Tuesday, May 4, 2010

One, Two, Freddy's Coming for You...Spoilers too

I went and saw Nightmare on Elm Street at an 11pm showing...all by myself! I know, that is crazy! I needed a distraction though, and that was the only movie left at that time that I haven't already SEEN! And you have to admit, that would BE distracting. Being scared spitless leaves no room for dwelling on thoughts! I was so glad that there were small groups of people, so I sat around the middle and center, so I would feel a little more protected, surrounded by ohers. Yes, I adore horror movies, but I would prefer company, so it was FREAKY! I also really wished at some points that I had a small stuffed animal to squeeze, because it was scarrryyyy at some points.

I already knew I hated Freddy's new look and voice. They should have gone and stayed with using Robert Englund! He IS Freddy. Anyone can put on the Jason Vorhees mask, or the Michael Meyers "Captain Kirk" mask (plus they don't SPEAK!), but Robert originated the burnt and messed up face of Freddy Kreuger and his freaky voice and attitude. And this new guy just could NOT replace him. Sure, his face is melted and even holey in some spots, but the real Freddy, it was like you could see the inside muscles of the human face, and this just did not have that. So it didn't look like Freddy, or sound like him. Sure, he said things Freddy would say, but the voice was just not right. Like Tina Fey's voice coming out of Steve Carrel, you know? Just wrong! LOL!

Besides that, I must say, that out of all the current remakes, this one was done the best. I hated the Friday the 13th remake. I loathed the Halloween remakes. They just did not IMPROVE anything and actually made the story MORE confusing when I thought the whole point was that they were going to explain these maniacs in a new light, a more understandable light. We were supposed to "GET" why Michael felt the need to kill anyone related to him, they promised that when Halloween 2 the remake was out, but they LIED! It ended up making even LESS sense! They have Laurie turning psycho at the end of that one! UGH!

So this really is by far, the best of the remakes. If I wasn't already a Nightmare aficionado, or even a former viewer, I would say this was a REALLY GOOD horror movie. And if I try to pretend this is a different character named Freddy, it was really pretty decent. It was good, it had the formula, the actors were far superior than in the original's time that is for sure. Kyle Gallner really does do the horror genre proud, he is quite good. He was one of the reasons I wanted to see the remake in the first place. He was really good in Haunting in CT. I was very sad that we only got a tiny while with Kellan Lutz...so sad. Rooney Mara is the actress who was the lead in the remake, and though I have never seen her before...that I am aware of...she did great! She was completely believable and was able to hold her own acting alongside Kyle.

One complaint though was the "why" Freddy does what he does. Do not get me wrong, it was refreshing to see them give a horror baddie a reason for killing. Well, kind of a reason. Sort of. They tried. I was down with it (lol) at first, but later was not when all was revealed. Okay, these parents find out someone is hurting all their children who attend the same daycare, in various disgusting ways they "allude" to. A daycare where a Mr. Fred Kreuger lives in the basement and adores the children and they are his whole life. Cutey flashbacks. But soon, the parents find scratch marks (like Freddy's knife fingers), the children talk about a secret cave he brings them to, and cry and say stuff, etc. The parents decide it is Freddy from what the kids say. And who needs proof. And so they chase him to a building and end up setting it on fire and that is how he is burned and that is how he dies. So he would surely want revenge, considering we don't even know (yeah okay we have to play dumb, it is a remake remember?) if Fred is guilty. Maybe someone else did these terrible things.

Except then the parents cover it up, and the children are helped to forget that they even knew each other back then, who knows how (5 is not that young though, so it is odd). So it is like 12 or 13 years later. And the children remembering Freddy is what gives him power and brings him back. Okay, so we are new to the franchise, let us pretend, shall we? Freddy, if innocent, has got to be pissed off that these children he loved, were the reason he died. But if I was this homicidal killer out for revenge, I would start targeting the parents, they KILLED me. They set me on fire and I burned and died, they did that. If I adored these 5 year olds, would I really think they maliciously said it was me, Mr. Kreuger? They were probably coerced, this isn't The Bad Seed after all. I mean, if I was this Freddy we did not KNOW, I might go after the grown children TOO, but I would not ignore the ones who actually killed me. Yet he could care less about the parents. It is the children he targets.

It is the remaining children, still living in town that begin to piece it together. First they realize they are sharing nightmares about the same man. Then it is down to three and Jesse tells Quentin and Nancy to stay awake, he kills you in your sleep, and then Jesse dies. So it is just the two of them. They are actually smart for teens in a horror movie, they research sleep deprivation and learn after 70 hours, first they will have waking naps that are like 10 seconds long and then they can slip into comas, which is permanent sleep...not a good thing. So time is of the essence. Like I said, SMART teens in a horror movie? What the...?! So Quentin and Nancy find out their daycare connection and then learn about their parents murdering Fred Kreuger. They think they must have been a bunch of KIDS who made up a story, and how could their parents just kill him without evidence first?!

So on their own, they head to the daycare where it all started, to try and find out what Freddy wants. And they find the "secret cave" that Freddy used and they find evidence of what Freddy did to them all, especially Nancy. The teens realize that Freddy did not want them there so they could realize they were the reason behind an innocent man's death. He lured them there because he IS guilty and wanted Nancy back where it all began. So this is where I found a problem with their "I'm a bad guy serial killer and here is why" reason. I gave it a shot because maybe in this version, Freddy was going to turn out to be innocent of this gross stuff, not the killings of course, but as it turns out to be true, that just made it an unpleasant topic and thing that happened to a group of 5 year old children. Which I am just not comfortable with. So that is my only other problem with this movie. Nu-Freddy and WHY he was killed.

Otherwise it is quite entertaining. Nancy is the key to killing Freddy, as she is in the first film. She is the only one that can bring him into the real world, because he has all the control in the dream world. And so Quentin is put on" wake Nancy up if she struggles" duty. Yeah, he is not so good at that. But hey, they are way over 70 hours awake by this point, and even with being on ADHD pills and shooting himself up with an adrenaline pen, if you are THAT tired, I could not hold it against you. So Quentin and Nancy are at his mercy, though not together. Freddy starts slicing up Quentin when he hears Nancy calling his name and runs off after her...and we get some real nasty Freddy versus Nancy nightmare stuff. So we are left to wonder, is Quentin dead? Can Nancy lure Freddy to the real world and destroy him? Will Freddy kill all the children he hurt in the first place, which makes his revenge...unexplained...again. And if Nancy does destroy Freddy in the real world, is that REALLY the end? For Once? Yes I know these answers, but I gave enough spoilers already people. If you are that anxious, just email me and I will tell ya whatever ya want. Otherwise, go on and see it. Even with what I told you, I can't tell you when things POP out at you and scare the crap out of you, or explain the utter gore in some of the deaths!

I really liked that they stuck to the traditional formula, but gave it a 2010 feel to it. It didn't seem so campy, it seemed more real now, which is what makes it spooky, because now it seems like it could happen!

I made sure I walked out within the groups, I said forget it to the bathroom, as it was 1 am and I wanted other people going to their cars too, and not like one couple or one other person so I would imagine the worst, yeah I am so a chicken too.

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2 meaningful meanderings:

Salt said...

I'm afraid to read because I don't want the spoilers! :) But I have noticed even through the previews that this one is WAY less campy than the old Nightmare movies. It looks scary. I might been too chicken to see it in the theater! (And I LOVE horror movies.)

Toriz said...

Even if some of the back story isn't clear, or seems stupid, I'd still like to see it if it's scarier than the old ones. I don't scare easily, so maybe this one will scare me? We shall see!

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