Again, Markus has sent over another comparison review, this time looking at the original and remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street. I Personally have very fond memories of the original so avoided the remake. It's interesting reading. Check it out...
Though Craven's name seems to be more likely associated with terms like "washed up", "tired" and "sellout" by Today's unforgiving breed of horror fans, even the most hardened of "Wes Haters" will be hard pressed to downplay his hard earned place in the pantheon of the genre's landmark directors after paying a revisit to Elm Street.
Probably the single most important and influential movie of his whole career, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" did nothing less than changing the face of everything genre related following in its wake (and far beyond that) while extending the audeinece's acceptance for movies playing mindgames with their reality perception to a degree unthinkable before (and very much missed in Today's age of 'retro horror').
There'd been movies toying with the idea of nightmares before - most notably probably the first "Phantasm" - but "Elm Street" was the first horror flick to make them an instrumental part of its attack on teenage suburbia, thereby pushing mainstream horror FINALLY into the reality of the 80's - unlike the "Halloween" and "Friday" sequels, which always stayed true to their late 70's mindset.
Unlike any other popular genre director, Craven has been instrumental in making teen horror flicks siding with the kids again - after earlier slashers had been more interested into their "punishment".
The kids on Elm Street were still having premarital sex etc etc, BUT the main source of evil was initially spawned by their parents' guilt ridden past and their incapability of communicating with their offspring.
"Elm Street" is so refreshingly true with its split families and adults valuing the clean cut fassade of their picket fence home higher than taking an interest into their kid's dreams and worries, it's simply amazing how Craven managed to squeeze so many themes and notions into the under 90 mins running time of his modern fairy tale. No wonder the series would have much later a direct "Alice in Wonderland" reference.
Much more so than "Scream", "Elm Street" grabbed something essential about the teen spirit of its time, which allowed it to become such a popular movie with crowds, who'd normally not watch horror movies.
Robert Englund (here still billed as "Fred Krueger") is frightingly effective from the haunting opening sequence on, a masterstroke in the use of scary sounds and music to heighten the atmosphere, taking a great pleasure in leaving the viewer more and more disoriented and on the edge.
Given its budget restrictions, "Elm Street's" nightmares make the most out of their limited effects, they are very psychological attacks indeed and further proof that the man's treatment by Today's fans is sometimes ill advised.
A bit more respect for Wes and his achievements, please!
Heather Langekamp is one of the most memorable female teenage leads in a horror franchise. It's particularly her vulnerable, but resourceful portrayal of Nancy Thompson which helps the movie getting its very own fairy tale quality.
If you honestly think Craven is overrated, give this another go, think about the films which came before and those which followed after and THEN ask yourself if such a perception is really justified.
Nothing less than 5/5
Though Craven's name seems to be more likely associated with terms like "washed up", "tired" and "sellout" by Today's unforgiving breed of horror fans, even the most hardened of "Wes Haters" will be hard pressed to downplay his hard earned place in the pantheon of the genre's landmark directors after paying a revisit to Elm Street.
Probably the single most important and influential movie of his whole career, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" did nothing less than changing the face of everything genre related following in its wake (and far beyond that) while extending the audeinece's acceptance for movies playing mindgames with their reality perception to a degree unthinkable before (and very much missed in Today's age of 'retro horror').
There'd been movies toying with the idea of nightmares before - most notably probably the first "Phantasm" - but "Elm Street" was the first horror flick to make them an instrumental part of its attack on teenage suburbia, thereby pushing mainstream horror FINALLY into the reality of the 80's - unlike the "Halloween" and "Friday" sequels, which always stayed true to their late 70's mindset.
Unlike any other popular genre director, Craven has been instrumental in making teen horror flicks siding with the kids again - after earlier slashers had been more interested into their "punishment".
The kids on Elm Street were still having premarital sex etc etc, BUT the main source of evil was initially spawned by their parents' guilt ridden past and their incapability of communicating with their offspring.
"Elm Street" is so refreshingly true with its split families and adults valuing the clean cut fassade of their picket fence home higher than taking an interest into their kid's dreams and worries, it's simply amazing how Craven managed to squeeze so many themes and notions into the under 90 mins running time of his modern fairy tale. No wonder the series would have much later a direct "Alice in Wonderland" reference.
Much more so than "Scream", "Elm Street" grabbed something essential about the teen spirit of its time, which allowed it to become such a popular movie with crowds, who'd normally not watch horror movies.
Robert Englund (here still billed as "Fred Krueger") is frightingly effective from the haunting opening sequence on, a masterstroke in the use of scary sounds and music to heighten the atmosphere, taking a great pleasure in leaving the viewer more and more disoriented and on the edge.
Given its budget restrictions, "Elm Street's" nightmares make the most out of their limited effects, they are very psychological attacks indeed and further proof that the man's treatment by Today's fans is sometimes ill advised.
A bit more respect for Wes and his achievements, please!
Heather Langekamp is one of the most memorable female teenage leads in a horror franchise. It's particularly her vulnerable, but resourceful portrayal of Nancy Thompson which helps the movie getting its very own fairy tale quality.
If you honestly think Craven is overrated, give this another go, think about the films which came before and those which followed after and THEN ask yourself if such a perception is really justified.
Nothing less than 5/5
Just when I was sitting down in a Helsinki multiplex movie theatre to catch up with one of the latest "Platinum Dunes" remakes of a classic 80's horror movie I was reminded of watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" in early '89 in a Munich cinema- when most of the rest of the audience surrounding me today hadn't even been born yet.
It's moments like this which'll get you thinking.
Anyway, to cut to the point, debuting (former music video) director Samuel Bayer's reworking of Wes Craven's groundbreaking 1984 cult hit "A Nightmare on Elm Street" isn't nearly as bad as the regular remake-bashing-fraction or the conservative "Englund IS Freddy"-"Elm Street" traditionalists would like you to believe; it's not the great and brave modern genre movie it could have potentially become either- and that's not just due to the stylish-yet-generic "Platinum Dunes-Company-Look", which is easy on the eye, yet hardly produces the kind of images that stay longer in the mind than your recollection of your last "Big Mac"-meal.
Indeed, despite my will to embrace this with an open attitude I was actually starting to scratch my head during the first 20-or-so minutes, starting to think "Oh dear...!" and that was mostly due to my following little problem:
May be it's old-fashioned by now, may be it's just me, but I very much like to get to know my horror-movie-victims a bit before they end up on the chopping-block
While we're given some insight into the original's teenage leads' lives, their friendship and family dynamics, "Elm Street 2010" confronts us from the very beginning with a group of seriously troubled adolescents, who seem not only detached from their parents (which would be still in sync with the original franchise's formula), but also their teenage surroundings- with only fragments of human interaction and a vague idea about their relationships to one another remaining. The audience is "forced" to fill out a lot of emotional blanks here- given that they care for identifying with the protagonists. Hell, what do I know about a modern teenage cinemagoer's preferences...
The remake's batch of characters have been already targeted by Freddy in their dreams before our film kicks off, which might make the plot flow faster for some- it certainly kept me at a distance to the "new" Nancy, her boyfriend Quentin and a few other characters who partially bear names which should ring a bell or two for followers of the original series.
When you've "survived" the initial flaws and omnipresent "jump scares", which truly work their magic for the intended demographic, the new "Elm Street" suddenly starts offering some worthwhile ideas and atmospheric set pieces.
The addition of the "micro naps" allows for some fairly neat tricks to be played on our leads; there's even some effectively spooky use of an "internet blog" (Could have been more extensive!).
The biggest coup of "Platinum Dune's" "Elm Street" is their new take on Freddy, finally leaving behind the tired "entertainer" routine of the sequels for a return to darker grounds- this time coming with a wicked twist which adds a lot to Freddy's back story and ultimately his creepyness in this version.
Jackie Earle Haley is mastering the challenge of giving an established pop culture icon a new spin without completely dimishing the image film fans have of Freddy- mission accomplished imho.
More Clancy Brown and less jumpy, confusing scenes (Obviously the result of the reportedly troubled production) would have added more value to the whole package, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the film's coherence-issues might be solved just in time for the 2nd or 3rd re-issue on DVD/BluRay.
3/5
Reviews Written By Markus Duschek
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