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Movie Review: Nightmare on Elm Street
May. 10th, 2010 09:48 am
Michael Bay's company, Platinum Dunes, has pretty much cornered the market in horror movie remakes. Now, I haven't seen them all. But I've noticed a common factor in the ones I have seen, and it's this: brilliant opening which swiftly descends into plotless gore-fest.
The Nightmare on Elm Street remake avoids the "plotless" part by a whisker, but otherwise follows the same pattern. Now, I should begin by pointing out that I'm not a huge fan of the original. I have a thing about plots that have some internal logic and Nightmare always bugged me, with its inability to distinguish between the kind of sleep where you can dream and the kind where you don't. The remake fails on that score even more spectacularly. ( Cut for film spoilers )
But by going for gritty realism, the film lacks the surreal scenes that make Wes Craven's Nightmare so unique. For me that's a plus: this was the movie that put me off the horror genre for a long time, but it does have the effect of reducing this movie to just another slasher flick. Also, it lacks Johnny Depp.
The Nightmare on Elm Street remake avoids the "plotless" part by a whisker, but otherwise follows the same pattern. Now, I should begin by pointing out that I'm not a huge fan of the original. I have a thing about plots that have some internal logic and Nightmare always bugged me, with its inability to distinguish between the kind of sleep where you can dream and the kind where you don't. The remake fails on that score even more spectacularly. ( Cut for film spoilers )
But by going for gritty realism, the film lacks the surreal scenes that make Wes Craven's Nightmare so unique. For me that's a plus: this was the movie that put me off the horror genre for a long time, but it does have the effect of reducing this movie to just another slasher flick. Also, it lacks Johnny Depp.
