Dragging the depths of my old horror reviews, I thought they might need to see the light of day again. So, I bring you some of Joel's 'Classic' horror reviews....
I've long since overcome my dispute with remakes. Instead, I give them their day in court and try to keep an open mind. With the majority of the ones I've seen lately, they don't seem to be getting any better and with the recent news that Robert Zemeckis is looking to re-do 'The Wizard of Oz', I'm really wondering what they're going to be retooling next?
The original 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' was a film with heart. It was limited by the FX of the time, but Wes Craven had a vision and he carried it out as best he could. What he created gave birth to one of the most recognizable horror icons in the history of fright films. Not too mention, it spawned a ton of sequels, merchandise and even a TV show! Now, to the 2010 modernized retelling. Personally, I think Jackie Earle Haley is a talented guy. He's short and that kind of works against him in the title role of Freddy Krueger. However, he makes the best of it. The first thing that jumped out at me with this movie, was the makeup effects for Freddy. They went for a more realistic burn victim look. In the original, Freddy didn't look nearly as burned as he more looked like he had a pizza face.... but it worked. With the new makeup, it became distracting to look at Freddy. Also, his voice is much deeper and more menacing. It tended to give him a darker edge. A positive change was the way that Jackie used the glove, by rubbing the knives together in anticipation before he killed someone. It showed that he relished in what he was doing. That he enjoyed taking revenge on the children of Elm Street. He also kept the character from making jokes. Something that eventually destroyed the Elm Street franchise, in my opinion. My favorite scene in this movie was where Freddy had just killed the teen in the jail cell and then we cut to the dreamworld. In this space, Freddy had his victim hanging upside down and he comes right up to his face and says something like, “....the human mind lives on for 7 more minutes after dead. This means we have 6 more minutes to play.” If the whole movie was this sinister, it might have put the fear of Freddy back into us all. Sadly, this is the high point.
In regards to the new Nancy, played by Rooney Mara, I didn't care for her nearly as much as I did for Heather Langenkamp's portrayal. Needless to say, most of the characters just came off as flat and dull. Not too mention, something I covered earlier, this movie didn't have the same heart as the original version. It was a movie made for the sake of making a movie and for that, I started to lose interest after a while. I still enjoyed Jackie's portrayal. I only hoped for something more than what we got. There's talk of a sequel already and I kind of doubt that they could take it to a new place and a better place. But who knows? I'm sure I'll submit myself to watching it, as I'm always willing to give a movie a try. I give this 3 out of 5 stars. Mostly for Jackie Earle Haley's performance and not for the rest of the cast and crew. Sorry guys, but you didn't pull off a miracle. Finally, if you're a fan of the original, you may want to think twice before watching this one. Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and you'll end up loving it? But I doubt it.
(NEW thoughts from 2018: I've watched this again a few more times since this original review. I can honestly say that I still don't like it. Not that I don't care for remakes, but rather.... it's just not a good film. While it has some moments of good things happening and can be very effective, it is just too much of a hodge podge of ideas that never seem cohesive or logical. A horror film by committee. I would actually drop this to 2 out of 5 stars upon repeated viewings.)
If you like this or want something similar, check out: 'Friday the 13' (2009), 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2003) and 'My Bloody Valentine' (2009)
No comments:
Post a Comment