A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

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.

Director:

Samuel Bayer

Writers:

Wesley Strick (screenplay), Eric Heisserer (screenplay),

Stars:

Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Freddy Krueger
Kyle Gallner	...	Quentin Smith
Rooney Mara	...	Nancy Holbrook
Katie Cassidy	...	Kris Fowles
Thomas Dekker	...	Jesse Braun
Kellan Lutz	...	Dean Russell
Clancy Brown	...	Alan Smith
Connie Britton	...	Dr. Gwen Holbrook
Lia D. Mortensen	...	Nora Fowles (as Lia Mortensen)
Julianna Damm	...	Little Kris
Christian Stolte	...	Jesse's Father
Katie Schooping Knight	...	Creepy Girl #1
Hailey Schooping Knight	...	Creepy Girl #2
Leah Uteg	...	Creepy Girl #3
Don Robert Cass	...	History Teacher

Storyline

Death stalks the dreams of several young adults to claim its revenge on the killing of Freddy Kruger. Chased and chastised by this finger-bladed demon, it is the awakening of old memories and the denials of a past of retribution that spurns this hellish vision of a dreamlike state and turns death into a nightmare reality.

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Plot Keywords:

death | dream | nightmare | freddy krueger | revenge | 

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Taglines:

Never Sleep Again.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [fr] Warner Bros. [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 April 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 9

Filming Locations:

Barrington, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,342,837 (UK) (7 May 2010)

Gross:

$63,059,655 (USA) (9 July 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Platinum Dunes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Around 15 different drafts of the script were written. The final film is a hybrid of 4 of them.

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Goofs

Above Kris and her stewardess mom leaving for London as they say goodbye in the front doorway of their house.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Dean Russell: Can I have another? Hey. Can I have some more coffee, please?

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Connections

References A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

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Soundtracks

"All I Have to Do Is Dream"
Written by Boudleaux Bryant
Performed by The Everly Brothers
Courtesy of Barnaby Records, Inc.
By Arrangement with Ace Music Services, LLC

User Reviews

Nothing 'New' about this Nightmare

When it was announced that Jackie Earle Haley would be taking on the role of Freddy in the new Elm Street franchise reboot, a collective sigh of relief went up from the fans of the originals. Haley's Rorshach was one of the few redeeming qualities in the abysmal "Watchmen" movie. When pictures of Freddy's new face were leaked, the excitement grew. This Freddy promised to drop the silly one liners and be a return to the frightening, sadistic killer from the first film.

Haley does what he can with what he's given, but even a game performance from him and Rooney Mara(Nancy) can't save this film from mediocrity. The male lead is played by Kyle Gallner. He could generously be called a poor man's Robert Pattinson. He does a serviceable job here but the weak writing and directing don't do him any favours.

Fans of the original will be disappointed by the brief treatment of Freddy's origins, and it's unlikely new viewers will understand what is going on or even care for that matter. My hopes of a scarier Freddy were dashed within the first few minutes. The film doesn't even try to build an atmosphere and Haley spouts the same tired one liners that the later films leaned on so heavily.

Even as the original series aged, one could always rely on the excellent special effects and make-up work to carry the films. The highlight of each film was the creativity of the different "Dream Worlds" that Freddy would take his victims to. Each dream world was unique because it reflected the thoughts of the character Freddy was trying to kill. This new iteration strips away any of that creativity and takes place almost entirely in one location (I'll avoid spoilers, but if you've seen any other film in the series you can easily guess where). The makeup work that looked promising in production stills doesn't hold up well on screen, failing to be as frightening or iconic as the original. The effects aren't great, it would be easy to beat the dead horse of 'computer graphics' being inferior but I think the real problem here is directorial. Samuel Bayer simply can't hold a candle to Wes Craven.

If you want to disregard my comparisons to the original films and simply take this one for what it is, a brainless slasher flick, it still fails. None of the 'kills' show any creativity at all and audiences already fed on a steady diet of graphic violence won't find anything all that shocking or disturbing here. It's just boring.

Adding to that is an over reliance on cheap scares. This film is this the cinematic equivalent of someone shouting "boo!" in your face every ten minutes. This technique becomes annoying almost instantly and becomes increasingly more annoying because it is used in every single scene. It's like the director realized he didn't know how to direct a scary movie and instead of quitting and finding a new job, he decided to edit in sudden loud noises and hope no one would notice.

By the end the audience I saw it with could hardly hold back their titters of laughter and I don't mean that in a good way. This is one franchise that had some potential for rebirth, but I will be amazed if this one makes it to part 2.