Film review: 'Nightmare on Elm Street' is a mere revisit of the original

Film: Nightmare on Elm  Street
Cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy, Lia D Mortensen, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz, Clancy Brown
Director: Samuel Bayer
Rating: * ½

Wes Craven’s original that came 26 years ago with over 137 victims in all from a series of 6 bloody nightmarish sequels, had all the makings of a solid scream fest -overflowing as it was in copious blood, gore and body parts and a surreptitious background score that crept on you with it’s manic phases. So far the Kruger legend has survived the ‘Saws’, the ‘screams’ and several other genric attempts to foster fear but will it survive this particular disaster?

This film under review is a mere revisit of the original and pales
horribly in comparison. But that’s not to say that it doesn’t creep up on you occasionally. It does.

Freddy Kruger has more screen time in this one. He haunts his
kindergarten playmates who are now raging teenagers, does not allow them to sleep and causes great havoc and destruction in their lives.

Sleep brings with it nightmares which turn out to be horrifyingly
real. A solid enough idea which was done to death with the six
editions that formed the previous franchise. With this version we are in for a new series, god forbid. And certainly not one with any
distinction worth mentioning. The music is genric, the plot is
predictable, the background score is also predictably ingratiating,
the effects are routine and the performances pretty much run of the  mill. In no manner does this film stand out from the crowd it hopes to  inhabit. It is also not coherent. There are no surprises here. Beats me why Samuel Bayer wanted to trifle with Craven’s original!