Monday Movie Review - A Nightmare on Elm Street

While at the Springwood Diner with his girlfriend, Kris Fowles, Dean Russell falls asleep at the table and meets a man covered in burn scars, wearing a red and green sweater and a clawed glove on his hand. The burned man cuts Dean's throat in the dream, but in reality it appears that Dean is cutting his own throat as friend and waitress Nancy Holbrook looks on with Kris. At Dean's funeral, Kris sees a photograph of her and Dean as children, but cannot recall ever knowing Dean before high school. Kris begins to dream about the burned man herself and refuses to go to sleep for fear that she will die in her dreams. Jesse Braun, Kris's ex-boyfriend, shows up at her house to keep her company while she sleeps, but Kris meets the burned man in her dreams and is murdered. Covered in blood, Jesse runs to Nancy's house to try to explain what happened and he learns that Nancy has been having dreams about the same man; that man's name is Freddy.
Taken from IMDB.

Remind me again why I go see horror movies? Oh wait...because I'm a masochist...that explains so much. Anyhoo, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a re-imagining of the classic 1987 slasher flick, something that usually ends up being a flop in the box office. That said, this is one of the first re-made horror films that actually lives up to its potential.

The film is led by an ensemble cast featuring Katie Cassidy, Rooney Mara, Jackie Earle Haley, and Thomas Dekker. The acting in this horror flick was surprisingly good, and while a few of the actors were not-so-believably young in the film, they did very well portraying sympathetic victims. I find that it's hard to feel bad for a lot of the victims in such films these days.

While the film is light on the blood and guts, it's heavy on the panic factor. I'd say most of the audience jumped at least 10 times in the film. The film also explores Freddy's past - something that makes A Nightmare on Elm Street work a lot better. Overall, I give this film a 4 out of 5, but I'd only recommend it to those who enjoy scary movies. The trailer is below.