Yet another entry in the long line of Hollywood
remakes to have come out in the wake of 2003's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" sees Jackie Earl Haley (of "Watchmen" fame) donning the familiar
stripy sweater and razor fingered glove in this "re-imagining" of Wes Craven's 1984 shocker.
Aping the plot of the original, the teenagers of the town of Springwood have all been suffering from bad dreams, some of which are so terrifying, they've been trying to avoid sleeping altogether. They later find that all their dreams share a common theme, they all involve a disfigured killer named Freddy Krueger.
But what is particularly interesting is that Fred Krueger was an actual person, namely the caretaker at a pre-school which all these kids once attended and who apparently "disappeared" many years ago. But when the kids all start dieing in mysterious circumstances, they soon begin to realise that these are no ordinary dreams and falling asleep could be the death of them.
Setting out to discover what's going on, Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara) and her friend Quentin (Kyle Galner) find that Freddy was actually burned to death in a fire set by an angry vigilante mob, consisting of their parents, who suspected him of child abuse. But when questions arise as to whether he was in fact innocent, it becomes a race against time to find out what this dream demon really wants, before there's no one left to find out.
Whilst there are several notable differences between this and the original, the lead adult (played by Clancy Brown) being the school's head teacher, as opposed to a Police Officer for one, and Freddy being a school caretaker. The film is more or less just a retread of the original, updated for the 2010 market.
Overall, on a pure entertainment level, I actually enjoyed it more than the original, though I doubt this one will be remembered as fondly in another 20 years like the original still is now. Also, Jackie Earl Haley may be a fine actor, but he is no Robert Englund for sure.
