Reviewed By: Emanuel Caros

With his production company Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay seeks to reboot old horror favorites; and while they have shown great promise by turning the campy cult classics into darker, scarier versions of their past selves, each film has been a victim of the company's fatal flaw: lazy writing that put fantastic visuals to waste.  The trend continues with A Nightmare on Elm Street, helmed by music video director Samuel Bayer.

In Ohio, a group of teens are terrorized in nightmares that each end with an all too real result: death at the clawed hands of Freddy Krueger.  Despite taking great lengths to stay awake, the deprivation catches up to the group, making them susceptible to the horrifyingly burnt killer.  The storyline is almost identical to that made famous by the original film in 1984;  but Bayer uses a surreal visual style to make this version stand out.  Unfortunately the great looking dream sequences don't show up until the third act, rendering the first two bland.  Had Bayer made a point to give prominence to such scenes, (in particular the snow in Nancy's bedroom, the floor of blood, and the teetering between dream and reality in the drug store) the movie could have been a really good psychological horror film.  But alas, cliche story arcs and a reliance on "popping out" to scare keep the film from realizing its maximum potential.

Still, the movie wasn't all bad: the casting of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger was perfect.  Nobody in Hollywood brings such gruff realness to a character, and that probably explains his resurgence in film over the past 4 years.  A major disservice was done to the movie by not focusing more on Freddy's back-story, and thus depriving Haley of more screen time and dialogue.  

Michael Bay is obviously a master at profitable film-making; but his refusal to allow the production to fully jump into the more "artsy" direction it showed glimpses of, hinders the overall product.  While the potential is there, A Nightmare on Elm Street just ends up being a darker teen slasher movie.


5.5/10