Frances Ruiz
Staff Writer

Chilling the audience time and time again with its visually horrific and shocking scenes of unrelenting gore and bloodshed, Samuel Bayer’s remake of the revered horror classic Nightmare on Elm Street delivers bloodcurdling scares of nightmarish proportions.

Opening to a very violent, appalling and gruesome scene in which a troubled teen seemingly commits suicide, the film continues to expose and portray a series of disturbing teen killings which oddly occur while sleeping. With certain friends and classmates continuing to speak of nightmares in which a burned man threatens their life, the film focuses on high school students Nancy (Rooney Mara) and Quentin (Kyle Gallner) that must helplessly watch as one by one their peers suffer horrific and unexplainable deaths.

  Experiencing such nightmarish terrors for themselves, both Nancy and Quentin quickly discover the truth behind the badly burned and disfigured man, a gardener named Freddy Krueger (Jackie Haley) who performed sinister acts against the children of a now abandoned pre-school before being burned alive by outraged parents. As previous victims of Krueger, Nancy and Quentin recognize their childhood connection to the sadistic killer and must overcome his murderous attempts to extract revenge on those who exposed him so many years ago. Battling to stay awake for the sake of their lives, the teens must find a way to stop Krueger before time runs out and their true nightmare begins.

Based on the 1984 concept developed by Wes Craven the remake is much like the first film in its story line and plot, but provides viewers with an updated, newer look into the horrific world of Freddy Krueger.

Re-introduced to the infamous killer that slays teens in their sleep, audiences identify Krueger with his signature striped sweater, hat, and razor blade adorned glove. Although the origins of Krueger were changed from a predator who stalks the children of Elm Street to one who violates and abuses the children of a preschool, both Krueger’s succeed in hunting and violently slaying the teens whose parents burnt him alive.

 In addition, this adaptation of the film proves to be gory and grotesque like the first, but includes several scenes in which the audience is taken aback by the visual effects utilized. Such drastic improvements in special and visual effects between the two films greatly add to the amount and degree of gore, violence, and ultimate “scariness” of the film.

Although the new release proves to be an updated, newer and technologically improved version of the initial installment, there were several aspects that worsened over time. The performance of Haley as Krueger, for example, was weak and dulled down compared to that of Robert Englund. While the mannerisms, speech and overall approach taken by Englund in the first installment left viewers terrified to fall asleep, Haley’s portrayal of the murderous slayer left a mild impact and little to no fear in the hearts of viewers.

Yet another downside to the film is the insinuation of sexual abuse inflicted by Krueger onto the main character, Nancy. While the film does not blatantly state she was sexually abused by the killer as a child, there are several inappropriate, uncomfortable, and unneeded remarks which insinuate so. 

While the recent adaptation of Nightmare on Elm Street shows some much needed improvements from the first, the original installment proves to be more terrifying, disturbing and gruesome than any other reoccurring “nightmares”.