O Novo Pesadelo: O Retorno de Freddy Krueger

Long before the critics started wetting themselves at post-modern, self-referential (and self-indulgent) shows like Extras and Arrested Development, Wes Craven beat them to it. His New Nightmare stars Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund playing themselves in a movie within a movie written by Wes Craven playing himself writing the script as it unfolds. How Charlie Kaufman is that?

It is a terrific idea, and has Heather discovering that she, Englund and Craven have accidentally provided an ancient evil with a portal into the real world in the fictional creation of Freddy Krueger. Now that the series of movies has ended, this entity has started invading her dreams as Freddy - and it thinks if it kills "Nancy" it will be unleashed for real.

So that's the good news. The bad news is that once this premise has been laid out for the viewer, it's all downhill from there. Heather Langenkamp's acting hasn't improved with age, Wes Craven spends his time being "mysterious" (i.e. vague and annoying) and it's left to Robert Englund to save the day. Sadly, he's not in the movie as either himself or Freddy nearly enough.

It gets worse. "Real Freddy" looks even more fake and rubbery than the 80's version, if that were possible, plus the main focus of the dreamtime incursions this time is Langenkamp's young son. Now I am against child actors at the best of times, but when this bug-eyed little squirt starts screaming and yelling about Freddy, you'll just want to give him a kick.

The climax to the movie is pretty similar to every other film in the Nightmare series, which is somewhat disappointing. However, this film is almost worth it - almost - for the creepy sequence where Heather realises she's back in Elm Street for real.

Still, New Nightmare is easily the best follow-up of the series, and way more imaginative than any slasher sequel has the right to be.

The First Nightmare on Elm Street was scary and original. It had the great idea of a killer killing people in their dreams. All of its sequels (except for part 2, which went in a horrible direction) just built on to that idea, and the idea wasn't scary anymore as the series progressed. Now with New Nightmare, Wes Craven came up with another original idea. It turns out that Freddy is in fact real, some kind of ancient evil that took the form of Freddy Krueger and could only be contained through storytelling, IE: the Nightmare On Elm Street movies. But since the series has ended, the genie is out of the bottle, and this ingenious film unravels.

I wouldn't say this movie is that scary, it's more creepy than it is scary, but I love its imagination. It plays mind little mind games and you wonder what is real and what is not. Freddy Krueger is even credited as "himself". It's a must-see for any Freddy fan and in many ways it stands on its own...but only if you've seen the other movies. If that makes any sense.

This is one of the best sequels in the Nightmare series and it's nothing short of brilliant. It's nice to see that Freddy is back in the bottle where he belongs, and hopefully will be for a long time...

My Rating: 9/10

The original 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' is still to me one of the scariest and best horror films there is, as well as a truly great film in its own right and introduced us to one of the genre's most iconic villains in Freddy Krueger. It is always difficult to do a sequel that lives up to a film as good as 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' let alone one to be on the same level.

After the 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' series showed signs of severe fatigue, that it was suggestive of the series being completely dead, original director Wes Craven makes a welcome return and brings new, fresh life to the series. 'New Nightmare' may not be as good as the original, none of the follow-ups are (though two of the previous sequels, the third and fourth, were good), but it is the best of the follow-ups since the third and is one of the best in the series.

'New Nightmare' has its faults. Its biggest one is the ending, it is just ridiculous and jars tonally with the rest of the film, which took a darker and more serious direction (perhaps more so than the original). Count me in as another person who didn't care for Freddy's look here, it looks rather goofy and doesn't do Robert Englund's creepy performance and the way Freddy's written justice.

Heather Langenkamp also seemed a bit bland and seemed rather anaemic for a character written more dramatically than previously.

On the other hand, 'New Nightmare' looks very atmosphere and made with a good deal of style and slickness. The production design has a suitably nightmarish look and the special effects are great and perhaps superior to the original's. The music score is haunting.

The writing may lack the one-liners seen before, but the more serious direction the dialogue took was appreciated after the fifth and sixth films did such a poor job with the one-liners and comedy. The dialogue isn't mind-blowing but it flows decently and intrigues at least. The semi-documentary-style adopted for some of the film is very interesting, making for one of the most original ideas of the follow-ups and the series overall too, while still delivering on the shocks, suspense and creepiness.

Despite the goofy look for Freddy, Englund is very creepy and even with not much screen time he burns long in the memory.

In summary, one of the series' better entries and worth staying awake for. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Wes Craven's New Nightmare features Heather Lengankamp, who played Nancy in the first and third films, living a normal life with her husband and son. Lately, strange things have been happening, and her son isn't acting like himself. She is called in for an interview with New Line Cinemas, where she finds out that Wes Craven is making a new Nightmare film. The events of this film are beginning to unfold in the real world, because Freddy Krueger is angry at being killed off in the last film, so he steps out of fantasy and into reality to go after the makers of the original film. Now Heather Lengankamp must protect her son and defeat Freddy one last time...Only this time, it's real.

I love this movie. I personally think it's just as good as the first movie. This is one of the most original and ingenious plots for a horror movie I've ever seen. All of the people involved with the original films appear as themselves, including Heather Lengenkamp, John Saxon, Robert Englund, and Wes Craven. Freddy is amazing in this movie. He appears with his trademark brown hat, but now he's in a much darker red and green sweater along with a brown tattered trench coat, and his burns are more severe. Also, his trademark knives are actually coming from his fingers. The best part about it is that in this film, Freddy isn't a wise cracking killer...He's an all business violent and brutal killer.

This movie features the best acting for a slasher movie I've ever seen, but then again, almost every actor in the movie plays themselves, so it would be pretty hard to screw that up.

Overall, this movie is on a par with the original, and I'd recommend it to any horror fan.

8/10

The actress Heather Langencamp lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chase Porter (David Newsom), who is secretly working in a mechanical hand for the next movie of Freddy Kruger, and their son Dylan (Miko Hughes). During an earthquake, Heather has a dreadful nightmare where Chase's partners die; in the morning she is invited to be the guest of a talk show about the tenth anniversary of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" with the presence of Robert Englund. Later the executive of New Line Cinema Robert Shaye invites her to perform Nancy Thompson again in the latest project of Wes Craven based on his own nightmares, but she turns the invitation down. Heater is being disturbed by a man that calls her in the telephone and sends creepy letters to her. When Dylan has nightmares with a man with claw and tells that he is protected by his T-Rex toy showing symptoms of schizophrenia, and Chase dies in a car accident, Heather becomes paranoid with Freddy Krueger. The reactions of Robert Englund and Wes Craven indicate to her that something is going wrong. Further she discovers that Freddy is an entity that does exist and is an ancient demon trying to use her weakness as the gateway to the real world. Heater needs to face the evil Freddy Kruger to protect her beloved son.

"New Nightmare" is an original approach to bring Freddy Krueger back after his death in "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare". The story blends reality with fiction and transforms Freddy Krueger in a millenary evil entity that tries to reach the real world through the actress Heather Langencamp, giving a survivorship to this character. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Hora do Pesadelo 7 – O Novo Pesadelo – O Retorno de Freddy Krueger" ("The Hour of the Nightmare 7 – The New Nightmare – The Return of Freddy Krueger")