Wes Craven is one of the all-time great horror directors. His influence with films like The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream is undeniable. That said, I can’t stand when directors, with their snooty perceived superiority, stick their names in the title of the movie. To me, this suggests that they don’t feel the movie is good enough to succeed without the prominent director’s name there. This may actually be a decision made by the producer, whose job it is to make sure the flick squeezes as much money out of the populace as possible, but I don’t like it.
I didn’t much like the movie either.
I remember watching it years ago and being impressed by a darker kind of Nightmare story. But in my second watching, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not as dark as I originally thought, and it’s slow as hell, with the same events repeating themselves with such frequency that it becomes tiresome. And the boy Dylan (Miko Hughes, best known for his role as Gage in the original Pet Sematary) is annoying as fuck with all his screaming and whining. He’s almost as annoying as that kid from The Babadook. But, truly, what sinks New Nightmare is Freddy Krueger.
What everyone loves about all the previous Nightmare movies is Krueger’s sharp tongue, not just his sharp fingers. His witty dialogue almost makes them horror comedies, and it’s the insanity of his kills–and the wild dreams they occur in–that keeps the audience off guard, ready for anything, not sure when to laugh or scream. In New Nightmare, not only do we not get a witty, charismatic Krueger, but we’re left with precious few of the bizarre dream sequences that we all love.
It’s an interesting take on the Nightmare franchise, and I enjoyed seeing Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund playing themselves, but it’s ultimately forgettable as a stand-alone horror film.
Judge for yourself on Amazon.