Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘New Nightmare’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

‘Miss me?’
- Freddy Krueger

​Stories always manage to influence our lives in one way or another. We quote lines from our favorite movies. We keep books that moved us in incredible ways but in the end, our love of them comes down to one thing; the characters. For it is those vibrant and fascinating people, and everything that they stand for, be it good or bad, that stay with us the longest.  

But what if there was a bigger reason for that? What if in some incredible way the characters we adore were actually real? It's a fascinating idea for certain, since it would add new gravity to the stories that we’ve enjoyed and told on end for generations. And it just so happens, that this notion infected Wes Craven’s mind back in the 1990s and prompted him to assemble a new Elm Street movie. One that took the time to explore this notion in great detail, and that makes New Nightmare, one supremely unique and original, horror flick.

It's been ten years since A Nightmare on Elm Street changed the horror landscape and at last the story has come to its end. But while Freddy is dead, the fans are having trouble letting him go and with rumors of a new film on the horizon, one of the original stars, Heather Langenkamp, is being asked to return to the role she made famous, Nancy Thompson. But she is not without her reservations, and the more she becomes involved with the project, strange occurrences begin to happen to her friends and family and with good reason. For Freddy lives, but in different fashion. Because he is now an ancient demon, one that is bound and restricted by the character from the Elm Street films, and with no more Krueger movies being made the demon is now free and ready to step into reality and wreak havoc and it has chosen Heather as its one true nemesis, and it will be up to her to end this nightmare, once and for all.  

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​This is a movie that I originally had my reservations about when it first came out, despite the fact that series creator Wes Craven was attached to it simply because, the story of Freddy Krueger came to a close in the sixth film and bringing him back to life made it seem as though we were going to be treated to a more polished version of the campy world that the franchise had transformed into. But in the end, I was horribly wrong, since New Nightmare ended up being a fresh and horrifying take on the Krueger mythos and it only gets better with every viewing.  

Thanks in large part, to the complete reinvention of Freddy. Something that works in this movie through and through, solely because of Robert Englund and his acting skills. Because Robert plays this new Krueger, with a calculated chill and an unsettling evil and that leads to a great many creepy moments over the course of this story. But the wonders of this movie don't end there. For Craven's script and ideas, while super fourth wall, work on every level and the notion that stories protect us from the horrible things that lurk in the shadows is simply fascinating. And when you throw all those things into the mix, you're left with a solid horror film, one that makes the franchise proud.  

Yet at the same time it is perhaps a more fitting goodbye to Krueger and the evil that he stands for since this film essentially wraps up the original film’s mythos and the movies that followed it. I guess one could call it the Rocky Balboa of the Elm Street films and I really am glad the franchise revisited Freddy in classic fashion one last time since the saga ventured into vastly new territory past this point. Either way, watch this one. Since it offers up quite the fresh take on the character and it also proposes some fascinating ideas, the kind that motivate you to see storytelling, in a whole new light.  

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