BOTTOM LINE: The re-imagining of nightmare villain Freddy Kreuger was done with great care, both in make-up and Jackie Earle Harley’s menacing performance, but everything else about this remake of the horror classic is bland, boring and lacking in character.

THE GOOD: As with the original 1984 film, the idea of a psychotic murderer who stalks and kills people in their dreams is a potent one. This remake captures that idea by creating a world where the characters force themselves to stay awake to stay alive, only to see the boundary between the real and dream worlds often disappear, leading to the iconic character of Freddy Kreuger (portrayed menacingly here by Jackie Earle Harley) showing up in various places and forms to terrorise and maim his subjects. A group of teenagers are all having the same dream of Kreuger stalking them while they are asleep, and one by one, they start to die as Kreuger kills them with his insidious knife-fingers. Nancy (Rooney Mara) suspects something more is going on, and eventually uncovers a town secret involving Freddy and his dark past. If anything works in this film, it is the performance of Jackie Earle Harley. He more than adequately captures the chilling menace of Freddy Kreuger, and combined with the fantastic prosthetics, make up and computer work, you have an extremely nightmarish villain that is worth watching. The tone of the film is quite low key in parts for a horror film. Yes, there is blood and slashing, but the filmmakers know that silence and subtlety at the right moments are just as effective. This remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street is worth watching to see Freddy in this re-imagined state.

THE BAD: Much effort was put in to the re-imagining of Freddy Kreuger and his menace. Unfortunately, no effort was put in to the rest of the film. All of the characters, save Freddy, are cardboard cut-outs that have no life in them whatsoever. At times, they seem interchangeable, and it does not really matter who dies when or how, or that you should even care. Since the success of a film like this rests on you caring about the characters so when Freddy shows up you feel ‘horrified’ at what he does to them, the film falls completely flat when the character are far from engaging. Kreuger himself is scary, but the situations presented do not generate any thrills or scares, outside of the usual cattle-prod scare. Another issue for the film would be stating the obvious: the Elm Street series is one of the most famous horror franchises in history. Most people know about Freddy Kreuger, and even if they do not know the story, they know that he kills people in their dreams, which robs the film of any sense of novelty or surprise at the horror being presented. The film presents nothing new to make Kreuger and his story more innovative and surprising. The film should appeal to a younger generation who may never have heard of Freddy, but to everyone else, it’s a lacklustre facsimile of the original, save Harley’s performance.