sequels, this remake was and is perhaps aimed at the lucrative teen horror market. Nothing more can justify its distinctive rank - apparently its the eighth all-time highest grossing slasher film in unadjusted dollars !

So, here's my advice? If you want vintage Freddy Krueger fun, save your money or rent the original. Or if you want to simply see a glossy but shoddy reimagining 0f a Horror classic, watch this. A word of note on notable music by Steve Jablonsky and his a 60-piece string ensemble which enlivens an otherwise dumb film. Nightmare On Elm Street(2010) -*1/2 out of 4.