Movie Review: Freddy Vs. Jason

Finally after 15 years of development hell, Freddy Vs. Jason is now in the works. Years during script rewrites, promotional stunts, jumping from writer to writer, and overseeing the hype of it all, it has finally come to this. Was it worth it? Well, first let's have a little overview of the ideas that was put under the chopping block.
In the first script, there was a group of Freddy cult members who tries to summon Freddy by bringing in a virgin to sacrifice. So they plan to kidnap the main character's sister while the main character and her friends flee from the clutches of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kruger. This script was so cheesy and stupid, I barely could read all of it.
Another one involved a girl who tries to get the heart of her dead boyfriend Jason (get it) and embedded into Jason Voorhees' body, all the while, she and her friends are escaping the grips of Freddy and the newly reborn Jason. It was okay at first bit still fell short because of the cheesy concept.
The Braga and Moore script was much better than the previous two, taking the same elements from New Nightmare and also having the main character being a distant relative of Tommy Jarvis. But I have problems with this as well. They sort of revision the whole Jason and Freddy mythology into the real world, which works but would've been executed better. The whole Jason on trial scenario sounds even more cheesy on paper, and then the climax, which takes place in a mall. A mall of all places. This had so much potential. SO much potential in fact, but most of the elements to this fell flat.
The Peter Briggs script is actually one of my favorites and will share my thoughts later into this review.
So what do I think of this overall movie?......I just think it's mediocre to be honest. Before anybody rips my head off, I do think this is an entertaining movie. Though, I do want to point the flaws and inconsisties with it, mostly with the plot and main characters. Writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift are not to blame for the movie's flaws, even though they aren't the greatest writers in the world. It's really the producers Stokely Chaffin and Ronny Yu's involvement as well by hiring scriptwriter David Goyer, which is why the writing is so cluttered. Not only that but Stokely along with producer Doug Curtis decided to recast the role of Jason to Ken Krizenger because they felt Kane Hodder wasn't imposing or scary enough, even though the guy was in four previous movies. The controversy over this is the he said, they said debacle which is ridiculous. They won't be adults and admit to what really happened. Now all the writing isn't that bad. Freddy's introduction was actually well-made if you ignore the cheesy voiceover. It shows that Freddy used to be this immoral, child molesting, child killing sociopath with no qualms on human life, instead of the wise-cracking unfunny caricature. You were never supposed to root for him or laugh with him, he is the embodiment of fear and that's how it should be.
Although he doesn't have his fair share as Freddy, Jason also is written well as he is seen as this tragic monster. Some of the fans don't agree with this concept of him, but he was this misunderstood kid who happen to die by unnecessary circumstance turning him to the killing machine that he will soon become.
The plot is pretty by the basics. At least in the scripts it build up the connection between Freddy and Jason, which were (although some) interesting concepts. But in this one, they have no connection and Jason is nothing but a pawn in Freddy's scheme to put fear in Springwood again. Freddy just so happens to put into Jason's psyche without knowing who he really is. This is my main problems with the script, it just rushes the plot too quickly without any build up or development. And then so you know it, all hell breaks loose, you have random teens caught in the crossfire and Freddy gets all jealous that Jason is taking all his victims and he's destined to get rid of him once and for all. There's not much to go further with it really.

The cast and characters were the worst. They pretty much brought down the movie for me. Most of the fans would say it's really not about the characters but they are the ones who drive the story forward. They are pretty much full front and center in 80% of the movie. Which gets me to this. What I liked about both of the franchises was how engaging the characters were. The Friday The 13th Cast were likeable and relatable. The Nightmare On Elm Street Cast were interesting and sympathetic. And if you think they would have a group of teens with similar qualities in this movie, it would make a compelling cast. Unfortunately, there is not anything remotely noteworthy about these characters in Freddy Vs. Jason. By the early 2000's, they had the never-ending trend of making young adults or teens in horror films to be unlikeable douchebags and regrettably, this trend lives on. The cast is no different from this really. There either bland, shallow, hallow, one-note, or unlikeable. That is all.

Now I said in my last review that Monica Kenna did a good performance. I really want to punch myself in the face for that. She is horrible in this movie and maybe I said all those things because she seems like a nice person in real life but her acting is just so over-the-top and forced it almost seemed unnatural. Though, I don't think it's really her fault because I've seen her do so much better. The one at fault here is Ronny Yu, who kept pushing the actors to use more energy, which explains how the actors are really bad. As far as the character of Lori, she is so useless I wanted to punch her sometimes. The Friday and Nightmare heroines always had an inner strength about them that gave them layers. For example: You had Nancy Thompson, Alice Johnson, Ginny Field, Tina Shepard. Sadly, we have Lori to look forward to. All she does through half of the movie is whine and scream. It's quite irritating actually. Lori shares none of the qualities of those characters.

She manages to get some at the end but it's a little too late, it never pays off. The other annoying thing about this character is how the movie beats us over the head about Lori being a virgin. We get it! We already know she has a 100% chance of surviving, so the movie didn't have to try so hard to be that obvious.  Though I would say the tight shirts (which displays her cleavage), the tattoo on her backside, and having a boy sneaking into your room at night? Yeah I would second guess that. AND another thing, her last name seems to be based on a certain actress and character. Laurie Strode. Neve Campbell. Get it. Though I would hardly regard Lori in the special league of the final girls, as Laurie Strode and Sidney Prescott are definitive ones. It seems more like an insult if you ask me.

Let's talk about Will....Well to be honest, there really isn't anything to say about him. He's just THERE for the most part and the only reason why he's even relevant to the plot because he's Lori's boyfriend but before I can continue, let's get to Jason Ritter's acting. He's just so wooden in this. He cannot convey any type of emotion, which doesn't make him that believable. I understand that this is his first major role but I have seen him do better and it's a shame that this was his first try. He has the good looks but not the talent to pull this movie through. Again, the character of Will just didn't do it for me. His only purpose in the movie is how he falsely accused Lori's father in the murder of her mother (which was a ridiculous plot point in the first place) and is just an obvious love interest for the heroine. Dan Jordan from Nightmare 4 have more personality than him and he's blander than a cardboard box. Sorry to say but Will just doesn't cut it as our hero of the movie.

Kelly Rowland could be a good actress, it's just she plays one of the most despicable characters in the movie. Kia is a shallow, rude, obnoxious, annoying bitch. I was just counting the hours for her screen time to be over. unfortunately, she gets to live through the climax of the movie. They try to make her the likeable comic relief but it just doesn't work for me.

Her little so-called speech is what pissed me off about this character. Originally, Swift and Shannon wanted to copy the same speech Nancy recited in the first Nightmare movie but Stokely and Goyer decided to make the speech hip and edgy by putting in a penis joke and a certain F word in there. To be honest, I really don't like this Stokely person. If she ever had a sense of  understanding teenagers and their slang terms, I wish she would use some knowledge and interview one. As for David Goyer, he can go fuck himself.

To continue on Kia's character, all she does is complain half of the time and through all her crap, she finally gets a big o'l machete whack by Jason. It was definitely worth it.

Linderman played by Chris Marquete is actually the most least unpleasant character. Chris Marquete did an okay performance and played the nerd character well. However, Linderman is anything but the stereotypical nerd though that doesn't mean he can be tough if he wants to be. Even tougher than Lori and Will. Hell, he's probably the most toughest character I know in this movie.

If you take in that pivotal moment where he stands up to a seven foot giant with a machete, it shows that he is the best character in this movie.

And when he goes out, he goes out like a badass. Why didn't HE be the hero of the film?

It's a shame that Katherine Isabelle from the critically-acclaimed and compelling Ginger Snaps is wasted in this movie. Her character Gibb is a useless hallow shell of a drunken bimbo that it almost makes me feel sad for her.

It's just cruel how they write this character and never put any thought into her personality or what she goes through. And as for Katherine Isabelle, she cashed in her paycheck.

Brendan Fletcher actually did a great performance. He had the right intensity for the role and actually would make a much more better than Jason Ritter. His character Mark is easily the only person I sympathize. What makes him stand out is that he has layers, human flaws, and not some cardboard cutout. He is actually a character we can relate to.

Mark's best moments is when he sees his dead brother and it showcases Brendan Fletcher's emotional range. But then again, the character has less screen time than the bland and annoying cast. He becomes the only victim of Freddy Krueger and it was kind of a cop out to kill off his character.
As for the rest of the disposable teens you have:

Trey, who is probably the biggest douchebag in the film and gets the first in one of the most outrageous and memorable death scenes.

Blake, a typical horny teen who was supposed to be a replacement for Will. He gets killed along with his dad.

The two annoying jerk jock stereotypes. One fat, one skinny. Gets the special treatment from Jason.

And last but not least, Freeburg, an annoying, useless stoner stereotype who gets stupidly high during a crisis and gets possessed by Freddy while being sliced in half by Jason.

And now to relay on the two main villains and also the two heavyweights of the slasher genre: Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees.

First, let's start of with Freddy who seemed to be the star of the movie. He is...a mixed bag for me. He still has that menacing edge from the first three films but still is the over-the-top cartoon villain New Line has made him out to be. On the good side of things, his thirst for malice is quite relevant, especially involving the scene where he plans to rape Lori because that's who Freddy is. He is this soul-sucking dream demon with no signs of humanity whatsoever. On the bad side of things, he is still quite talkative, so much so, it's really unnecessarily hammy. In the original script, he was given less dialogue and his personality was more in tune of how he was in the 1984 film. You know the dark and mysterious Freddy, which could've worked well but STOKELY wanted to merge in the dark Freddy and the comical Freddy, which doesn't mix well in my opinion. We really didn't need that voiceover, it's more a show and don't tell thing actually. And most of Freddy's dialogue consists of the word bitch all the time. It worked well the first go-around but it just gets annoying half of the time. Here's where it's demonstrated:

Again, Robert England does what he does best in his iconic role and it shows that only he can master the character of the maniacal Freddy Krueger.

The good parts of this movie is how they make Jason Voorhees a sympathetic character. I like how the camera focuses on his eyes to elude some type of emotion. Some people tend to forget that Jason was this misunderstood young boy who hid away from society because of his disorder. It's kind of sad when you think about it. And how he died at the summer camp is even sadder. I like how the movie emphasize on that, making him into a tragic monster instead of this hulking ball of rage. This will also lead me to the flawed end of the scale. It almost seems that Jason is put in the back burner. Most of the time, he comes like this big ogreish monster with a big machete. But that doesn't mean he still is the well-know slasher of them all as demonstrated here:

To continue on with the discussion here, Ronny Yu openly said he wanted Jason to channel Frankstein's monster. Of course, this is coming from a guy who haven't watched any of the films. This is why they should've never replaced Kane Hodder. He was the one who actually gave Jason a personality. He didn't portray him as some hulking monster with a huge knife, he made him into a human being who just happens to be immortal. He still has emotions like rage, alienation, and confusion and Kane Hodder convey those emotions well. To be fair, Ken Krizenger did fine. He did emote how Jason was feeling and did certain movements that were humanlike but lethal at the same time.

And can I say one thing, I think Ken Krizenger is smokin', I certainly love me a tall man. Plus, he can fit in a mesh shirt pretty well.

Now to the directing and special effects. I thought the visuals were good, although I really didn't like the overuse of CGI but there were cool moments like the bed-bending death scene and the bloody rave party scene...and most importantly, the climax involving Freddy and Jason tearing each other apart in a bloody battle. I also like how the visuals tell the personalities of the main villains by representing a particular color. Jason represents the color blue, illuminating his loneliness and melancholy. Freddy represents the color red for his bloodlust and psychotic rage.
But what I mostly want to talk about director Ronny Yu, who is a bit of a mix bag for me. This is also a mishap on New Line's part because they were so eager to hire him off his money run from Bride Of Chucky, since they really seem to like it. First of all, I don't think Bride Of Chucky is a classic and it's more of a guilty pleasure than anything. Second, They hired a guy who never watched any of the Friday or Nightmare films and New Line was so anxious to hire him because they wanted an 'Asian perspective' or whatever that means. Ronny Yu refused at least four or five times but New Line just kept begging him. It just comes to show that the film company were so hooked on making money at the box office rather than focusing on the history and much needed story structure of the two horror icons. On top of that, you have Ronny Yu and David Goyer altering the script and his bad direction of the actors alongside Stokely, who pretty much took over half of the production. But the biggest issue is how they write the movie, which was originally supposed to be dark and edgy but turned into a cartoon show instead. Also the focus on Lori's father was distracting, possibly making him turn out like he's the bad guy, even though you have Freddy and Jason in the same movie. Freddy afraid of fire and Jason afraid of water? Really? and don't even get me started on how the group of teens went from Springwood, Ohio to Crystal Lake in New Jersey in just ten minutes, it's definitely a headbanger. All this big plotholes and slipups just disjointed the story if  you ask me.

But the ending is what saved the movie from being a forgettable mediocricy. The way Jason slowly comes out of the water holding Freddy's head like a trophy is a true historical moment in both the franchises.
Now on to the trivia. Speaking of the movie's ending, there's was an alternative ending as presented here:

The filmmakers decided to cut it because it was too I-know-what-you-did-last-summeresque. And you know what, I'm so glad they did. It was super cheesy and stupid.
Brad Renfro was originally casted as Will but due to his personal problems and being late on the set, he was later dropped from the role. It's disappointing he didn't went on to play the role because I think he brings the right kind of intensity for that character.
Katherine Isabelle was originally supposed to play Lori and to be honest, I felt she had the right looks for the role and was a good enough actress but for some reason they put her in the Gibb role instead which is so below her.
The first draft of the script was going to involve Tommy Jarvis in a cameo or at least a reference where the climatic scene takes place in the construction place. This would've been cool but for some reason they scrapped it. I blame Stokely and Mr. Goyer for this.
Now let's talk about the Peter Briggs script. The story is very innovative and just a few pages of the script in, I got hooked. The ideas that was put into this was handled well. Bringing back Alice From Nightmare 4 and 5, and Steven and Jessica From Jason Goes To Hell was a good contuation on both the series and was a smart move by the writer. And even though, I don't care for Jason Goes To Hell, I at least thought the main characters were interesting.  To continue on with the script, I thought there were scenes that was quite suspenseful. Once you read what was going on you really feel that the stakes are higher now. I know at first that the Christian Mythology elements is a little heavy-handed but even if that was scrapped out of the story, It still would've been a strong script.
So unfortunately, they didn't go with this one, even though I think it's one of the better scripts they gotten so far. Plus, it would've been cool to have Jacob and Stephanie as teenagers fighting against Freddy and Jason but that idea would later be in the sequel comic books.
So there's Freddy Vs. Jason. To be quite fair, it has really weak story and even weaker characters, but they have great moments to make up for it. Speaking of which, it's certain scenes from the movie that save it from being forgettable or mediocre. This movie is not a classic. It's a by-the-numbers slasher with an annoying teen cast and really bad writing when I could expected something more, especially  out of a Freddy and Jason flick. Again, it needed better characters, a better story and a much developed connection between the two villains. But oh well, it is what it is: A silly slasher movie.\
My Last Word: Yeah sure, you can watch it. It is an entertaining movie whether you get bored on a rainy day but as a fan of both of the franchises, there will always be a slight disappointment of what could've been.

P.S. Man, those were a lot of reviews. It's been a year and seven months of this and I'm pooped. So I'm going to take a break from doing reviews for a while But don't worry I'll post a special message here and there. So thanks for all the views. See you next time....










 

Movie Review: Jason X

So, Sean S. Cunningham, still trying to go through many drafts of a unfinished Freddy Vs. Jason project, still wanted to keep the spirit of Jason fresh into the people's mind. So he recruited writer Todd Farmer and Son Noel Cunningham to conjure up some new ideas for yet another Friday The 13th. There had been many concepts such as Jason terrorizing would-be victims in a winter storm or Jason in a far away island, far much better conceptions than the one they eventually came up with.
My question with this is.....why? Why would they put the series in this direction. The films before this that put horror movie characters in space was considered horrible with the examples of Hellraiser: Bloodline and Leprechaun In Space. Again, why put Jason in this predicament?
So to go further into this, the film was a production mess and even had trouble getting distributed. Judging from the final product of the movie, I can see why. The acting is bad, the special effects are bad, the overall plot is bad, and the directing had some potential  but for the most part, I felt like a was watching a crappy Sci-Fi original movie. I also think that the filmmakers didn't care at this point. Why put Jason in space? It just doesn't fit well with the whole Jason mythology. Well, whatever the cause it was, the filmmakers didn't care how stupid the movie would turn out to be, as long as it was going to make money at the box office. Once I realize they trying to capitalize the series with such a shallow attempt, it's a testament of how New Line is putting this franchise way down in the gutter.

The Cast is.....questionable. Like I said with the filmmakers they just didn't care, including the actors. But at least they knew what movie they were in I guess. From what I gather, there were only three actors that gave decent enough performances.

Lexa Doig was actually good at what she was given but by the middle half of the movie, her character pretty much fades into the background and there's not much to say about her. However, her character is the basis of the plot, which is a somewhat interesting aspect of her. She is a scientist that works for a crystal lake  research facility. She tries to warn the government of how dangerous it is to keep the notorious serial killer Jason Voorhees under their watch, but project leader Dr. Whimmer (played by David Cronenberg) is so intent on doing research on the undead killer because he has the ability to regenerate(.....more on that later....). So of course, all hell breaks loose when Jason tears free from his chains and kills the science project group, along with Dr. Whimmer and a few soldiers. He chases Rowan to a freeze capsule, trapping them both, and wounding Rowan in the process. 455 lightyears later,  Rowan is found by a group of students going on a field trip led by an arrogant professor. They also unravel Jason....and a lot of bloody deaths ensue.

There's really not much of a plot for me to elaborate on really. The movie tries to set up Rowan as this Ripley-type but it never pays off. She's all brain but no brawn basically and pretty much the rest of the main characters are the ones that face Jason off. Which leads me to the real star of the movie:

The android Kay-Em Played wonderfully by Lisa Ryder. Lisa Ryder brings a blend of cute quirkiness and awesome badassery to the role. She is very charismatic and you want to root for her in the end. And let me remind you, you have Jason fighting against a robot. You gotta see it to believe it. It's so awesome:

Kay-Em is the one who pretty much receives the final girl status. And could totally see why ,even though  her head is the only body part she has at the end.

Sergeant Brodski played by Peter Mensah is another one of the three actors that take this movie seriously, even through the cheesy dialogue. Every time he is on screen, you actually feel that you're watching a much better Sci-Fi movie. Yes, he's that good of an actor.  It's quite fulfilling that he is in critically acclaimed TV shows and movies after this. Sergeant Brodski is so badass, in fact, that made the other characters useless by comparison. But hell, it's not like they were useless to begin with. It is him who ends up being the one defeating Jason at the end and he sacrifices his life by doing so. He is probably the best character in this movie.
Which leads me to the supporting characters, who I think are pointless and are just machete fodder.  They don't have any prominence like the aforementioned characters.

First, there's Tsunaron, who is a stereotypical fast-talking nerd who is very unfunny and annoying. But here's one side of the character that bothered me.

He is the one who build and programmed Kay-Em. The only reason, however, is because he wanted the perfect girlfriend. I don't know...something about this is just so....sexist. Kay-Em wasn't build to be an artificial intelligent or indestructible warrior, instead she was made to be someone's sex toy. This makes me dislike this Tsunaron character even more. And guess what? He lives! *sigh*

Then you have Janessa, who every fan claims to be a comic relief. I did not find this character funny or engaging for that matter. To be quite honest, I find her really annoying. I actually didn't care if she lived or died when she came on screen, mostly because the actress was terrible and the jokes she says always comes out at the wrong place at the wrong time, which didn't help either.

Then you have sexy couple, Stoney and Kinsa. From the very first scene they're in, they couldn't keep their hands off each other and once they finally have sex, it wakes up Jason for some reason, Cause Jason just hates pre-marital sex (I'll discuss later).

Once Stoney is killed off, We are left with Kinsa, who spends the movie, whining, screaming, and acting stupid. Then it all comes to this big ball of idiocy when she recklessly goes on a cargo ship, accidently presses the wrong button, and blow herself up, causing everybody to be trapped in the main ship. Wow. Just wow.

Lastly, we have Professor Lowe, who is the most arrogant and most unlikeable of the cast. He thinks he knows everything because he's the Professor and he pretty much belittles anyone above his logic. Plus there is a really weird sex scene between him and Janessa that made me want to throw up.
The rest of the characters aren't worth mentioning. The stoner is a stereotype, the electrician guy is a failed attempt at comic relief, and the armed soldiers are just as useless as the main supporting characters.

And now we come to this. The indestructible Jason Voorhees or Uber-Jason as a matter-of-fact. Kane Hodder again does what he does best, morphing into the Jason character splendidly. There is one thing that bothered me in the whole Jason mythology, is his "mysterious" powers. Now, let me go through three films using this so far. In Jason Takes Manhattan, He has the ability to teleport. In Jason Goes To Hell, He has the ability to body surf. Now in Jason X, He has the ability to regenerate. Regenerating? how stupid is that? But I guess it explains Jason never-ending immortality, so I'll just run with it or whatever. The other thing that bothered me was why didn't anybody pulled out weapons when danger was afoot. They're in fucking outer space for Pete's Sakes! They finally get a clue when they send out Kay-Em to fight off Jason. Whether or not why they would all just fight him themselves is beyond me but if she's a mechanical android it works right? So once they think Kay-Em has finally defeated Jason, dues ex machina find it's way into Jason's DNA and he becomes......

Uber Jason. Uber Jason? Really? What about Intergalactic Jason or Android Jason, why Uber Jason? it's just sounds so...lame. To be honest, I didn't mind the Uber Jason look and it did fit well into the movie's theme. It's less cheesy than expected is what I mean.
Now to the special effects and directing. The special effects are a mixed bag for me.

There are the good ones like Adrienne's death and the attack on the soldiers sequence as shown here:

Then there are the really bad ones like Jason floating in space and the dreadful holographic simulation scene in the climax. Speaking of which, let's talk about that.

What I don't like about this particular scene is how it is making a parody of itself. Believe it or not, the movie series wasn't about teens having sex, doing drugs, and general fucking around to be killed. It was about how the people at their upmost attempt to keep opening camp crystal lake and Jason, honoring his mother's legacy by stopping it also for people to keep off his damn property. I know Jason Goes To Hell did it with those three campers, but this scene is an insult to the whole series. The actors didn't take it seriously, the writers didn't take it seriously, and the producers didn't take it seriously. And the movie makes us the audience not take this seriously. They just want us to brush it off like some stupid slasher franchise, when it really could've been something more. The only person to be taking this movie and otherwise the franchise seriously, is the director. He really tried hard to capture the gritty, grimy feel of Aliens or Event Horizon but I guess the film execs were on another mindset. And here's another thing, New Line as a whole, doesn't give a shit about the Friday franchise and pretty much put a nail in the coffin in the series with the exception of Freddy Vs. Jason and The Remake.
Trivia Time! Lexa Doig and Lisa Ryder starred in the Sci-Fi TV series Andromeda which explains their spot-on performances.

Writer Todd Farmer has a cameo in this movie. Like I fucking care....
Now let's get to the real juice of trivia time shall we? The first draft of the script. I actually like the first draft of the script better than movie itself. The characters were less annoying, there was a much more coherent story and the main female character actually had something to do. I don't know why they choose the shooting script over this. I get the feeling that New Line had something to do with this.
The movie was a box office flop, making it the third lowest grossing Friday The 13th film. The blame was put on by the internet. The film was available for download before it's release in theaters and that's what hurt the film's box office sales. But you want to know the real truth? the fans had enough. Putting Jason in space was the last straw and they, including myself, knew it was a bad idea.
I guess I already said my thoughts on this film. Some people think that is a so bad, it's good flick but I just don't see that. I was rather bored. It picked somewhat in the first half but it became dull and uninteresting in the second. It was quite repetitive actually. It's a bunch of characters acting stupid and running away from a big scary monster. I have seen stuff like this before. Some people think this a step up from Jason Goes To Hell, which I do agree to some level, but on the other hand, this movie almost killed the franchise.
Again, this movie is a parody of itself and not in a good way. The sequel that did it better was Jason Lives because while it takes jabs at the slasher genre, it still took the formula seriously. Jason X is just a F-you to the Friday The 13th legacy and New Line just sat back and let it crumbled up into the train wreck that it is.
My last word: Please do yourself a favor and just watch Alien or Star Trek. If you want to watch something stupid, give it a roll.

Movie Review: Wes Craven's New Nightmare

After the disaster that was Freddy's Dead, Wes Craven was openly embarrassed of how the nightmare series has turned out. After six films and endless product placement, Freddy Krueger is now a total joke. So it was up to Mr. Craven to bring back the intelligence that the series needed. So he got the opportunity to produce a script he been working on for a decade. It was intended to be a third film but further negotiations went by and it later became Dream Warriors instead. A couple of sequels later and FINALLY, Wes Craven gets to turn the series around with his clever writing and ingenious directing. Some people may think Wes Craven isn't the greatest of directors. When he's bad, he's almost terrible. But when he's good, he's great. And I think this is one of his finest hours.
The plot follows actress Heather Lagenkamp and her family. As strange events occurs, including dreams that are almost too real and creepy phone calls. But things start to unravel, when the very movie role she tries to escape from come back to haunt her....literally. And beyond a suspense of disbelief, it seems that the character of Freddy Krueger is emerging into the real world to take over her life.....and her family.
While some people were confused by the psychological aspect of the story and garnered a mixed reaction, I thought  it was a big step up to the series and put it back into it's right place. It also made Freddy scary again. Although I don't find this movie terrifying, it has great suspense while being well-acted and well-structured.

 The cast is top-notch, even including Wes Craven who did an alright performance. You could actually feel a special connection between the cast fresh from working together again in a ten year reunion.

This is probably Heather Lagenkamp's  best performance. It is shown that over the years, she has grown into a more mature, competent actress. In the first movie, there were times where she was a little shaky but ultimately gave a decent performance. In the third movie, there were times where she did try to pull through but came off a bit stiff and bland. But in this movie, this is where she really comes into her own and giving a versatility and vulnerability to her character....which is herself. Once we are introduced to her, we see that she's not living a glamorous Hollywood mansion, she's actually has a humble, stable home life with her family and is pretty much uncomfortable by the fame she got from playing the role of Nancy. Most of her worries comes from her recently being harassed by a stalker who leaves creepy phone calls. She fears that her iconic role would ultimately consume her life as that is the only role that everybody knows her in, which is why she took a step down from doing any mainstream films. But then her life takes a tragic turn, once her husband is killed and her son, Dylan, begins to go into a strange psychosis.

Once she uncovers the mystery surrounding the strange events and her son's behavior, it all pieces the puzzle when after 6 films, the "real" Freddy Krueger is trying to step out of the real world. So in order to get back to the life she once had, she must, reluctantly, play Nancy one last time.....

Child Actor Miko Hughes is a bit hit or miss. He has his good moments and he has his really bad moments, especially in the scenes where he tries to act "creepy."

But there were moments between him and Heather Lagenkamp that was very heartfelt. It's always shocking in horror films when the monster tries to corrupt the child. I thought that was one of the more scarier aspects of the movie, which is even more scarier that Freddy Krueger was a child murderer. What Dylan represents is the terrified child in all of us, who would always check under the bed to see if there's a monster lurking. And I was definitely one of them.

Although we don't see much of Heather's husband Chase played by the very handsome David Newsom, though as much as we do see him, he is very sweet, charming, and is very protective of his family. Even though he gets killed early on, Wes Craven manages to make a likeable character out of Chase.

Which makes his death all the more sad, not only the fact that he's really sympathetic, but also being a devoted husband and father.

At first, I really didn't get why Julie, the babysitter was introduced into the story. At first, I thought she was a friend of Heather's, but she seems to be a normal college-aged woman who's only JUST the babysitter. In the early draft of the script, she was originally supposed to be a pawn of Freddy since she does, of course, have a mystery about her since we really don't know anything about the character at this point, but later this idea was scrapped and she becomes the hero of the movie by punching a few nurses or two.

But unfortunately, Julie is then killed by an invisible Freddy, which is a chilling replay of Tina's death:

It's good to see John Saxon again, this time playing himself as a true, honest friend to Heather. You can see that Heather sees him as a father figure and is much more understanding and meaningful than the character he plays.

And then there's good o'l Robert England playing well...his good o'l self. He is very normal, nice guy who seen to have embraced the character he created. But deep inside, it shows he is somewhat haunted by the monster he portrays on film. The scene where he is painting a horrifying portrait of Freddy surrounded by his collected souls, the look on his face tells how much he is frightened by the essence of Freddy, showing that he as well as Heather is trapped by the shadow of his infamous role. This is probably one of the more effective scenes in the movie.

Lastly, there is Wes Craven, in his first acting role, no less. He's pretty much there to give exposition, so I'm going to focus on Wes Craven the character, not Wes Craven the actor. Once he and the rest of the cast and crew becomes haunted by the presence of Freddy, he is mortified of what's happening and tries to do what's right by writing a script that's too real to comprehend. Now to be honest, I wish Wes Craven should've put more emotion into his role. I mean, he's a writer/director who's unfinished script is coming to life. he should be freaking out. But no. He sits nonchalantly in his lavish mansion, living like a king. The scene they should've shown was him in a darkened room, windows taped shut, paranoid and scared out of his mind. I think that would've been more effective and capture the fear of what's happening.

And now what you all been waiting for....Freddy Krueger. And he is just as scary as he was in the original. Most of the complaints from fans came from how Freddy didn't have enough screen time. And quite frankly, that's a GOOD thing. What was so great about the first movie was that even though Freddy isn't in most of the scenes, he still is this haunting presence that cripple his victims, emotionally and physically, Which happens a lot in this movie and is used very well. And this all works, having Freddy in the shadows and given less screen time. It makes him more scary and mysterious. Having him in the spotlight while being the star of his own show, will lose the effect and quality of the film. the fans can disagree all they want about his but I like it this way.

There is also a twist to the whole Freddy mythology. The catch is, it isn't really Freddy after all. It is ancient evil that manifests himself into the fictional character. It's better than it sounds. But I thought this was a cool concept and set the story in motion.

The look and design on Freddy might be a mix reaction for most of the fans but I really liked it. The makeup is definitely a step up from the last movie and also like the long coat along with the green hat, giving Freddy this sleek badass look.

Now to the special effects. They are done really well and still holds up to this day. But what really makes it effective is there is less much of it. What the sequels did wrong was that it was used too much of them, which made the films less scary. Wes Craven went back to basics on this one and focused on suspense, tension, and build-up, which is the key ingredients for a horror film.

Now most people might disagree with on this, but I thought the climax was pretty cool. Freddy's lair was structured brilliantly. It's sort of like going into his hell dimension, which was interesting. One of the elements that Wes Craven used was the Hansel and Gretel theme which work well into the story, giving the movie a dark fairy tale twist, adding on to the creepy ominous atmosphere.
Now for the trivia. As you know, the earthquake scenes are sort of a foreshadowing to the story. what's even more eerie, is that an earthquake actually happen in early 1994. You can see some of the damage in the scene where Heather is on her way to meet Wes Craven.

In the funeral scene, you can point out actor Jsu Garcia, (Who's looking sexier than ever I might add), who played Rod and the actress Tuesday Knight who played Kristen in Dream Master. Wes Craven wanted to ask Johnny Depp to do the funeral scene as well, but hesitated. It would be years later, where Johnny said he would've obliged. And that's very much true, since he did do a cameo in Freddy's Dead.....And that's a terrible movie.

The doctor who is a total bitch to Heather is actually based on Richard Hefner, the head of the MPAA, who was gung-ho about censoring horror films back in the 80's.

The snarky nurse, who is quite funny actually, is played by Wes Craven's daughter.

Heather Lagenkamp actually did have a stalker, which is pretty scary when you think about it.

Although certain fans and critics praised the film, it was a box office flop and I think at the time, horror fans wanted more than just a compelling story or maybe it was the fact people just got tired of Freddy, without knowing that it's not same wisecracking, annoying jokester in the sequels.
Yes! Finally took Wes Craven to save the series from it's falling grace. The movie blends in well with it's mix of horror and drama while also sending nods to other great horror films including the original. With it's investing characters, complex storyline, and suspenseful, hair-raising moments, Wes Craven's New Nightmare is definitely my #1 favorite nightmare sequel.
My last word: Go watch it. Right now.