A
troubled teenager named Dean Russell
(Kellan Lutz) is having bad dreams about
a man in a red and white sweater with a
glove and blades named Freddy Krueger
(Jackie Earle Haley) in which he talks to
one of his friends at a diner named Kris
Fowles (Katie Cassidy) about this man in
which she encounters him killing himself
while he falls asleep.
Next Freddy stalks Kris as well as her
boyfriend Jesse Braun (Thomas Dekker) in
their dreams as Kris is the next victims
and Jesse is in prison framed for her
murder. But he gets slaughtered by Freddy
when he dreams of being on bail.
Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara) and her
boyfriend Quentin Smith (Kyle Gallner)
try to stick together and stay awake as
they find out the history when they went
to kindergarten in which Freddy was a
landscaper at their school and spent time
with the kids there in which he had a
deep dark secret with them on how he was
burned alive by the parents in which both
Nancy and Quentin thinks that they might
have lied to their parents about and now
he's seeking revenge in their dreams.
There's a terrific
shot on a rainy night exposing a 24 hour
diner with the camera almost closing in
as well as a good moment on a supporting character named Dean Russell acting like a
deadbeat basketcase at the diner asking
for a refill on his coffee along with a
good shot on the
waitress acting expressionless walking
away into a room in which this really
grabs attention to the set that something
here isn't right as well as a good camera
shot on Dean following her and
then a good shot on Freddy Krueger standing behind him exposing
his blades. There's a great surprise
attack by Freddy towards Dean with him clawing his arm which makes you
jump and then a nice anxious waking up by
him at the diner and a good close up
camera shot on his hand with a bloody
claw mark revealed on him.
There's a good discussion with Kris Fowles approaching him at the diner
table trying to talk to him as well as a
good shot on Dean looking out of it and
acting like a basket case telling her
about this killer in his dreams and that
he will die for real if he sleeps which
seemed quite impressive.
There's a great moment with Freddy grabbing Dean in the diner
pointing a blade to his neck as well as a
shot on Dean standing up asleep
grabbing a knife in a diner screaming and
struggling with a good close up shot on
him cutting himself wide with the knife.
There's a nice still settings taking
place at a funeral which really adds on
to the plot of the film and not rushing
it at all which I found very necessary
bringing on to the excitement later on
with what will happen to the rest of
these teenagers.
There's a good shot looking down on Nancy Holbrook with a shot on the wall of a
head shape moving towards her done by Krueger himself which looked a little more updated for a
horror feel to it than in the original
one but yet doesn't look as dark and
creepy.
There's a good moment with Kris in a burned up classroom backing away
from Freddy with him evilly creeping up to
her and bringing his blades to her
telling her it won't hurt a bit.
Plus there's some okay
nightmare sequences at the Springwood
Highschool but yet some of the moments
weren't too deep into the fast action on
Krueger ready do away on his prey or even
the similar dark like creepiness with
these moments which was a bit of a
disappointment. Yet there are some
jumping moments which kinda makes up for
that.
Too many remakes
are my words and this was one of them. Of
course it's exciting to go and watch a
movie updated that you were fond of the
original in which I find to be the best
slasher film ever. I went to the theatre
to watch this which was a full house and
it starts off as very exciting and
entertaining showing a diner as well as
advertising a light saying 24 hours and
coffee sales which makes it impressive.
There's nice jumping moments at the first
victim keeps dreaming about Krueger
attacking which seems to be a totally
different touch compared to the original
in which it shows the character Tina in a
boiler room running away from Krueger in
her nightgown.
There's a good scene with Kris and a younger version of her pulling her to play hide and seek as well
as the older one looking near a corner
with Freddy counting and then
evilly creeping up towards her about to
strike at her along with a good shot on
her waking up in bed having a still
silent moment and then him suddenly attacking her in the room which
has a great jumping feel to all of this.
There's also a good focus on the
boyfriend named Jesse witnessing the death of his
girlfriend killed in her sleep and hiding
in the neighborhood which doesn't focus
as much in the original which I thought
looked necessary too.
There's lots of great takes on Jesse running away out in the neighborhood
acting upset and scared as well as him
entering a bedroom speaking to Nancy and
trying not to sound anxious to tell
others he didn't kill his girlfriend.
There's a good shot on Nancy taking off her clothes and going into a
bathtub as well as a great shot on her
lying there and falling asleep with Freddy's blade's rising up from the water. Very much a memorable moment in the original.
I did enjoy the one liners with the
mother calling up someone telling someone
that her daughter remembers Freddy
Krueger's name which makes the story an
unsolved mystery about to unwind.
The plot did take some time about
Krueger's history with the children
during a flashback sequence and how the
kids got attached to him and the parents
seeking revenge on him during a dream
sequence with one of the kids watching at
what they're doing to him which seemed a
bit disturbing making you wonder if he
was an okay guy after all and seeking
revenge against children telling lies
about him to their parents. This dream
sequence almost reminded more of a similar
one in Freddy Vs Jason.
There's a good shot on Jesse on
the front of a bunk bed in a prison obsessing
to himself not to go to sleep with a shot
on another person below him telling him to shut up which
makes you wonder if he's gonna kick his
ass.
There's a nice moment with Jesse walking in the hall of the prison house
as if he's on bail like he was told and
then the room going dark with the
corridors closing in on him which looked
quite creepy.
There's a great flashback sequence with a
nice close up shot on Freddy as a human being using a garden scraper upclose
landscaping and spending time with the
kids playing hide and seek.
However with the two teenage survivors
unravelling their memories on Krueger's
life with them is a bit of a
disappointment as well as how the story
almost ends which seems quite stale and
it looked like whoever did this had a
writers block wondering what to do next
to make this remake different.
There's great shots on Quentin swimming laps in a pool with a good shot
underneath the water on him swimming and
then being pulled underneath and later on
rising up in a pool outside near a boiler
room acting like he's freezing half to
death as well as good shots on locals chasing after Freddy along with him holding a door shut
pleading to them which looks disturbing
as well as good shots on these people ready
to burn the place down. Then there's a
great effects shot on Freddy being burned alive leaping out towards Quentin. Plus there's a good camera shot up
close on him waking up and
coughing on a pool floor with the camera
shot zooming back.
There's a great shot on Nancy in
a vehicle about to fall asleep with a
nice jumping moment on Freddy grabbing her and trying to pull her out
of the vehicle which looked quite brutal.
There's a good close up shot on Freddy maming Quentin as well as shots on corpses hung
upside down while he's doing this.
There's also a good shot on Nancy running up some stairs as well as falling
into the floor which turns out to be a
pool of blood.
However the very end looked terrific with
great special effects in which I won't
give the story away.
Bottom line is the film is an updated
version to the original with better
effects and it can seem scary at times
but the story doesn't blend in too well
like in the original and can be a
comparable just above average remake like Rob Zombie's Halloween.
But alot of the plotlines were very
different than the original but not in a
better fashion. The film can be fun to
watch on the big screen but that's about
it.
The acting is very
well done in which I almost didn't
picture Jackie Earle Haley (Freddy Krueger) portraying this role when
I saw him acting inncocent in shows like Breaking Away but he knew how to
speak coldly and menacingly too that he
proved worthy as a versatile character
actor. Yet he doesn't meet up to Englund at the same time. He showed a good
innocence during flashback sequences
though as when he was alive and acting
very deceiving. He also shows some good brutal blocking when he needed to be forceful.
Kyle Gallner (Quentin Smith) brought some descent
energy to the role of his character as
the lead teenager in the film by acting
paranoid and anxious too. He brings out
alot of intensity as well as behaving
like a basket case too by what he has to
go through by acting totally out of it in a certain scene of the story. Also does a great job acting anxious and aggressive towards an onscreen principal. Nice moment with him crying
in pain while being mamed. He was convincing enough to
portray this part and seeming to study
his role clearly too.
Rooney Mara (Nancy Holbrook) seemed not too bad portraying this role but this character is
different than the part Langenkamp portrayed in the original but going
through some of the similar situations.
She tried to show a tough attitude but at
the same time her energy wasn't at it's
peak like this character was meant to be.
Yet does a nice job cussing towards the killer showing a great aggressive attitude while doing this. Oh well you can't always win. However, she does well with her intense behavior towards her onscreen parent demanding to know who Freddy is which looked powerfully performed. She does another nice job by trying to beg on onscreen nurse not to put her to sleep.
Katie Cassidy (Kris Fowles) I found to be the best
supporting actress in the film showing
great upsetting emotions and trying to
act brave as well. She knew how to cry on
set and made it look like she really was
that upset to the picture along with doing well by screaming in terror in many scene's of the film. She brought
out alot of great characterisitics and
hardly ever slowing down to what she had
to do in each scene of the film. However there's a certain scene in the film when she tries to run back to her house that her reactions to this looked a bit phony.
Thomas Dekker (Jesse Braun) does a good job with his anxious attitude while trying to act calm after a horrifying incident. Also does a nice job while getting obsessive to prevent himself from falling asleep too.
Connie Britton (Dr. Gwen Holbrook) certainly became an
attraction to the camera as the parent to
the lead female in the film but wasn't
portraying an alcoholic. She was very
good and clear with her lines as well as
really coming across powerfully at times
when she needed to be. She portrayed a
perfect key role to the film.
There's a special appearance by Clancy
Brown (Alan Smith) in which I had to mention as
he does well portraying a serious school
principal in the film and delivered his
part very well and often liked the parts
he portrayed since I've seen him play an
asshole stepfather in Pet Semetary 2 but
this times takes on a challange
portraying a different type of family man
who seems more descent. Does well with his firm and serious mode while having a heated argument. Way to go Brown!!!!
There's many
peoples chests clawed by the blades with
a violent bloodshed
A guy cuts through his neck with a knife
in a diner
Freddy tears through his blades through a
guys chest
A wrist is chopped off
A throat is sliced open
Eyes are poked out of a face by Krueger
through a mirror
The music sounded neatly
done with some brand new sounds including
some low stormy sounding violin playing
plus many times a sound of a woman
chanting in harmony. There's some of the
odd traditional theme music too like in
the original flicks. Plus there's great
banging and screeching sound effects too
which works incredibly well by making you
jump alot. The music was put together by Steve
Jablonsky
[first lines]
Dean Russell: Can I have another? Hey. Can I have some more coffee, please?
Freddy Krueger: You really shouldn't fall asleep in class.
[scratches chalkboard]
Freddy Krueger: Hi, Kris.
Kris Fowles: [backing away from Krueger] Who are you?
Freddy Krueger: [walking towards Fowles] You look just as beautiful as ever.
[raises his glove]
Freddy Krueger: You have nothing to worry about. This wont hurt one... little... bit.
Quentin Smith: We were wrong. He's not after us because we lied. He's after us because we told the truth.
Nancy Holbrook: He brought us here so we could remember what he did to us.
Jesse Braun: Just don't fall asleep. If you die in your dreams, you die for real.
Nancy Holbrook: [Cuts off Freddy's hand] It hurts now, doesn't it? That because you're in my world now, bitch.
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