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Reviews
My Soul to Take (2010)
Wes has lost something over the years..
I went into My Soul to Take with an open mind and I don't know if the rest of my theater did, but I can safely say most of them cleared out before the credits rolled.
This abomination is an insult to Wes Craven's name and anyone associated with the film. The original idea for the plot is a very good start for a movie and one that also seems fairly flexible, apparently not. This teen slasher is is one of the most generic horror films to date and shares many attributes with "straight to DVD" horror movies.
The corny and unbelievable actors try their hardest, but still lack the talent to really pull off anything spectacular. However I doubt the greatest actors in Hollywood could make this script look much better for a final cut. The scenes are so scatter-brained and the script is so bad it was destined to fail.
At some times I was really confused if I was supposed to be watching a horror movie or a comedy.
When the movie ended I stood up and asked who was left in the theater, "Worst horror movie of the year, anybody with me?" I was applauded. Avoid this atrocity.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Not perfect, but a trip for the people who have been dying to see Freddy again.
Before writing I should clearly disclaim that this review will be written with a bias towards the Kruger films. I am certainly a fan boy and this is written to the people who are fans of the ever-popular villain, but are still on the fence as to whether or not to see him in his own film after 16 years.
In all truth I will start out by stating what should be obvious: the acting is abhorrently bad. This is true throughout almost all horror films to date, and this movie is no exception. There are only two actors who truly stick out, the character of Quentin (apologies for not knowing the actor's name) and of course Freddy Kruger. Jackie Earl Hayley's performance unfortunately does not rank above the great Robert Englund, however after seeing him in Kruger's shoes I can honestly say I could not see any other actor taking on this role.
Hayley carries the one-liners almost as well as Englund. He has some of the classic lines from a couple of the previous films as well as an additional comment to an older, however slightly changed, classic scene.
The addition of classic scenes have a mixed reception among fans. Some say they were just thrown in there for a lack of better ideas and others say that they were homage to the classic considering the fact that it is a remake. In all honesty I can see how both of these claims could be true, however seeing some of these scenes remade with modern technology made the fan boy inside me smirk throughout the entire movie. I loved being able to see some of the things that scared the crap out of me as a kid reinvented in another way, and if you are any form of fan I can promise you will too.
The musical score has the same creepy vibe as the original did, which fits well with the undertone of the more sinister villain we encounter in this entry of the series.
The only problem is the score doesn't make up for the terrible pacing the movie puts forth. The script is changed ever so slightly to fit the more modern audience but the way it was done completely strips away the character development that the original had done so well. Unlike the Friday the 13th remake, which included the typical "drugs, sex and gore" routine, Nightmare tried to reach that audience without sinking as low as the other film had. There is blood, but to be honest I think the older one could be considered more violent than the remake. Lack of sex and ridiculous amounts of drugs made me feel as if they had retained some of the Nightmare style of the 80's which didn't focus on that sort of thing as much as F13 did.
For that reason alone I could hear teenagers walking out of my theater saying how "it wasn't scary at all" or "that blonde chick should have gotten naked". Its sad that this is what the horror genre has to appeal to now in order to make it successfully.
I personally loved the film and plan on seeing it again soon. Friday the 13th was a butchered remake for a bunch of 14 year old kids to see at the brink of their curfew. Nightmare on Elm Street will not be appreciated by all, especially teenagers, however those true fans who knew someone who lived on an Elm Street will have some major nostalgia coupled with a large smile on your face upon leaving the theater.