Harefooted Halloween: Wes Craven's New Nightmare

What I Liked: Instead of going down the same path the other sequels had beaten to death Wes Craven found a unique angle by going very meta.  Krueger is tormenting the original cast and crew of A Nightmare on Elm Street in both their dreams and the real world.  Craven is being guided by an unknown force with his new script which is the movie we’re currently watching, Robert Englund (Strangeland) is slowly being possessed by Freddy and Heather Langenkamp (Star Trek Into Darkness) and her son (Miko Hughes (Pet Sematary)) are being tormented by Krueger in their dreams.  Not only that but series producer and New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye is pushing for Heather to be in the new film, Heather’s husband is a special effects guy crafting a new knife hand prop and someone’s stalking Heather.  It all works and makes for an unpredictable watch.

Freddy doesn’t really joke here.  He’s back to being flat out mean.

What I Didn’t Like: While the approach to this Nightmare picture is highly original you need to have a baseline understanding of the films to grasp what you’re watching.  It’s advisable to have at least seen the first installment and know that there have been many sequels and Freddy Krueger is a beloved cultural icon.  I can’t imagine this piece working otherwise.

The overall design of Freddy doesn’t look great.  His skin is less burned and more like he’s missing most of his top layer so his muscles, tendons and bones are exposed.  Sounds cool on paper but it ends up coming off too fake and rubbery.  They also dress him in a striped turtleneck sweater, black leather pants, a long black trench coat and laced up boots that go up almost to his knees.  Yuck.  The fedora tends to be missing a lot of the time as well which makes him appear incomplete.  His clothing isn’t tattered either but in perfect condition and that seems wrong.

They treat Krueger like he’s been away from the silver screen for a long time but Freddy’s Dead came out only three years earlier.  Freddy’s absence for a period of time is integral to the plot because his powers are significantly diminished if people forget about him and his resurgence is his attempt to fight against this.  But I guess this bothers me because it comes off more like Wes Craven is condescendingly dismissing all the sequels.

*Spoiler on this last item* The finale showdown between Krueger, Heather and her son in the dream world is weak.  It feels like a concession to the audience for making them sit through what is definitely not a typical Nightmare story.  Sort of a reward like “ok, here’s your scene where Freddy attacks someone in a fantastic hellscape.”  It doesn’t fit with the rest of the film and isn’t anything very imaginative.

Overall Impressions: You can read this picture a number of ways but I think Krueger in this scenario is supposed to be the fame of the Nightmare movies.  It can be an overwhelming force that brings both good and bad into your world.  You gain adoration, wealth and opportunities but it can be difficult to detach yourself from those films.  It can take over your life.  For example Heather Langenkamp was stalked for real after the original Nightmare and that’s a scary thing to experience.

It seems like a miracle this was ever green lit because the idea is a little ahead of its time.  On the other hand studios tend to like movies about the film industry.  Anyway, in a few years Craven would go for a similar vibe but on a smaller scale with Scream.  A self-referential tone would become more popular ten or fifteen years later though with movies like Shaun of the Dead, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and Cabin in the Woods.

This is a good movie.  It’s much more of a thriller with horror elements sprinkled in and like I said, there’s a prerequisite to getting the most out of the intricate plot, but I appreciate the bold choices made.