A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010): An Underrated Remake of the Wes Craven Horror Classic (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Back in 1984, horror maestro Wes Craven unleashed his terrifying classic "A Nightmare on Elm Street," which utilized a uniquely chilling story & marvelous practical special effects to deliver an unforgettable experience that would go on to be called one of the greatest horror films ever made. This would subsequently lead to six sequels & a short-lived TV show, all of which came to an end in 1994 with the delightfully-meta final entry "Wes Craven's New Nightmare."

However, 26 years later, director Samuel Bayer and screenwriters Wesley Strick & Eric Heisserer dared to go back to the beloved franchise and attempt to reboot it from the ground up, with a new actor taking on the iconic role of Freddy Krueger and updated special effects. With the film reaching its 15th anniversary this year, Warner Bros. is celebrating by re-issuing the original Blu-ray, which had started to become a little rare & pricey, so now it's time to go back and re-examine this rather-maligned reimagining of the horror classic to see if it truly deserved its fate or if audiences should perhaps give it a second chance.

The film begins with Dean (Kellan Lutz) falling asleep in a diner and getting attacked by a mysterious burned man named Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley), who wears a glove with knives on the fingers. He kills Dean in his dream, but in reality it looks like he slit his own throat, an act witnessed by his friends Kris (Katie Cassidy) and Nancy (Rooney Mara). Soon after, Kris begins to have nightmares about Krueger, eventually leading to her death in the company of her ex-boyfriend Jesse (Thomas Dekker), who is blamed for the murder. We soon learn that Nancy and her friend Quentin (Kyle Gallner) are having the dreams as well, leading them to search for a connection between themselves & their recently-deceased friends in a desperate bid to solve the mystery of their forgotten past and save their lives.

The 2010 remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is one of those horror flicks that I've come back to time and time again over the last 15 years, quite frankly because it's not nearly as bad as critics would have you believe, and judging by its box office success and the need to re-issue the Blu-ray, it would seem to suggest that there are many others who feel the same. It's a highly-atmospheric attempt to breathe new life into a horror classic, one that does an admirable job of trying to pay homage to Craven's original, while also putting its own spin on the story so as not to be a dull, bland retread of what we've seen before, in much the same way the underrated 2009 reboot of "Friday the 13th" was able to do.

Obviously no reboot or reimagining was ever going to be able to be as great as the original film, and it seems pretty certain that the filmmakers behind this remake knew that well from the start of the entire endeavor, but in trying to make it their own, they ended up delivering a decent horror outing that does a fine job of telling the story, complete with interesting dreams, gruesome kills, and, as mentioned, plenty of nods to the original. The only major difference in the story that's always come across as a little strange is that they try to get you to think that Krueger may have been innocent, when anyone who's seen any of the seven previous films (or even if they barely know of the character) will know that he's not, making it stick out as a rather unnecessary attempt at a twist.

As far as Jackie Earle Haley taking over the iconic role of the razor-fingered slasher, he does a satisfactory job of trying to fill shoes that are rather impossible to fill. Robert Englund left a distinctly indelible mark on the character, and just like any filmmaker trying to match the original film, no actor was ever going to be able to match what Englund brought to the role with his incredible personality & charisma. Haley takes the part and gives us a suitably creepy menace, one that serves this new take on the franchise well-enough. Again, he's no Robert Englund, but no one was ever going to be.

What we end up with is a remake that was unfortunately & unfairly maligned upon its release, one that clearly had those that were able to look past the fact that it was never going to live up to the original and see it for the creepily entertaining horror outing it was always meant to be. Now that the Blu-ray is being re-released, hopefully more people will give it another try and watch it with a different mind-set 15 years later. If you can view it outside the shadow of the masterful classic and all the lofty expectations that brings, then you too just might be able to see its worth.

Video/Audio:

The 2010 remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.4:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of decent quality. The picture is not quite as sharp as it could be, and actually seems closer to DVD quality, but it is still very watchable throughout its 95-minute duration. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, on the other hand, is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, while a little more work could've been done to make the picture clearer & sharper, Warner Bros. has still done an adequate job in both departments.

Special Features:

Freddy Krueger Reborn (14 Minutes): A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, featuring interviews with the cast & crew.

Focus Points (20 Minutes): A series of seven featurettes that focus on areas such as Freddy's makeup, hat, sweater, and glove.

Alternate Opening (1 Minutes), Deleted Scene (1 Minutes), and Alternate Ending (6 Minutes)

Conclusion:

Samuel Bayer's 2010 remake/reboot of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" was never going to be able to live up to Wes Craven's original 1984 classic, but it still remains a decent & entertaining horror outing in its own right, one that provides an intriguing spin on the story while also paying homage to its beloved predecessor, ultimately making for a creepy take on the material that, viewed outside unreachable expectations that many placed on it, is worth re-visiting & re-evaluating.

Score: 3.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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