Movie Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

There’s an argument to be made that this isn’t the worst Elm Street movie. After all, it at least tries to be scary.

But still, the movie seems pretty pointless. So many iconic moments from the original film are duplicated here very poorly that it doesn’t seem like the movie is interested in saying anything new.

There are a few interesting ideas here actually. There’s microsleep, which I guess is a real thing, and I like how the main characters are affected by the lack of sleep as if it’s a drug. I even sort of like the idea that the main characters at one point think Freddy may have been innocent. I like that in theory anyways.

I like that in theory because the idea is introduced after Freddy has already killed multiple people, so it really doesn’t serve much of a story purpose.

Jackie Earle Haley is not that great as Freddy. He looks weird, first of all.

I guess there is a mix of practical makeup effects and CGI on his face, but to be honest, I just see the CGI, and it doesn’t look very good.

Aside from that, though, Haley sort of delivers every line the same way. He doesn’t bring a lot of personality to the role, and while you can look to the first two Elm Street movies and say Freddy wasn’t cracking jokes and all that, Robert Englund still did something special in the role that’s just missing here.

This is of course the first movie that makes Freddy overtly a pedophile. That was part of the conception of the original film, but it never made it to the shooting script I guess. I understand why people are bothered by this, but it doesn’t really bother me too much. It seems appropriate to the character here.

Still, this movie is pretty much a waste of time. There is one image I really like where one of the high school students ends up in a dream.

But really other than that, it’s just a bunch of stuff we’ve seen before, and seen done far better.

Rating: 2/10