‘Elm Street’ is box office nightmare

By Kira Keleher
Western Sun opinion editor

It is hard to recreate something that is already legendary and this recent revision of “Nightmare on Elm Street” does not come close to the originals.

Rooney Mara plays Nancy Holbrook in this 2010 remake. The character was very unlike the original outgoing Nancy; instead she was quiet, shy, and a high school outcast.

It’s not until what feels like the last two minutes that we see that she has any passion to live. Throughout the movie she is unable to engage the audience.

Kyle Gallner, who plays Quentin O’Grady, was hard to watch as well. It is understandable that O’ Grady had to be high on adrenaline and other sleep-deprivation drugs to stay awake, but just the same as Mara, he shows little will to live.

Jackie Earle Haley who plays the famous serial killer, Freddy Krueger, is the only decent actor in this film. One may also know him as Rorschach in the “Watchmen.”

Sure, Haley has the unintimidating body of a 14-year-old boy, but he manages to terrify and succeeds in portraying an almost innocent side to the murderer. The classic Krueger mask was enhanced and looked even more grotesque than the original 80’s version.

The plot and movie-production is a completely different story. It was a nice touch to put in a background story to Krueger, but the overall plot was boring.

Due to poor character development it was difficult to get attached to the characters and care if they survived or not.

The only scary parts of the movie were the sudden screams and the suspense when anticipating Krueger scare. The new “Nightmare on Elm Street” needed more gore to say the least.

Samuel Bayer, the director, does not even come close to being as great as Wes Craven, who revolutionized thrillers, but that is probably because Bayer has only directed music videos.

In short, if you want to enjoy a mediocre thriller at 5 p.m. and spend as little money as possible on the ticket, then go see this lame revamp. Otherwise, wait for the DVD to release.