REVIEW
movie review // 'NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET'
hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between.
After two decades of increasingly dismal sequels and pervasive parody, is anybody still afraid of Freddy Krueger?
When Wes Craven's A Nightmare On Elm Street first hit theaters in 1984, the knife-fingered dream-stalker became an instant horror icon, the resident boogeyman of Generation X. But in this blood-curdling era of torture porn and teenyboop vampires, has Freddy been rendered obsolete or worse yet, boring by comparison?
Once again, a group of twenty-sometimes playing high school kids are being targeted for death by some unseen, malevolent force that invades their collective dreams. After their friend Kris (Katie Cassidy) is murdered, Nancy (Rooney Mara) and her
Platinum Dunes, the same studio behind the recent Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsau Massacre remakes, has decided to find out. Their Nightmare benefits mightly from its surprisingly astute acting choices, like the decision to cast renowned character actor Jackie Earle Haley as the fearsome new Freddy. But aside from the above average performances, the film does little to distinguish itself from the rest of the series, never approaching the intense elemental dread of Craven's original.
pining emo friend Quentin (the excellent Kyle Gallner) discover a sinister connection between themselves and the other victims. Seems they all went to preschool together, the same school that employed a friendly groundskeeper by the name of Fred Krueger, who burned to death under rather mysterious circumstances.
This new Nightmare, directed with slick flair by music video auteur Samuel Bayer, essentially recycles the basic premise and classic sight gags from the original, each with varying degrees of success. The stretching wallpaper and claw in the bathtub scenes have both been faithfully replicated here, but the obvious CGI robs them of all their previous power. And like many modern horror movies, Nightmare is far too reliant on smash-cuts and pop-out imagery. What once felt terrifying now feels cheap and repetitive.
The film's main strength is Jackie Earle Haley — the looming, raspy menace that made Haley so memorable in Watchmen is amplified tenfold here. His vengeful, predatory interpretation of Freddy is more than enough to justify the price of admission. But the rest of this Nightmare is as forgettable as the foggiest daydream.
LANDON MCDONALD
PIZZA PAPA JOHNS PRESENTS...
BEAT THE CLOCK
THE TIME IS YOUR PRICE!
TODAY ONLY
3 o'clock = $3.00 for medium 1 topping +every quarter hour adds a quarter 3:30 = $3.50 until 5:00 = $5.00
PICK ONE: Sausage, Pepperoni or Cheese
*WALK IN ONLY, LIMIT 2 PER PERSON
785.865.5775
918 Mississippi • Across from Cork & Barrel
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER
FOR FREE PIZZA OPPORTUNITIES
(PAPA JOHN'S LAWRENCE)
05 14
06
10