The Nevada Sagebrush

Rooney Mara and Kyle Gallner star as two friends fighting to stay awake in order to stay alive once Freddy Krueger sets his sights on them in the recent remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street,” a remake of the classic 1984 film, was released this week but failed to deliver anything besides buckets of blood.

Wes Craven (“Red Eye”) directed the original film, cementing it as a key part of the horror canon and establishing Freddy Krueger as one of the most legendary horror movie villains of all time. With its cast of teenaged actors — including Johnny Depp (“Alice in Wonderland”) in his film debut — the first “Nightmare on Elm Street” installment was full of mystery, suspense, horror and just a few goofy ‘80s special effects.

In the revamped version, the audience is barely given any introduction to the story or characters before people start having their necks sliced open. When the story finally catches up with the carnage, we find that a few friends from high school have all been having the same nightmares involving a burned man wearing a striped sweater who has knives on his fingers. Katie Cassidy (“Taken”) plays Kris Fowles, who tearfully ambles around for a while before falling victim to Freddy (Jackie Earle Haley, “Shutter Island”) in her sleep.

Kyle Gallner (“Jennifer’s Body”) and Rooney Mara (“Youth in Revolt”) take over as Quentin and Nancy, the film’s heroes who intend to solve the mysterious murders of their friends and figure out just who this Freddy character thinks he is. Gallner is the only teenager in the film who is also a tolerable actor. Through Quentin’s dreams, the audience is given a glimpse into Freddy’s back-story: He was the gardener at a preschool and when the children reported abuse to their parents, the adults formed an angry mob and burned him alive in a warehouse, after which he sought revenge on the kids who told on him by coming back to get them in their dreams.

Jackie Earle Haley is not to blame for the film’s downfall. At this point in his career, he has perfected the portrayal of creepy child molesters and vengeful psycho killers. His Krueger does justice to the original character as played by Robert Englund (“Zombie Strippers!”).

The movie’s problems revolve around its terrible pacing, terrible script and terrible acting. The film provides no opportunities for the audience to get to know the characters well enough to become invested in their well-beings and root for them to survive the ordeal. Where the original film took some time to develop the mystery surrounding kids who are murdered by their own dreams, the remake just leaps right into blood spilling and ignores the complexities of the experience.

None of the new “Nightmare on Elm Street” is really scary, although some of the child molestation-implications are a little disturbing toward the end. Altogether, the film is just another chance for modern movie makers to display their expertise in special effects and gore, not a chance to update what was once an original horror idea.

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’

Release Date: April 30

Director: Samuel Bayer

Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner and Katie Cassidy

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Slasher

Rating: R for strong bloody horror violence, disturbing images, terror and language.

Grade: C-

Casey O’Lear can be reached at colear@nevadasagebrush.com.

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