Rated R
(strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language)
1 hour 35 minutes
Storyline:
A re-imagining of the horror icon Freddy Krueger, a serial-killer who wields a glove with four blades embedded in the fingers and kills people in their dreams, resulting in their real death in reality.
Critics Grade:
F
My Grade:
C-
I am going to keep this fairly short. I would say a good 30% of the movies we get these days are remakes or re-imaginings of older, classic films. Typically these are remakes of old horror movies. Most of th
em are pretty bad, but at least they are somewhat "fun" or "entertaining" and I use those terms very lightly. It's not state secret that I have not been a fan of pretty much ALL the recent horror movie remakes. This probably isn't the worst one ever though. The original Nightmare on Elm Street was creepy and Freddy Krueger made it hard for people to fall asleep after seeing the film. The original movie itself did not scare the daylights out of me, but I'll admit I had a nightmare or two after seeing it for the first time many years ago.
This one though...this one is almost laughable. No offense to Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children, Watchmen), who does the best he can with this...but this was NOT Freddy Krueger. The only person who can EVERY play Freddy is Robert Englund. First off, the make up for this guy looked totally fake. Whenever he spoke, his mouth barely moved but when you can see it moved...it was obvious makeup. The original Freddy looked more real and scary. This guy looked like a pizza, no offense to burn victims...because this guy didn't even look like a burn victim. His voice was not right, it sounded to much like his Watchmen character. His voice was not threatening or freaky. His killing methods were so boring and they have been done millions of times before in these kinds of movies. Nothing original there.
I know you can't expect decent acting in these kinds of movies, and I wasn't looking for it. However, there should be at least one or two slightly redeeming performances that don't make the acting totally cheesy. But my gosh...the acting here was atrocious. It actually made the movie hard to watch, I would describe it as being uncomfortable to watch at times. This group of people...I couldn't wait for them to die!! It's as if they were acting in some high school play or just reading cue cards...it was so flat and so so so bad. The only one who was good in this movie was Jackie Earle Haley. But again...these aren't movies you expect good acting from.
The writing in this movie is partly to blame for the bad acting however. The dialog was pretty poorly written for the most part. However, the best part of this movie was the storyline. I kind of like the back story of Freddy. It was definitely a lot darker than the original. And it wasn't elaborate which I also liked, it was a pretty well summed up scene or two that gave us the gist of the back story that sets up the main film. It also makes Freddy a bit more sinister in his actions. The movie was also just the right length, they didn't take to long to get it going. No boring lead up or anything. It also had some pretty dark and cool atmosphere, which is key for a movie like this. Also had some good effect work...but this is a Michael Bay production...you are going to get that.
I don't know...I guess now that I think of it...I didn't hate this movie as much as I thou
ght originally. It had a cool back story and some good filmaking. Jackie Earle Haley did the best he could with the Freddy character but it was NO Robert Englund. The rest of the cast was super bad and it did not benefit from well written dialog. I guess now I'm torn about this movie now that I'm writing about it. Maybe it wasn't that awful. Was it great? No...not for me personally. I didn't "like" it but maybe I didn't so much hate it. Hmm...that's weird, I've never had that happen before. As a slasher flick...you know I guess it worked. I would have liked to see some more original and fresh kill scenes though.
em are pretty bad, but at least they are somewhat "fun" or "entertaining" and I use those terms very lightly. It's not state secret that I have not been a fan of pretty much ALL the recent horror movie remakes. This probably isn't the worst one ever though. The original Nightmare on Elm Street was creepy and Freddy Krueger made it hard for people to fall asleep after seeing the film. The original movie itself did not scare the daylights out of me, but I'll admit I had a nightmare or two after seeing it for the first time many years ago.This one though...this one is almost laughable. No offense to Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children, Watchmen), who does the best he can with this...but this was NOT Freddy Krueger. The only person who can EVERY play Freddy is Robert Englund. First off, the make up for this guy looked totally fake. Whenever he spoke, his mouth barely moved but when you can see it moved...it was obvious makeup. The original Freddy looked more real and scary. This guy looked like a pizza, no offense to burn victims...because this guy didn't even look like a burn victim. His voice was not right, it sounded to much like his Watchmen character. His voice was not threatening or freaky. His killing methods were so boring and they have been done millions of times before in these kinds of movies. Nothing original there.
I know you can't expect decent acting in these kinds of movies, and I wasn't looking for it. However, there should be at least one or two slightly redeeming performances that don't make the acting totally cheesy. But my gosh...the acting here was atrocious. It actually made the movie hard to watch, I would describe it as being uncomfortable to watch at times. This group of people...I couldn't wait for them to die!! It's as if they were acting in some high school play or just reading cue cards...it was so flat and so so so bad. The only one who was good in this movie was Jackie Earle Haley. But again...these aren't movies you expect good acting from.The writing in this movie is partly to blame for the bad acting however. The dialog was pretty poorly written for the most part. However, the best part of this movie was the storyline. I kind of like the back story of Freddy. It was definitely a lot darker than the original. And it wasn't elaborate which I also liked, it was a pretty well summed up scene or two that gave us the gist of the back story that sets up the main film. It also makes Freddy a bit more sinister in his actions. The movie was also just the right length, they didn't take to long to get it going. No boring lead up or anything. It also had some pretty dark and cool atmosphere, which is key for a movie like this. Also had some good effect work...but this is a Michael Bay production...you are going to get that.
I don't know...I guess now that I think of it...I didn't hate this movie as much as I thou
ght originally. It had a cool back story and some good filmaking. Jackie Earle Haley did the best he could with the Freddy character but it was NO Robert Englund. The rest of the cast was super bad and it did not benefit from well written dialog. I guess now I'm torn about this movie now that I'm writing about it. Maybe it wasn't that awful. Was it great? No...not for me personally. I didn't "like" it but maybe I didn't so much hate it. Hmm...that's weird, I've never had that happen before. As a slasher flick...you know I guess it worked. I would have liked to see some more original and fresh kill scenes though.I guess if you are a fan of slasher movies...you may like this movie. This movie does not compare at all however to the original...no one could ever convince me of that. Also...just know I don't like remakes...I go into them with extremely low expectations.
Mikey;
ReplyDeleteI am so happy you saw this for me and took the hit! I had a bad feeling about it. I might rent it on DVD when it comes out, but no big screen for me.
Yeah I mean....it's not an awful movie in my mind, it's just not one I really cared for. It really is just another punchless slasher movie with all the same tricks and cliches. I just wish they would spruce up the genre a bit...change the game so to speak. They are becoming so dull and completely predictable. I mean...no one screamed or jumped in my theater....how sad...that's this genres whole goal.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that you went and saw this movie. I know how you feel about remakes. I'm not a big fan of slasher movies so I might watch it when it comes on cable.
ReplyDelete