We haven’t been to a horror film in a while, so we decided to give this a chance. I remember seeing a few of the original Freddy Krueger films back in the 1980’s with Robert Englund playing Krueger. I guess for those of us, who watched these films; we had an idea of Freddy already in our minds. I did however give this a chance as actor Jackie Earle Haley puts on the glove this time around as Freddy. I thought he did bring something to the part; however it seemed to fall short in comparison to the original films. I still thought the film had enough gross out moments and gore to please horror fans to some degree anyway. I did like the lighting which was used for the scenes. It helped keep the atmosphere of the film.
We didn’t like the ending of the film, but it will catch you by surprise perhaps. There were a few people in the theater who sat in front of us that jumped in their seats, so director Samuel Bayer should be praised for his first feature film directorial efforts. One girl even screamed at one of the scenes and got the theater laughing out loud. The screenplay was written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer. Wesley Strick worked on the story based upon Wes Craven’s original characters.
I think fans of the original films will at least appreciate the efforts that were put forth even though the film kind of fall flat at times. It was dark enough and had some disturbing themes in the story to help explain things as it went along. Some of the death sequences aren’t quite as creative as the original releases for those who follow this horror franchise. I don’t think it will re-launch a string of sequels, but it was a nice tribute film to the Nightmare films.
About the casting, I thought the actors that were chosen did fit within this particular story. You might remember Kyle Gallner who plays Quentin Smith from films such as Jennifer’s Body (2009). He certainly has a knack for playing a victim and vulnerability in his characters. Equally so, Rooney Mara who plays Nancy Holbrook portrays an inter-tormented teenager who takes over the lead midway through the film. Katie Cassidy plays a character named Kris Fowles who is the hapless victim more or less and setups what is to follow, she has appeared in a few television series such as the new version of Melrose Place and is also the Stepdaughter of Sue Shifrin.
Thomas Dekker plays Jesse Braun one of the tormented as well; he was convincing enough to pull off the part. Twilight fans will appreciate seeing Kellan Lutz in this playing a character named Dean Russell. Several veteran actors played the parents of the teenagers such as Clancy Brown as Alan Smith and Connie Britton as Dr. Gwen Holbrook. I thought Lia D. Mortensen who played Nora Fowles was a good choice as she seemed to resemble Katie Cassidy.
This time around the teens must avoid taking micro naps as they try their best to not fall asleep into this nightmarish dream state using drugs, and burning themselves among other things.
I’m sure Johnny Depp went to see his friend (Jackie Earle Haley) as Freddy. I think if you are in the mood to see a horror film then this was decent enough to watch in the theater. I enjoyed my wife grabbing onto my arm while we watched the film.
