The 1980s was the decade of many things. For the film industry, more specifically the genre of horror, Freddy Krueger was one of the top icons. While he emerged almost half way through the decade, his name stuck and the fans couldn’t get enough of the series. Of course that is until the character became campier and campier therefore viewers not taking him as seriously. It was also obvious to director Wes Craven after leaving the franchise from the first film that his creation wasn’t the same several sequels down the road. It was because of this realization that Craven returned to helm this film. Although, what some people might be expecting is not what they should be expecting, if that makes any sense. This is exactly why the title is called Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.
The plot is one the most absurdly meta stories to a franchise. After taking part in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), Heather Langenkamp is now married with a son Dylan (Miko Hughes). Producers from New Line Cinema want her to return for one more Elm Street sequel, but she’s currently being stalked by someone imitating Freddy Krueger…or is it? Once people she knows starts showing up dead in familiar ways to that of the films, it’s up to Langenkamp to stop the evil force. Written and directed by Wes Craven, this pseudo-sequel which in a way, rounds out the two trilogy of films rather well. What’s crazy is just how self-aware the script is. There nods to how fans have seen the franchise through the years, how Freddy has been perceived and what parents have thought of the films.
The script also has people who played characters in past films playing themselves this time. Rob LaBelle from Jack Frost (1997) has a small role as a special effects technician. Jsu Garcia who played Rod in the first film has a cameo, as well as Tuesday Knight from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), John Saxon and Lin Shaye. It’s just weird, but cool at the same time. This also seems to be the template for what Craven would use in Scream (1996) and maybe even Bride of Chucky (1998). All the actors entertain and are convincing in their roles as themselves and their characters of this movie of a movie within a movie. Also as a child actor, Miko Hughes is believable and would later have roles in Apollo 13 (1995), Mercury Rising (1998), Escape to Grizzly Mountain (2000) and Clockstoppers (2002).
But of course, what would the film be without Robert Englund playing Fred Krueger? Well that’s kind of the thing about this movie. First off, Englund not only plays himself, but also Krueger again. That’s a plus. The problem is, Krueger doesn’t seem to appear as much in the film as one would hope. There’s a balance and sometimes less is more. However, even the very first film had more appearances that what seems to be this one. The same could be said for gore as well. This doesn’t take away the performance or look of the new Krueger design though. The criticism of Krueger being too campy cannot be made here. He is very much what he was from early on; serious, dark and has just right number of one-liners. Kudos to Englund.
The cinematography was shot well for this movie. Behind the camera was Mark Irwin, the same guy who worked on Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986), The Blob (1988), RoboCop 2 (1990), Dark Angel (1990) and Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991). Probably the only weak visual component was CGI effects since it was the early 90s, which is forgivable to a degree and not much of it exists in the movie. Lastly the film score was composed by J. Peter Robinson, who during the same year scored Highlander: The Final Dimension (1994). Surprisingly, the music for this film pays respects to Charles Bernstein’s original theme while incorporating some of his own style in various tracks. Thankfully there aren’t too many stings if at all.
As the seventh entry in the series, although it may not be considered depending on who you ask, this film is bizarrely clever in its execution paving the way for other self-aware horror films. The actors all put in good performances, the music and camerawork are all nicely done too. Only issue is, the main villain may not be as prevalent as some might hope him to be.
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