Wes Craven created a booming franchise with the iconic horror monster Freddy Kruger, a phantasmal killer with homemade razor claws to slash the many cannon fodder teens unlucky enough to get in his way. Several mediocre sequels and a failed anthology TV series later, we see the inevitable reboot of the series in this DVD release. In this version we get an added origin of sorts as Kruger, with the silly point of him being a notorious pedophile (which adds nothing to the story, but it’s there in case murder wasn’t evil enough) is chased down and burned alive by the irate parents. Of course with every evil character, he survives to wreak revenge on the grown kiddies of the next generation. Asides the emphasis on the origin, movie pretty much sticks quite close to the original, But where Craven took his cues by emulating EC horror comics of the 50′s, giving it a fun, garish and gory style, this imagining takes itself too seriously, losing the comic aspects of what made the first Nightmare so memorable. I would cite the performances, but the truth of the matter is, all of it was just serviceable, the 80′s version had this acting awkwardness that added to it’s goofy charm, in comparison the new version seems mechanical and very lethargic, offering nothing more than another gussied up retread to get your attention.
I give this a very warm, domestic beer with a big nasty fly in it.
