High hopes for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET reboot
High hopes for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET reboot
Apr 26
When I think of 80s cinema two things in particular come to mind: science fiction, and adventure films. Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Back To The Future, The Thing, Blade Runner — these are the classics that spring to mind. What I don’t usually think of is the horror franchises spawned in the 80s, like the Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street or Halloween flicks. I’ve never seen any of them, to be honest — I’m not sure why, but horror as a genre has never really rung my bell.
In fact, the only Friday The 13th film I’ve ever seen was last year’s Platinum Dunes’ reboot — and it was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Ditto the Halloween reboot — I pressed “Stop” halfway through, with every intention of returning to the DVD after a grilled cheese sandwich, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, like the grilled cheese sandwich was a reminder of all the things I could be doing with my life instead of watching this dross.
So when the new A Nightmare On Elm Street trailer unspooled before my viewing of Hot Tub Time Machine last week, I was pleasantly surprised. Having never seen a Nightmare film before, the whole he-gets-you-in-your-dreams thing is actually new and scary to me, and the trailer manages to squeeze small amounts of style into its frames, which doubly impressed me after the lacklustre Friday and Halloween remakes.
Sure, it’s still got teens in peril and it advertises Michael Bay’s involvement like it’s not a bad thing — maybe I’m being overly optimistic here but I reckon this could be the film to break the horror dry spell we’ve been stuck in ever since since torture porn became popular. See for yourself, trailer embedded below.
Apparently, reboot director Samuel Bayer refused to shoot or convert A Nightmare On Elm Street into 3D, resisting direct pressure from Platinum Dunes parent New Line Cinema in the process. Good for him — it’s nice to see filmmakers stick to their guns and avoid another Clash Of The Titans conversion debacle.
This is the first time I’ve enjoyed the trailer to a horror film for — well, as long as I can remember. I hope I don’t end up eating my words when the film’s released.
Nightmare hits US screens on the 30th of this month, while the Aussie release date has been pushed back to the 20th of May (you know, to avoid that little movie you may have heard of, called Iron Man 2); UK release slated for the 7th of May 2010
Well, the original was a genuinely creative and creepy horror movie, and this seems to have redone all the best scenes, so I guess anyone new to Elm Street will have a good time. The concept of “fall asleep = get butchered” is really disturbing, especially as one knows the original inspiration for the movie: director Wes Craven says he got the idea from a magazine article about Vietnamese children so heavily traumatized by the war that they could have heart-attack inducing nightmares years after the event.
… Awesome. Yeah I'm kinda glad I didn't catch the original now, gives me a chance to get scared for the first time. Cheers for the insights.