nightmare on elm street

Of all the horror icons created in the ‘80s, Freddy Krueger had the most potential. Wes Craven’s original Nightmare on Elm Street gave its serial dream stalker an endless amount of unconscious scrap material with which to do his dirty work. He could pop up in bathtubs, under the bed, inside your television…even French kiss you through the phone! Eight up-and-down sequels later, we get yet another boring “reimagining,” I guess because kids today won’t watch anything made before 1990. Too bad for them, because this slick but lifeless remake doesn’t have an ounce of imagination. What it does have is a couple of good actors: the new “Nancy,” Rooney Mara, (soon to be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Jackie Earl Haley who gets the impossible task of replacing Robert Englund. Haley’s make-up, although much more believable, never allows the actor to emote with fiendish glee, an essential aspect of the Freddy persona. A deleted ending sans make-up shows what Haley might have brought to the role if things had swung in his favor. But this new Nightmare simply refuses to take advantage of its victims’ dream state and the limitless possibilities of a bad guy who doesn’t have to wait until you’re at Summer Camp to slice you to pieces. Warner’s Blu-ray looks very nice with interactive special features, the aforementioned deleted scenes and digital copy.