A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (USA 2010) **
Directed by Samuel Bayer

A re-boot of the original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, the film is a slasher horror involving icon Freddy Krueger (James Earle Haley), the film follows a serial-killer who wields a glove with four blades embedded in the fingers and kills people in their dreams, resulting in their real death in reality.  To destroy this monster, he has to be pulled into the real world and physically killed.

The first killing sets the tone for this rather, dull remake.  Director Bayer takes a full 15 minutes or so setting up the atmosphere and mood, complete with false alarms like loud sounds and hidden shocks around the corner before the first victim, Dean (Kellan Litz) is done away with, all bloodied and gloried.  The rest of the film is one killing after another, in the same mode, though occurring in different settings.  Pacing is monotonous, style absent and imagination zero.  If one is looking for a horror movie, director Bayer delivers much blood and gore and jumps, with hardly little else.

The teens band led by Quentin (Kyle Gallner) and Nancy (Rooney Mana) band together to find a means to end their bad dreams.  Gallner and Mana are ok, not standing out in any means.  Haley as the new Freddy Kruger is a vast disappointment, This is partly due to the script (by Wesley Strcik and Eric Heisserer) making Kruger look like a sympathetic gardener falling victim to the kids’ parents rather than the real monster Robert Englund made Kruger to be. 

The film also has a plot flaw in the segment where Quentin is attacked by Freddy during a swimming practice.  How can someone fall asleep while swimming?  Perhaps the filmmakers must think so – just like being able to fall asleep while making this movie!