Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street

I have a love/hate relationship with horror movies. I love The Exorcist, The Shining, The Omen. I love Alfred Hitchcock and Dario Argento. I love the campy horror like the Evil Dead series, Any Zombie movie and the absolutely hilarious (albeit unintentional) 80's slasher films. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kreuger were staples of my growing up.

Then comes the hate part: Horror Movie Remakes. I admit, I do dig a few. I loved The Ring (It's also the only PG13 horror movie I liked, the original was awesome too) I actually enjoyed the Amityville Horror and House of Wax remakes. Most of them however, suck. Most people agree, but then again, they have that demographic of people that are too lazy to find the originals so they embrace the remakes. Some of them end up being quite successful. Last years 'Friday the 13th' remake had a strong box office, but other remakes such as 'The Last House on the Left' and 'The Hills Have Eyes' failed (hint: Nobody wants to watch a rape/revenge movie) Let's not get started on the remakes of foreign horror movies. The fact that they are remaking Susperia already makes me want to bang my head on the wall..onto the review.

We all know Freddy Kreuger, we don't really need a plot explanation here. It's set in modern times versus the 1984 original. We get to see a little more of Freddy's past. We already knew he was a child killer and probably a pedophile. They just actually come out and say it in this one. We get another group of questionable actors to play our doomed teenagers.

What made this film interesting to me was Jackie Earl Haley. He's an awesome actor, he's very interesting. I loved watching him as Freddy, but I never really believed him as Freddy. That's not taking away from his acting (which was very good) It's just that you get used to seeing Robert Englund all these years that seeing someone else just isn't quite... Freddy. I looked at him as if he were just another serial killer imitating Freddy Kreuger.

They payed a few homages to the original, which was nice. The teens in this movie don't really give us a reason to care about them like we cared for Nancy in the original, but they do well with what they've got. I didn't think there was as much blood as the original series, but some people would disagree. Basically, Michael got a reboot, Jason got a reboot, it's only fair that Freddy gets one too. Although I didn't think it was a great movie, it was still entertaining. Maybe it will encourage some young viewers to go dig out the previous installments and see what we had to grow up with as children. Either way, Fine performance by Haley, not as good as the original, but no one was expecting it to be.

Recommended: Yes (you might as well)

Grade: C

Memorable Quote: "I don't know what it is you think I did" - Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earl Haley) Oh we already know what you did, Freddy.