Movie Review - Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Wes Craven's New Nightmare



Thanks to http://www.feoamante.com for the above poster (I guess I have to start including references to the sites that I get my pictures from). Anyway, I really believe that aside from the first, this is the best Nighmare movie, and the most true to the series. A lot of things are done oh so right!, but again, there are flaws.

This movie is one of those metafilms, a form of metafiction where it's a movie about a movie. In that case, some of it is kind of weird, in that the whole thing is a movie, but the actors don't know it's a movie. Let's just say it's a breath of fresh air from the series. So Heather Langenkamp returns to the series as herself, with her husband and her little boy, but along with earthquakes, she begins having creepy dreams. Wes Craven also appears as himself, who writes a script for a new movie in the series that reimagines Freddy, because he has been having nightmares about things that actually happen in real life. It turns out the script that is written is the movie we are seeing, so it portrays events in real life. Freddy is really an ancient figure in the form of the guy who Wes Craven made up for the original Nightmare, and he was stopped from being in reality because the movies created a place to trap Freddy. The films have gotten old and Freddy got loose in real life again, so in order to stop him they have to make one last movie to keep him trapped. And Langenkamp has to play Nancy once again.

It's a little confusing, but that is one kick-ass idea. Metafiction with a sweet twist. And it pretty much pulls it off. Freddy is almost back to his scary self. His powers seem to be a little decreased in this movie, but since this is supposed to be "real life," it makes sense that the rules don't really exist because they were made up to begin with. Of course the kid makes everything creepier, because kids are more "sensitive" to these things.

I really like the darkness and evil of the film, and the film's running time is way longer than all of the others in the series, which makes characterization easier. We actually care about Langenkamp and the child, and we get sucked into the plot overall. I felt myself leaning closer to the screen, willing myself to be in this reality that Craven created.

Freddy has a new look in this movie, although I think that the makeup is LESS scary than when he was in the original series. He has burn marks, but they don't seem as gruesome. I wish they would have left off the ridiculous trench coat that he wears - he's not a James Bond villain or anything. It would have been better to have the original outfit, I think. Freddy's claw is different and more sleek and bony than the other one, and I think it looks better.

I wish that they would have dropped Freddy's jokey attitude for this movie. It's limited, but I still think that he's creepier when he doesn't say anything, especially bitch. The movie takes a lot of cues from the original, but uses them in different ways. The scene where the babysitter is dragged up the wall, as seen in the first movie with Tina, is way more effective. It's creepy because everyone can see it, and I still remember that scene from the first time I saw it. It makes good use of angles and camera shots, because the dimensions of the room change. Freddy can stand sideways on walls. It looks really amazing.

Suspense scenes are done pretty well, and it makes better use of timing than in the later sequels. Still though, there aren't many scenes to jump at. The darkness is permeating, but there aren't many pop-out sequences.

The Dream World looks twisted. A lot less industrial and a lot more tribal-pyramidal. I would have liked less use of corny-looking special effects, but I can't really complain.

Overall, New Nightmare is a really good attempt at creating a new film with Freddy without redoing things that have been done before. It's a new idea, and a last last killing off of Freddy. I wish the earthquakes would be explained more, and that Freddy was a little more scary. But this movie is much better than any of the sequels that took away from the freshness of the original movie. It was a good ending to the series, a way to make Freddy stay dead.

But they always bring him back. Even Freddy has to get tired.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare on Rotten Tomatoes