In A Nightmare on Elm Street, teenager Dean Russell is suffering from terrifying nightmares. Every night he dreams about a disfigured man who stalks the shadows and threatens his life.
After speaking to his best friend, Kris about his dreams, Dean momentarily falls asleep. As he slips into a slumber, Dean is attacked by the gruesome figure and inadvertently dies in the process.
A short while later, more teens die under similar, nightmarish circumstances. In each instance, the same disfigured man appears in their dreams.
Directed by Samuel Bayer, A Nightmare on Elm Street stars Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, and Clancy Brown. The film is the ninth entry in the Elm Street series, but is the first to completely break away from the eight previous instalments.
Released in 2010, this version of A Nightmare on Elm Street is not a sequel but instead a remake/reboot of the 1984 original. All the past actors and continuity from movies one to eight have been jettisoned, in favour of a new cast and a new take on the Freddy Krueger story.
And with this being a remake/reboot, we also get an all-new Freddy. Actor Jackie Earle Haley takes over the role from Robert Englund, for this next iteration of Krueger.
Unfortunately, this version of Krueger and this film in general are not good. A Nightmare on Elm Streetis dull, boring, and painfully bland, and that’s putting it mildly.
Heck, I’d even go so far as to say this film is straight up irritating. The movie isn’t just rubbish, it’s the kind of rubbish that gets under the skin and bugs the heck out of you because it is that piss poor.
None of the characters in this film are likeable, none of the horror is remotely scary, and the story is an awful reworking of the original, with superfluous bits tacked on. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010 is also badly shot, with some dreadful cinematography and even worse lighting.
Although, the shit lighting is probably for the best, as it helps to mask the woeful special effects. With this being a movie from 2010 we are now firmly in the era of shite CGI and it is everywhere in this picture, from the nightmare sequences through to Freddy’s scarred face (yes, Freddy’s face utilises CGI).
It’s baffling to think that this movie hit cinema screens 26 years after the original, and yet the computer generated effects here are awful when compared to the practical effects in the ‘84 version. And as a reminder, the original was produced on a budget of $1 million, whereas this 2010 version had $35 million to play with!
Anyway, crap effects aside, the worst thing about this movie is that it can’t quite decide who the lead character is. The film starts with Dean, moves to Kris, segues to Jesse, and then falls onto Quentin and Nancy.
The script’s inability to lock in a lead makes for a disjointed, confusing, and ultimately unsatisfying watch. The whole thing turns into a meandering experience which lacks cohesion, and anyone who can truly connect with the material or any of the characters deserves a medal.
Even the presence of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger can’t save the picture, because while he does his best, the actor is simply no Robert Englund. Englund nailed the role from the get-go, but there is something significantly lacking in Haley’s version and it only adds to the many problems with this film.
There’s simply no way to sugar coat it – A Nightmare on Elm Street is dire. First and foremost it is a bad horror movie, but secondly it is a terrible Elm Street film.
For my money, it is without doubt the worst Elm Street movie – way worse than Freddy’s Dead. That film might have been poor, but at least it tried, whereas this remake is a creatively bankrupt dud that misses the mark at every opportunity.
Unless you are a completist who simply must watch every entry in a movie series, no matter how awful it is, you should avoid this entry entirely. However, if you do fall into the completist category, the movie is available on digital platforms.
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