***A more realistic and morose version of the original film & franchise***

The specter of a dead pedophile fatally haunts the dreams of the children of his self-appointed executioners who burned him to death years earlier.

Released in 2010, this is a reboot of the original 1984 movie, freely throwing in elements from other flicks in the franchise. I think Jackie Earle Haley works well as creepy Freddy Krueger and I like the more realistic tone, which some say makes movie bland and boring. Rooney Mara (Nancy) and Kyle Gallner (Quentin) are decent as the main protagonists and I think the bedroom scene is superior to the same attack scene in the original; it’s more shocking. The prison scene’s great too.

Unfortunately, the concept of Freddy is a bit of a mess. For instance, his bladed-glove is never explained. And what was the point of the boiler room since he was just a gardener at a small preschool? The filmmakers just threw in these elements because it's Freddy, figuring people knew the character. But how do these components fit into THIS movie? And what about viewers who never saw the original flicks?

The film runs 1 hours, 35 minutes and was shot in northern Illinois and nearby Gary, Indiana, with reshoots done in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-/C+