HALLOWEEN 2K18: A Review of "Wes Craven's New Nightmare"

Super Spooky Demon Freddy

Well if Jason telling not one, but two "Final" lies was inexcusable, you're never going to believe that someone like Freddy Krueger would break the same rule. Even worse was that it was Freddy's original brainchild that did it. That's right, Wes Craven himself returned to the franchise that he created in 1994, Freddy's 10th birthday, to give his slasher movie icon the proper send-off, as Craven was intently disgusted with the outcome of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and didn't see a wise-cracking, goofy Freddy being blown up through the use of awful computer generated imagery to be a great for his or Freddy's image. So it's back to basics! Freddy got an overhaul in this movie and he is one nightmarish (ba-dum tss) guy to look at. Seriously, the first time I saw this movie I was a little unnerved. They gave him a trench coat, dead eyes, more defined burns and a skeletal hand for his claws. It's pretty rad. Even more rad is Heather Langenkamp, known for her character Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Nightmare 3, returns as both herself and Nancy for this one. How is that possible you ask? Well the movie has a great plot, pretty unique actually. Let's dive right in. This is "Wes Craven's Cleanup Duty"... I mean, "New Nightmare".

Wes Craven's just handling his own clean-up work

Heather Langenkamp (Heather Langenkamp... groundbreaking) lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Chase (David Newsom) and their young son Dylan (Miko Hughes)..., you know, the adorable "boys have a penis, girls have a vagina" kid from Kindergarten Cop. She has become popular thanks to her role as Nancy Thompson from the Nightmare on Elm Street film series. This is already getting on "unstoppable" levels of "meta". One night she has a nightmare that her family is attacked by a set of animated Krueger claws from an upcoming Nightmare film, where two workers are brutally murdered on set. Waking up to an earthquake, she spies a cut on Chase's finger exactly like the one he had received in her dream, but she quickly dismisses the notion it was caused by the claws.

Oh look at you, you adorable little nutjob

Heather receives a call from an obsessed fan who quotes Freddy Krueger's nursery rhyme in an eerie, Freddy-like voice. This coincides with a meeting she has with New Line Cinema where she is pitched the idea to reprise her role as Nancy in a new Nightmare film which, unbeknownst to her, Chase has been working on. When she returns home, she sees Dylan watching her original film. When she interrupts him, he has a severely traumatizing episode where he screams at her. The frequent calls and Dylan's strange behavior cause her to call Chase. He agrees to rush home from his workplace as the two men from the opening dream did not report in for work. Chase falls asleep while driving and is slashed by Freddy Krueger's claw and dies. His death seems to affect Dylan even further, which causes concern for Heather's long-time friend and former co-star John Saxon (John Saxon... again, groundbreaking). He suggests she seek medical attention for Dylan and herself after she has a nightmare at Chase's funeral in which Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) tries to take Dylan away.

"Really Wes? I have to come back again?"

Dylan's health continues to deteriorate. He becomes increasingly paranoid about going to sleep, and fears Freddy Krueger, even though Heather has never shown Dylan her films. Despite the one she just caught him watching, but besides that. We'll forget that happened. She visits the director of A Nightmare on Elm Street Wes Craven (Wes Crav--... alright now you're just fucking with me, movie), who suggests that Freddy is a supernatural entity drawn to his films, freed after the film series ended with the release of Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. NO, WES. Don't you dare give that shit-heap any credit whatsoever, or even acknowledge its existence. It now focuses on Heather, as Nancy, its primary foe. Freddy actor Robert Englund (Robert Engl-- OH COME ON) also has a strange knowledge of it, describing the new Freddy to Heather, then disappearing from all contact shortly after. Man, you know what this movie was missing? A scene where Freddy kills Robert Englund. That alone would've been the price of admission. Following another earthquake, Heather takes a traumatized Dylan to the hospital, where Dr. Heffner (Fran Bennett), suspecting abuse, suggests he remain under observation. Heather returns home for Dylan's stuffed dinosaur while his babysitter Julie (Tracy Middendorf) tries unsuccessfully to keep the nurses from sedating the sleep-deprived boy. Dylan falls asleep from the sedative. Freddy brutally kills Julie in Dylan's dream, asking Dylan if he's ever played "skin the cat".

"What's that? You want me to play myself?
I don't know... how scary can I be?"

Capable of sleepwalking, Dylan leaves the hospital of his own accord while Heather chases him home across the interstate as Freddy taunts him and dangles him before traffic. On returning home, Heather realizes that Saxon has established his persona as Don Thompson. When Heather embraces Nancy's role, Freddy emerges completely into reality and takes Dylan to his world. Heather finds a trail of Dylan's sleeping pills and follows him to a dark underworld. Freddy fights off Heather and chases Dylan into an oven. Dylan escapes the oven, doubles back to Heather, and together they push Freddy into the oven and light it. This destroys both the monster and his reality.

Dylan and Heather emerge from under his blankets, and Heather finds a copy of the film's events in a screenplay at the foot of the bed. Inside is written thanks from Wes for defeating Freddy and playing Nancy one last time. Her victory helps to imprison the entity of the film franchise's fictitious world once more. Dylan asks if it is a story, and Heather agrees that it is before opening the script and reading from its pages to her son.

Sneaky Demon Freddy is Sneaky

Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a pretty damn good movie. If it isn't good, then it at least feels good. I give it props for giving the middle finger to the whole "The Final Nightmare" gag. The plot is original, taking elements from both the fictitious "Freddy" universe and the real-life universe. Hell, Heather Langenkamp had a stalker in real life and Wes Craven got her permission to weave that into the actual story. That took some balls on her part... which I realize is a dumb statement because she's a woman. "Boy, that took some ovaries on her part!"... nah, I'll stick with balls. Robert Englund does a great job at returning to being the creepy, demonic Freddy that was Craven's original intent with the first movie. Miko Hughes is Miko Hughes, you either love him or you hate him, but a lot of the film's horror moments are throwbacks to that sweet, sweet 80's cheese. Sometimes going into actual spooky elements, sometimes just being flat out hilarious. I love this movie. Check it out.


So that was Freddy's seventh and final solo entry leading up to their big showdown. Sure we have the remake in 2010, but who gives a chicken's dick about the remake. Anywho, we've still got one more Jason entry to go. I know! Halloween is so close, we can taste it. Stay tuned.