This time Staying Awake
Won't Save you...
We start the film on what seems to be the next in a long line of "Nightmare" films, with Freddy making a new "Terminator" like hand to replace his glove. You may think that this is the beginning of the "New Nightmare" as Freddy cuts his hand off to attach the new claw to his body, but just as he cuts his hand off we find ourselves on set... Yup... on Set where they are making the film. This is something really never seen before as Wes Craven makes his acting debut in the early moments of the film. Remember... this is a film... about the making of a film... that is coming to life in the real world. Keeping up? I know it's a tad confusing to start, but I promise it gets better... Or does it? MUWAHAHAHA! The actress who has payed "Nancy" in all of the original "Nightmare" Heather Langenkamp (playing hersefl) All the actors in this film are playing themselves, except for out real life version of demon Freddy, who is far more menacing this time around. She and her husband are on set with thier son, who is totally into the whole Freddy movie thing realizing that it all "Make Believe". As we walk through the set we get a good look at what behind the scenes on set looks like. But just when we think things are all normal and fun behind the scene's the Terminator like claw comes to life, crawling around killing people like it is possessed! Wes Craven can be heard from the catwalk yelling to kill the effects, when suddenly Heather wakes up from her...Nightmare... ironically enough, to find herself in bed with her husband, during an earth quake.
This film may very well be one of the most unique horror films of all time. It takes Freddy Kruger out of the vision of reality and acknowledges the fact that he is in fact a horror movie icon. Where things get a little weird is when we find out a little bit more about the "Real" Freddy Kruger, in the somewhat the same realm as "Scream" it uses horror movie films as a base to create its own film. The reality of this film is that Freddy Kruger is something of an actual demon that Wes Craven kept at bay from the world through the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, but once the films ended this new darker version of Freddy came into being. A version of Freddy that is all too real, no longer a demon coming to get you in your dreams but an actual flesh and blood killing machine that wants to take down the cast from the original films, wanting to act out his own killings. Freddy in this film is also played by long time Kruger, Robert Englund... but you'll never guess who he also plays in this film... he also plays Robert Englund. This film will contain the entire real life characters playing themselves, even Wes Craven. This is by far a unique vision from one of the horror genre's best film makers, but is it too confusing to understand? Is the story too unbelievable to be taking place in real life? We'll find out in my review of "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"... 1-2 THE REAL Freddy is coming for you! Here...WE... GO!
Before we know it, the quake is over and everything is hunkydorey, except for a cut on her hustband's hand, which Heather, who appears to be paranoid from her days as "Nancy" from her Nightmare days, asks him where he got that cut, her husband assures her it's no big deal, and that he must have cut it on a picture, that had fallen off the wall, but she seems paranoid about the REAL possibility of Freddy... a bit unrealistic if you ask me, but we move on. Another quake that seems to be a paranoid hallucination and she comes down to find her son watching "Nightmare on Elm Street" on TV. We find out that Heather has been getting stalker like phone calls from a Nightmare fanatic, taunting her from her Nightmare days with the classic Freddy "One Two Freddy's coming for you". From the early onset it appears that her son seems to be somehow in connection with this real live Freddy demon that is coming to life, a little creepy coming from a child, it's a nice touch. He calls from her stalker have her spooked beyond belief, and her son's strange behavior only adds to the eerie tone the film is setting. For as strange as this concept is, it does seem to be setting the right tone, as Heather heads off to a daytime talk show interview where she is met joined by Robert Englund in his full Freddy get up, to get only cheers from the fans, showing just how much of a fan favorite Freddy had become over the years. Inevitably loosing his antagonistic feel and almost becoming the hero of the films, something they make sure to get away from in this film, it's back to the basics Wes Craven style. Following his appearance as "Freddy" on the talk show, we see Robert and Heather talking after the interview, a very interesting sight indeed. As Robert sighs autographs for his many fans, several of them Children to show just how watered down Freddy had become.
Heather gets a phone call from New Line Cinema, while performing in a film produced by New Line Cinema... Nice touch. She even heads over to the real life offices of New Line... As the film goes on, the films storyline becomes more and more interesting, pulling me in more and more every minute. The head of New Line Cinema calls her in to ask her to star in THE definitive "Nightmare" film, which just so happens to be the one we are watching right now, Wes is walking on the high-wire on this one and he... so far... is pulling it off masterfully. I'm reminded of a film that came out long after this one, and tried to do a similar thing, but I would have to say failed to some extent, in "Scre4m" Now, while Scream 4 didn't fail MISERABLY and I thought it was far from a terrible film and I'm sure I will get to it soon enough, it is not being carried out nearly as well as this is, is is balancing the line between fantasy and reality masterfully. He is really getting at how watered down horror has become as Heather says that she doesnt want to star in a horror film because she has a son, now and well-- only to be cut off by our head of New Line by saying "Come on Kid's love horror" How strange does that sound? Horror was and is by design, films for adults, but Kids... children love horror, that's how watered down horror has become, and Wes is getting that point across really well.
They imply right away that the reason, that Wes makes the "Nightmare" films is because he has nightmares about Freddy, and that is why the new film is being made. This film we are watching right now... Confused? It's a lot less confusing then it sounds, it's balanced masterfully. Heather's son being at the epicenter of it all is very creepy, and heading toward horror the way it is meant to be done. Those of you who saw "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" Know just how comical and STUPID the final three films had become. They were hardly horror films. Her son speaks of a "Mean old man with the "claws" that comes up from under his bed, and his stuffed dinosaur Rex keeps him down there. *cue the Nightmare theme*. As her husband drives home in the middle of the night, Freddy's hand jumps out and kills her husband, only to find out that Heather is having another nightmare. Only... a few moments after the police knock at his door, to tell her that her husband fell asleep while driving and had an accident, causing his death. Only moments after dreaming it, we find out that his corps has the signature claw marks of Freddy down his chest. As it goes the film draws me in more and more, and the less confusing it becomes, the less Wes has to walk the high-wire so to speak... but Wes isn't only directing this film, he also plays himself in it. Later on we find out why. Everyone attends her husband's funeral including Wes Craven and Robert Englund and the entire cast from the Nightmare series. Their is yet another earth quake, where Heather hallucinates her son being dragged down into the grave by our new REAL Freddy... Or does she? As she wakes up and everything is fine.
The only one who seems to REALLY know what is going on here is our good pal Wes Craven... not only behind the scenes of this film, but as a character in the film. Moments later, we are at Heather's house in the middle of the night were she again finds her son watching "Nighmare on Elm Street" while sleep walking. She tells him that he needs to go back to bed, but he doesn't want to sleep there. She tells him he needs to go to sleep only for him to respond..."One Two Freddy's coming for you". Creepy... She asks him where he heard that song, and he responds in his bed, he hears girls singing it. The whole thing is coming to life, and only one person knows why... Wes Craven. The epicenter of this whole film crossing over into real life seems to be through Heather's son Dylan, he seems to be the catalyst to how the "real" Freddy is crossing over from his demonic world into the real world. But the whole cast seems be being pulled in, and being frieghtened by what is crossing over, even "Freddy" himself... Robert Englund. The whole cast seems to be having nightmares about this new "Freddy" as they all await Wes Craven to release his new film, but he refuses to show it to anyone until it is fished. This is a film... about the film we are watching, has Heather waking up from Nightmare after Nightmare, where have we seen this before? Only this time, the degree of realism is something special. Not to mention numerous throw backs to the original film, but done in a way that make them fresh and new. Which is always excellent to see in a horror remake/sequel.
Heather had made plans to meet with Robert Englund, but when she calls him his answering machine says that he left town and will be gone for some time, indicating something... or someone has him really spooked. Heather then heads down to see the man himself... Wes Craven. He tells her that he wishes he could tell her where the script is going but he himself doesn't know, that it comes to him in a series of dreams. Indicating that he is writing the script day by day before each day happens and the people are living out the script each day. Wes is burdened with the knowledge of knowing who will die, and who will live each day before it happens, which I find to be a wonderful twist. However only he knows that he was able to keep the true demon Freddy at bay though the Nightmare on Elm Street films, and as long as they kept making them the demon would stay away, but once the movies stopped the real Freddy began crossing over into the real world. Movie within a movie in a remake/sequel... dangerous to do... awesome if you pull it off. Just as in the original film, only Heather can stop this new entity, this new Freddy from crossing over into the real world, and it's inevitable that he will come for her. Just as Freddy did in the original Nightmare on Elm Street, so this IS a "Remake/Sequel/Movie within a Movie" And so far the best I've ever seen.
As we run towards the final chase sequence, there are many throw backs to the original series, very well done. I can not stress enough how well using the child Dylan as the catalyst for the demon Freddy to cross over is important for the film. It gets creepier as it goes, and anyone who has children of their own would be terrified if something so horrible were to be happening to their child. In a sense, it is somewhat of a demonic possession movie as well as Freddy is using Dylan to cross over making the film that much more terrifying at the thought of Freddy as a real flesh and blood demon spawn. And just like all demonic possession, they come at you when you are the most vulnerable, and that's when they attack. As we get closer and closer to the final scenes, the reality seems to be morphing into the world of "Nightmare on Elm Street", it flows flawlessly from back and forth from Remake to Sequel to Original film, I can't find any flaws in the transitions from one to the next. Once Freddy finally crosses over into the real world, he is like a demon that only Heather and Dylan can see but he can effect the world around him, this Freddy is far more menacing and evil than the Nightmare on Elm Street saga and has a slightly different darker look as well.
Dylan sleep walks right into traffic and is a terrifying thought for anyone who has children of their own, Heather chases him through traffic and back to their home where she finds him, up in his bed where we find the gateway to Hell, as they are go down a deep tunnel under his bed. The more that Demon Freddy crosses over into the real world, the more that the real world meshes with the world of "Nightmare on Elm Street" this seems to be the effect of the new Freddy who has this effect on the world around him. The only ones seemingly not effected by this change in reality are Heather and Dylan, but Nancy knows she has to travel down into the depths of Hell to defeat Freddy one last time, as she finds a trail of sleeping pills all the way up to Dylan's bed where the gateway is, following them as you would a trail of bread crumbs. Once she finds her way to the other side, she has the unenviable task of trying to find her son before it's too late, and Freddy has home field advantage.
Of course this version of Hell is not too unlike the "Nightmare" scenes from the others, there are slight veneration of course but it would appear that they substituted Freddy's version of Hell for his Nightmare he would manifest from in the originals. Dylan ends up finding her, as she searches, only to be caught by Freddy who tries to use her worst fears against her, just as any demon would. What we find out is while Dylan was the catalyst for Freddy to cross over, what he really wanted was Heather all along, which of course we could all see coming. Dylan suddenly becomes more of a nuisance to Freddy now that he has served is purpose. So in an effort to rid himself of Dylan so he can focus on Heather he chases Dylan to a pit of fire... now... this seems unlikely since we are indeed in Freddy's version of Hell, and a child who was dragged down into hell would probably never climb into a cage like crematorium, but he climbs in anyway, and Freddy, cant seem to grab him... the opening is too small. Now I realize for the story telling purposes of this film this needs to happen, but I feel like there is probably a better way to go about this ending, since the film was so masterfully done up to this point. Freddy can't fit through an opening to an incinerator in his own version of Hell? Seems unlikely... not to mention a small child walking into a cage like incinerator to begin with. But we'll move on...
Freddy sticks his head and is arm through, his arm stretches out to grab Dylan in a nice little throw back to Nightmare on Elm Street 1... Heather's feet get stuck in the stairs in another nice little throw back, this whole final scene is fresh and new while being nostalgic along the way. Freddy pulls Dylan to him and his head streaches open as if he is going to swallow him whole which is ANOTHER fresh yet nostalgic throw back, all being masterfully done by the master of all of this Wes Craven. Heather shows up just in time to stab Freddy and stop him from swallowing up Dylan, but suddenly Freddy ends up inside the cage now, when just a moment ago he couldn't fit... you're starting to loose control here Wes, but just as he looks as if he is gonna tip he hits us with ANOTHER beautifully done nostalgic throw back, as Freddy's tongue wraps around Heather's head. *sigh* Back and forth we go, somehow, off scene Dylan escapes the caged incinerator that he should never have been inside of in the first place, and helps Heather get away from Freddy, who is now the only one inside the incinerator... Wes... Come on now! They pull a lever that makes the flames grow higher, and suddenly the seemingly harmless incinerator that the boy was standing in, is now a death trap for our Demon Freddy... Something tells me Wes is gonna loose a couple of stars for this ending. As Demon Freddy burns up he the Hell around them begins to explode into a fiery pit of fiery fire balls. This is what Hell I imagine actually looks like. Somehow... without explanation... they escape the fiery hell in a way that was no where near how they entered it, as they find a note from Wes, saying that Freddy is finally back where he belongs. It's over now... but they begin to read Wes' script, that plays out exactly how the movie played out as we just watched.
Final Thoughts:
As I watched this film I found it a tad confusing at the beginning, if not a bit unrealistic for a film based in reality. As it went however I found myself drawn in more and more, and blown away at how masterfully Wes Craven walked the line between fantasy and reality. It's a dangerous path to walk, and few can do it. Even Wes Craven has failed at it, he tried to walk it again with Scre4M, but was not nearly as successful at it. Just goes to show even the master can only do it so many times. New Nightmare was about as good as I could have hoped and was all but flawless until the ending, but as the ending was flawed and could have definitely been done better, it was filled with nostalgic moments that left me smiling. It was FAAAR better than every Nightmare sequel after the Nightmare 3, it's a fun realistic original film with little to shake your finger at, it was headed for a perfect score if not for a few confusing moments that didn't flow all that well, and the flawed ending. All and all this movie was a Remake/Sequel/Movie inside a Movie film... Probably the hardest of the hard to pull off, and for the degree of difficulty Wes Craven shows just why he is one of the kings of Horror and gets an extra star for attacking one of the hardest things to do in ANY movie genre and come out nearly unscathed.
Final Score: 4 outa 5
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