Post by Bartwald on Mar 13, 2004 12:13:27 GMT -5
Wes Craven's New Nightmare ***1/2
The beginning’s perfect here: Freddy’s glove invented for a new Nightmare movie starts living its independent life and kills the f/x guys in one bloody scene. Then the beautiful Heather Langenkamp, a veteran from Nightmares 1&3, shows up in a role of, er, Heather Langenkamp, an actress who’s not too famous but nevertheless wanted by Wes Craven for his Tenth Anniversary New Nightmare Movie. She’s not sure she should accept the role as the two previous entries to the series paid her off with phone calls from some psycho Freddy-fan. Plus, she’s got a sensitive son and she’s not sure her playing in New Nightmare will be good for him. PLUS, she’s afraid she’s slowly going mad – already happened in her family. So the core idea IS great: the makers admit that Nightmares 1-6 were just movies but it is now that the real nuts happens – Freddy got somehow unchained as the franchise came to a close and what Wes Craven’s got to do to save the world is direct one more movie ‘bout him and finally kill him properly.
It’s the middle part that falls flat a bit: Craven decides to keep his blade-fingered hero at bay and we rather see the lonely glove scratching walls or ripping through beds instead of Freddy in person (but I must admit that the ‘fake Freddy’ appearance in a TV talk show – with the scared Heather observing him nervously, and the light piercing gloriously through his fingerblades in slo-mo – did send some shivers down to my buttocks). What’s lamer, though, is we’re fed too much pointless dialogues here – Heather talking to her son, talking to John Saxon, talking to her friend, talking to the doctors... Except for a good funeral scene (Freddy taking his victim down a classic never-ending coffin) and a not-bad playground scene (heights always work for me) there’s not enough juice here, in the middle.
The ending, on the other hand, is very uneven. The scene in the hospital (girl ripped and dragged through the walls and the ceiling by, finally, Freddy himself) is the stuff we’ve all waited for, the highway crossing loses some of its impact courtesy of unconvincing special effects, and the finale is deeply disappointing: is that really THE proper way to kill Freddy? In my opinion last several movies offered some more convincing and more definitive ways of dealing with the Fred dude. And... yeah, I must say this: one scene totally sucks near the very end. That’s the one: boy goes through a small door and Freddy follows; the door’s small alright, but definitely not so small that Robert Englund wouldn’t try and push his way through it! Watch how hard he tries NOT to be able to go through the door in this scene, though there’s visibly enough space for one more thinner Freddy to get to the other side with him. All this effort to show off a lame Freddy’s-hand-GROWS! effect.
So: a great concept that’s a little spoiled by fruitless talking and several gay special effects. But still – a worthy and highly original addition to the franchise. It’s such a pleasure to watch Englund with no make-up and a bit shy, Heather Langenkamp more grown up than we remember her – but still so lovely that you can’t take your eyes off the screen, the deadpan John Saxon seeming to always confuse movie with reality, and also Wes Craven and Robert Shaye trying to be actors for a change (Shaye’s a little uptight while Craven threatens to burst out laughing any moment, as if amused by his own so-serious script – just watch his first scene with Heather carefully!) that in spite of all the complaining I do like this movie a lot.
The beginning’s perfect here: Freddy’s glove invented for a new Nightmare movie starts living its independent life and kills the f/x guys in one bloody scene. Then the beautiful Heather Langenkamp, a veteran from Nightmares 1&3, shows up in a role of, er, Heather Langenkamp, an actress who’s not too famous but nevertheless wanted by Wes Craven for his Tenth Anniversary New Nightmare Movie. She’s not sure she should accept the role as the two previous entries to the series paid her off with phone calls from some psycho Freddy-fan. Plus, she’s got a sensitive son and she’s not sure her playing in New Nightmare will be good for him. PLUS, she’s afraid she’s slowly going mad – already happened in her family. So the core idea IS great: the makers admit that Nightmares 1-6 were just movies but it is now that the real nuts happens – Freddy got somehow unchained as the franchise came to a close and what Wes Craven’s got to do to save the world is direct one more movie ‘bout him and finally kill him properly.
It’s the middle part that falls flat a bit: Craven decides to keep his blade-fingered hero at bay and we rather see the lonely glove scratching walls or ripping through beds instead of Freddy in person (but I must admit that the ‘fake Freddy’ appearance in a TV talk show – with the scared Heather observing him nervously, and the light piercing gloriously through his fingerblades in slo-mo – did send some shivers down to my buttocks). What’s lamer, though, is we’re fed too much pointless dialogues here – Heather talking to her son, talking to John Saxon, talking to her friend, talking to the doctors... Except for a good funeral scene (Freddy taking his victim down a classic never-ending coffin) and a not-bad playground scene (heights always work for me) there’s not enough juice here, in the middle.
The ending, on the other hand, is very uneven. The scene in the hospital (girl ripped and dragged through the walls and the ceiling by, finally, Freddy himself) is the stuff we’ve all waited for, the highway crossing loses some of its impact courtesy of unconvincing special effects, and the finale is deeply disappointing: is that really THE proper way to kill Freddy? In my opinion last several movies offered some more convincing and more definitive ways of dealing with the Fred dude. And... yeah, I must say this: one scene totally sucks near the very end. That’s the one: boy goes through a small door and Freddy follows; the door’s small alright, but definitely not so small that Robert Englund wouldn’t try and push his way through it! Watch how hard he tries NOT to be able to go through the door in this scene, though there’s visibly enough space for one more thinner Freddy to get to the other side with him. All this effort to show off a lame Freddy’s-hand-GROWS! effect.
So: a great concept that’s a little spoiled by fruitless talking and several gay special effects. But still – a worthy and highly original addition to the franchise. It’s such a pleasure to watch Englund with no make-up and a bit shy, Heather Langenkamp more grown up than we remember her – but still so lovely that you can’t take your eyes off the screen, the deadpan John Saxon seeming to always confuse movie with reality, and also Wes Craven and Robert Shaye trying to be actors for a change (Shaye’s a little uptight while Craven threatens to burst out laughing any moment, as if amused by his own so-serious script – just watch his first scene with Heather carefully!) that in spite of all the complaining I do like this movie a lot.
I have the DVD box set & watch #1 & New Nightmare more than the rest. 
.
Those three are about the only ones from the set that I watch regularly. 
