Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

• This was definitely a fresh and unique take on Freddy Krueger, and it was a really cool idea for a movie. I love how they cast the actors/actresses as themselves, and have the cross between reality and fantasy. It’s extremely different from the previous 6 films, and because of that, it’s way more enjoyable. Although I still got bored, the story has a great spin on the legacy and background of Freddy Krueger, and it was really interesting. Being able to see a fictionalized version of the writing of the Elm Street movies was neat. It’s just also a cool thing to see Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, and Robert Englund play themselves. The thing that sticks out to you is that Freddy exists both in movie lore, as well as “real life”. It gives a sense that anything can happen, and you never know what is real or what is fantasy. Besides the story and writing, the rest of the movie wasn’t so great. It felt incredibly slow paced and way too long. Like I said, I kept finding myself getting bored, and it was just dragged out. The effects were extremely questionable, and almost all of them were laughable. The effects department could’ve done such a better job, and though it was only 1994, that’s no excuse. The set design was really good, though. My biggest complaint was Freddy’s design and makeup. His burns looked vastly different from the original Elm Street movies, and although he still had his same creepiness, he just didn’t look great. The music was already pretty crappy, and the choice of tone that the music had was not very good. Overall, this movie wasn’t great, except for the story.