Synopsis: A re-imagining of the horror icon Freddy Krueger, a serial-killer who wields a glove with four blades embedded in the fingers and kills people in their dreams, resulting in their real death in reality.I really wanted to like this film more, as I think Jackie Earle Haley is great and felt this series could use a reboot after Freddy became more of a Happy Meal toy that a ruthless child molesting killer through the years of sequels. They did get the ruthless part right here, and Jackie is really good plus the tone of the whole film is more dark... so those are the pluses. Unfortunately the minuses outweight them quite a bit I thought.
It was a tough sell to begin with as this really didn't warrant a remake, and then this just doesn't add anything to the series I think. It's the same story retold minus a lot of the heart and spirit of the original. It used to be sort of fun in a way, now I got what I asked for as Freddy is a sadistic pedophile but it just feels wrong. Be careful what you wish for I guess.
You can tell they were very affectionate for the original too, with plenty of nods to it and a lot of scenes that are pretty much directly from it, but that also begs the question... why? Add something to make it stand apart, give it a twist... anything.
Freddy's make-up was different, so it had that, but the way they did it took a lot of the emotion out of his face. His lips were burnt off I guess, but it sort of made him look like a turtle talking or something. Turtles don't emote well.
So did I hate it? No, it's a watchable horror flick. If it had a different name and a different killer it might have been less distracting and more enjoyable. But it didn't. It's just darker, meaner and minus the fun of the original. Still, better than many (if not most) of the sequels.
5.5/10
