The nightmare returns
Since 1984, Freddy Krueger has haunted audiences’ dreams. The biggest reason for Nightmare’s success comes from Robert Englund, the actor who played Freddy in all seven films, as well as the 2003 Freddy vs. Jason. With the release of the 2010 version of A Nightmare on Elm Street, viewers were curious as to how Jackie Haley would compare.Alongside a new Freddy, the film has a new director. Samuel Bayer, a director of music videos till now, took on the role of reinventing Freddy. And when it surfaced that Michael Bay, the man responsible for Transformers and Pearl Harbor, was the new producer, excitement flared.The plot was relatively the same as the previous Nightmare films. Freddy is seeking revenge against the families that took his life. The killer accomplishes this goal by slipping into the dreams of those who got him in trouble and killing them. The character’s names are different from the original, except for Nancy that is. With nothing but a new last name, her character is almost identical to Nancy Thompson.The biggest disappointment came from the murders themselves. The original movies show unique, albeit horrifying deaths for Freddy’s dreamers. I know we can all remember the scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, where Freddy pulls a girl into the TV screaming, “Welcome to Prime Time.”However, this movie takes those scenes out, leaving us with a view of the tortured teens rather than their imaginative murders. Well, that is excluding that final murder, which is by far the best one.As for Freddy Krueger himself, he didn’t look like the same. Haley’s makeup made this 2010 Freddy look more like an alien life-form, than a burned human.Overall, the greatness of the Nightmare classics remain untouched. The film lacks the creativity present in the Wes Craven films. And having taken Freddy out of this world, and not in the good way, this film is a disappointment to all Nightmare fans.