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One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.
In 1984, Wes Craven launched a sleepy horror hit with the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” The series made its way into horror movie history by becoming one of the longest-running, most successful and most innovative slasher film series. And tomorrow, the horror classic is receiving a face-lift.
Freddy Krueger, complete with his trademark fedora, tattered red-and-green striped sweater and four-bladed gardeners glove, returns to Elm Street with a vengeance, bent on terrorizing a group of attractive suburban teenagers. In this contemporary re-imagining of the 1984 film, a horribly burned, bloodied and disfigured Krueger stalks the teens in one of their most vulnerable places — their dreams.
Three, four, better lock your door.
“Nightmare” is designed much like other recent re-imaginings of the horror world: “The Amityville Horror,” “Friday the 13th” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” all of which were produced by Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes studio. The storyline and plot will be similar to the original, but will resurrect the element of horror the series lost in its later films. An ensemble of young, relatively unknown actors, bring a new life to nightmare to allow Freddy to enter the lucid dreams of a new group of horror fans.
Jackie Earl Haley, Academy Award-nominee and star of “Watchmen” and “Little Children,” steps in as the twisted Freddy Krueger, taking the role from seasoned horror, and “Nightmare,” veteran, Robert Englund.
The film also stars Katie Cassidy (“Melrose Place” and “Taken”) as the beautiful Kris, relative unknown Rooney Mara (“Urban Legend: Bloody Mary”) as her best friend Nancy and Thomas Dekker as Kris’ ex-boyfriend Jesse, a character created to resemble the original film’s Glen, who was played by Johnny Depp in his first motion picture role. The rest of the cast is comprised of relatively unknown actors, commonplace in horror films.
Five, six, grab your crucifix.
“Nightmare” will take the audience deeper into the mind of Krueger, giving more insight into how he originally became the Elm Street strangler.
After Krueger is burned alive by the town’s angered parents, he is propelled into hell. Unfortunately for the teenagers of Elm Street, he isn’t banished for good. Instead, he finds a way into their dreams, killing them one by one — a haunting premise that is sure to keep many lying in bed … wide-awake.
Nancy, Kris and Jesse are billed as the main characters, and the three, as well as their less fortunate friends, find themselves face-to-face with the blades of Krueger. After one of their friends dies, the group turns to one another to attempt to stay awake and survive Freddy’s labyrinth of fear and hellish nightmares. He begins to terrorize them within the walls of their dreams, where the rules are Freddy’s and the only option is to wake up. The way to stop the stalker may be to meet their hunter head on in the most twisted nightmare of all — the mind of Freddy Krueger. The chase scenes are more intense and the death scenes are innovative but true to the original’s script. Fans will be truly satisfied by Jackie Earle Haley’s new twist on the already-demented Krueger.
Looking to recapture the essence of the original, this new nightmare is returning Krueger to his sadistic, brutal behavior. The original series sacrificed the fear and anger of Freddy to gain a more laughable persona in its many sequels (seven in total, the latest being 2003’s “Freddy vs. Jason”) by arming him with an arsenal of jokes and sexual innuendos to cut down his victims. Not necessarily the best strategy when a film is trying to be scary.
Seven, eight, gonna stay up late.
Pushing the boundaries, this intensely terrifying remake introduces Krueger to a new generation while paying homage to the influential horror film that terrified earlier generations and has achieved cult-like status in horror history.
Tomorrow, Krueger will begin terrorizing the dreams of a new generation of moviegoers.
Nine, ten, never sleep again.