13) A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

Director: Samuel Bayer
Stars: Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, Clancy Brown
Year: 2010
Rating: R

Even though twenty-six years had passed since Freddy Krueger first scared the snot out of moviegoers in Wes Craven's classic A Nightmare on Elm Street, it was hard to figure out why a remake was even needed; Robert Englund simply WAS Freddy Krueger, and long before the film franchise turned Freddy into a sarcastic horror stand-up comic, spewing one-liners as he dispatched with his victims, the original Nightmare - even today - still holds up as one hell of a gritty, scary, get-under-your-skin kind of film.

But then there was Michael Bay - the producer who likes excess, action, and film franchises. Already trying to revive the Jason Voorhess franchise with his remake of Friday the 13th retelling, here he reinvents Freddy Krueger - in the form of Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley, here in burnt-face makeup that certainly makes him (as Freddy) creepy and unsettling ... but never, like the film itself, quite up to par with the original.

After the "suicide" of a local high school student, Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara) and her closest friends begin to realize they are all sharing a common dream - that of a scary, burnt man in a striped sweater, bearing a glove on one hand tipped with razor-sharp knives, who is trying to kill them in their dreams. Nancy's friend Quentin (Kyle Gallner) - who has been in love with her for years - is, in fact, even taking medication for his ADD that helps him to stay awake. When Nancy's friend Kris (Katie Cassidy) is killed, and Kris' boyfriend Jesse (Thomas Dekker) arrested for her murder, it's Thomas insistence to Nancy that Kris was killed in the middle of her dream that sparks Nancy to investigate ... leading, eventually, to the truth of the dark origins of Freddy Krueger, and long-buried memories that could lead her and her friends to both the truth, and a way to fight the monster ... or to their deaths.

Much as the actors try, this is a fairly pale imitation of the original - with, ironically enough, the most potent scenes being virtual remakes of ones found in the original film (Nancy's bathtub scene, Kris' death in her bedroom). Other than that, the death scenes are fairly uninspired, none of them touching on the dreamworld of the person experiencing the dream (like in the original films), so much as the victim being suddenly exported to the same set almost every time. Freddy's back-story has been changed up a bit, and we're still no let in on that story until toward the end of the film (like the original) - but on the way, nothing truly inspiring happens to set this Nightmare apart from not only the original ... but also from slew of other horror/stalker films out there! Haley, while menacing as Krueger, doesn't have the depth or charisma or even pure horror Freddy extolled in the original, thanks to Englund.

While the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street offers a couple of jolts, and isn't a bad film, at the same time it's just sort of ... there. You may even wonder, after watching it, why they even bothered with a remake in the first place. Fairly uninspired, with a so-so script the actors involved aren't really given much to do with, this would be something to watch if you like horror films and have nothing else to watch. Other than that, maybe pop in the original, instead. **1/2 - Reel Mediocre-Reel Cool