BLOOD WORK: HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 25: WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE (1994)

Most of the prolific horror franchises have an "oddball" or "experimental" entry in their series. These are the movies where the filmmakers attempt to try something new and something different for a change. For the HALLOWEEN franchise it was HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH. For the FRIDAY THE 13TH series it was FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING. It's either TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE PART II or THE NEXT GENERATION for that franchise's experimental entry. I could go on naming films that fit this qualification. In most cases these entries were either financial bombs at the box office or just plain bad movies.

Rarely do wild entries like these work. Nowadays filmmakers would rather reboot or remake a franchise than try anything crazy like sending a classic hack n' slash horror icon into outer space. Occasionally one does stumble upon a novel idea though. Wes Craven did just that when he was asked to make one last Freddy Krueger film.WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE stands outside all the other Freddy Krueger films while simultaneously acknowledging them in a unique and clever way. The Freddy films were always audacious and from time to time Freddy would look at the camera and break the fourth wall. Wes Craven's New Nightmare breaks the fourth wall from the get go and stays there the entire time.

THE PLOT

Heather Langencamp is having nightmares. Her son Dylan is acting very strangely. She caught him several times watching her film A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET late at night and then she hears him quoting the Freddy song, "One two Freddy's coming for you..." Everyone tells her the nightmares are from stress and that Dylan is acting strangely because she is acting strangely in his eyes. One night she dreams of her husband dying on the set of a new Freddy film. When she wakes she finds out that her husband has been killed. She then discovers that her former co-star Robert Englund is having nightmares too... about Freddy. But it isn't the fun-loving Freddy from the movies. He's darker... more evil.

Heather is invited to Wes Craven's home where he reveals to her the "true" source of inspiration for the Freddy films. They were born from Wes's nightmares. What Wes, Heather, Robert, and all the others who have worked on the Freddy films captured in the movies was something primal and evil imprisoned on film. Now that the Freddy films have stopped the dark entity is loosed upon the world once again. And it wants revenge on those who imprisoned it. Wes is having nightmares again. He's writing a new nightmare script. The script, as Heather reads it, is what has been actually happening. Wes tells Heather that she is the only one who can stop it.

THE GOOD

Freddy 2.0. The same thing that happened to Jason and Michael Myers and the rest of the horror icons eventually happened to Freddy. He got stale. The MPAA effective neutered horror films and over exposure did the rest. Krueger became too familiar and stopped being scary. If Freddy was going to make a comeback something different needed to happen. Then Wes Craven comes up with an idea that simultaneously acknowledges the previous films while taking a big step away from them and reinventing his masterpiece Freddy Krueger. Freddy was simply a vessel for a dark spirit, a real life demon. The popularity of Freddy effectively trapped the entity inside the character. As long as the films kept coming the evil spirit was captured. Now that the films have stopped the evil is free again.

Resurrecting the Cast. Nearly everyone from the series (except Johnny Depp, lame...) either makes a cameo or has a part in the film. Craven shows respect to the other films and the other actors who carried on the series after him. He could've easily ignored all the other films like so many other franchises have done 'cough' Halloween H20 'cough' (I still don't like that movie) but instead he includes them all. By doing this he creates both a sequel and a remake all at once. While everyone may not agree with me I feel this film is a celebration of the series, what it created, and the power of characters. This movie is like the seminal "meta-horror film."

THE BAD

Non-Essential. If you're watching the Freddy saga you'll notice that the film after New Nightmare continues where FREDDY'S DEAD left off. If you watched Freddy's Dead and then watched FREDDY VS JASON you wouldn't know anything was missing. The film stands alone as a novel idea and that is both its strength and weakness. By existing outside of the series it removes itself from the rest of the story and instead tells a different story and a new origin for our favorite horror hero. It's not "bad" per say, it's just not Freddy. It's the story about what inspired Wes Craven to create Freddy, a docudrama about the creation of a character. SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (2000) is the only other similar film example of this that I can think of.

THE VERDICT

Rarely are we privileged to a beloved character being recreated and reinvented in an entirely new and frightening way. New Nightmare is a celebration of the character and the A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET film series. It isn't essential to Freddy's story but it does examine his cultural popularity and build upon the mythos surrounding the character. Wes Craven brings his "A" game and delivers a new and fresh and frightening take on the extremely familiar character. Robert Englund's performance is equally responsible for this film being as good as it is. You don't have to watch this film to get Freddy's story but it's neat and interesting alternate take on the character.