The first horror movie I ever saw in theaters was A Nightmare on Elm Street. The first question you may ask when reading this is probably: Exactly how old are you? Followed by: And why are you still in college? So let me rephrase the first sentence – the first horror movie I ever saw in theaters was the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, starring Jackie Earle Haley as the diabolical and homicidal Freddy Krueger. And, to be honest, the only reason I went to see it was because Haley was in it – I had enjoyed his performance in Watchmen, and I figured I therefore would enjoy his performance in A Nightmare on Elm Street. However, my initial excitement about seeing the movie turned pretty rapidly to dread as I sat there in the theater, watching the credits roll, waiting for the killing to begin…
At the time I was not a horror movie enthusiast. I could count the scary movies I’d seen on one hand. I also had the reputation for being a bit of a wimp. So, needless to say, the movie scared me pretty badly. I spent the ride home repeatedly checking the back seat to make sure Freddy wasn’t going to pop up from behind and kill me. I also stayed up until two in the morning, trying to avoid falling asleep for fear that Freddy was waiting for me in my subconscious. I attributed these emotions of extreme fear to the fact that I was a scaredy-cat, a thought solidified by the reviews I read of the movie. Critics were saying it was predictable and essentially a well-attempted but still failed homage to the original movie, which I had not seen at the time.
When I finally did see the original later that year, I was, to be honest, disappointed. I was expecting something much better than the one I’d seen that past April. Instead, I got cheesy fright attempts, bad dialogue (this includes Freddy’s infamous one-liners), and ridiculously gory death scenes. I thought the remake had a much more cohesive story line, and I thought that Jackie Earle Haley made a much better Freddy. His character was much more consistent, rather than the inconstant and remarkably not frightening Freddy that showed up in the 1984 film. His lines were much better (granted, they had lines from all the previous Freddy films to work with, but I still laughed a lot harder at their delivery in the remake.) I also thought the minute change in Freddy’s background story was an excellent addition. To me, a trusted member of the community who worked with kids that turned out to be a child molester of the worst sort is much more horrifying than a random child murderer who stalked the streets, or at least is much less cliché in the horror genre. Because people like that exist in real life (and the number is growing every day), it made it seem all the more believable.
I also thought the fright sequences were much scarier. Yes, a few were predictable, but instead of thinking, oh, great, they’re in a dream again, how boring, I found myself repeating the thought process of –they’re in a dream. This has to be a dream. Wait, is it a dream? It’s got to be a dream. At this point Freddy would appear, and I’d jump three feet into the air and shout (mentally), “HOLY SHIT IT’S A DREAM!” I also thought the death scenes were much improved. While I thought infamous death scene where a character gets dragged around a room in the original was wonderfully done, especially for the time, I thought the first death scene of the remake was much more shocking than even the infamously gory death scene towards the end in the original (which I thought was ridiculous to the point of laughter). The end of the film, too, was better and more shocking than the ending of the original. Although I had sort of guessed what would happen, I still jumped out of my seat, unlike in the original, which reminded me of something out of Beetlejuice.
That being said, the original was a groundbreaking film. Nothing like it had been seen at the time, and for the 1980s the special effects were amazing. Robert Englund really created new rules for horror movie villains, one reason why his performance as Krueger ranks as #40 in the American Film Institution’s Top 100 list of 100 Heroes and Villains. For 1984, this movie must have been terrifying.
As a classic horror movie, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street is a definite must-see. It has helped to form an important part of American cinematic culture and therefore must be given credit where credit is due. However, the remake was superbly done, and if you’re looking for a good scary movie that will keep you up at night, the remake is the way to go.
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