I had a big problem with the new Nightmare on Elm Street. I sat through all the original films for the first time this past summer and really enjoyed them. I know they are cheesy and some of them are MUCH worse than others, but I still watched all of them and enjoyed the hilarious acting and most importantly the special effects. The first film in particular though had a lot of heart to it. It was well made and they did it on a budget that was realistic providing the circumstances surrounding the creation of the film. Although I typically don’t enjoy Wes Craven films, or horror films in general, I really liked it and thought it was a great avenue to be creative with dream worlds (which I particularly love to touch on academically, as lame as that sounds).

It wasn’t just the first film though, but almost every single one in the series where the special effects took the cake for me and I can’t begin to express how impressed I was. Whether it was simple (like Johnny Depp’s death in the first film and how they filmed the room upside down), or a bit more complicated (like a giant stretchy torso where nude models could push against it to simulate trapped souls), it was all done as “realistically” and in camera as possible at all times.

The new film lacked that heart though. It jumped right into trying too hard to be scary and left everything else behind. The deaths were very much overly gory and the acting was horrible not because it’s the 80’s, but because the actors and actresses who were cast had a terrible script to deal with. I think the most unforgivable “change” though was that in the new film they actually made Freddy a pedophile. They made the uncertainty that was the best part of the original and they drowned it out. In the original films, Freddy was burned alive for being a suspected pedophile and when he died he got his revenge by killing people. In the new films though he WAS a pedophile, which makes him coming back in people’s dreams and killing them that much harder to stomach. You don’t understand the motivation or drive behind these murders other than he was an awful person even in death.

There’s no light-heartedness either. Robert Englund’s portrayal of Freddy Krueger was outstanding. He was menacing and terrifying and also incredibly humourous and a goofball. I love Jackie Earle Haley, and in this avenue (of being a great actor in a more serious film) he did what he does - but there is no room for interpretation. He plays a bad guy with little to no motivation other than unnecessary revenge.

The whole film took what was a memorable series that defined horror as a genre and slapped a new coat of paint on it and ruined everything. I don’t think there was ever an instance where I really enjoyed the film other than to appreciate how good it looked in Blu-ray. It’s a bit of shame to see how amazing something looks when there is so little soul being put into it.

Buy it on Amazon.ca:
Blu-ray- Nightmare on Elm Street [Blu-ray]
DVD - Nightmare on Elm Street

If you’ve seen the film or even the original, what did you think?