Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, Kellan Lutz, Connie Britton
Director: Samuel Bayer (first feature film)
Running Time: 1 hr 42 min
Release Date: April 30, 2010
Budget: $35 million
Critics’ Thumbs Up: 23%
“A fine copy.” Richard Corliss, Time
“A nightmare, indeed.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Just as a group of teens are plagued by the same recurring nightmare of a creepy man with a striped sweater and knifed hand, moviegoers are plagued by this been-there, seen-that remake of the 1984 original. Helmed by the director of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video, A Nightmare on Elm Street not only too closely follows the original tale but it also doesn’t offer any unique cinematography fit for a supposedly scary, blood-curdling horror flick. The young adult cast has less personality than Freddy Krueger’s green and red striped sweater and tilted fedora, but Haley as Krueger himself – with his sunken face and piercing eyes – is a worthy successor to Robert Englund.
