A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Director: Samuel Bayer

Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, whiney actors in their 20s pretending to be in their teens

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Never Sleep Again.

Plot: 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.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? Uh-uh.

Was this a joke? All of the actors playing high school kids are between the ages of 23 & 26. Really? It seemed pretty obvious with most of them. Was this supposed to be camp? I don't think so but the casting and bland storytelling leaves room for doubt. It was only in the past few years that I saw the original for the first time and I really liked it. It was interesting and Kruger hadn't become the wise cracking funny man that he later became.


Haley was spot-on for Kruger. I loved the more gruesome makeup than the original. Haley's performance was fantastic and that's where any fun or anything interesting ends. It's produced by Michael Bay's company so there's a SHIT TON of jump scares. Too many things seemed convenient for the sake of the story and there were far too many silly one-liners from Kruger to give him the impact this actor and character deserve. When it came to his dialogue it felt like they were operating with the assumption this is their one and only chance at making a Freddy Kruger movie so they'd better throw it all in or lost their chance forever. It's a real pisser, too, because some of his lines were fantastic and creepy.

In a movie that relies on the dream world to sell the story, there's very little imagination at play. I was let down but not surprised by it.