October 26, 2011 13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2011: Night 8 A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
You knew it would come to this. You knew it would get remade. You definitely knew I would have to cover it. I don't think you knew where in the list it would go and really it's just kind of random placement. Here is the Freddy remake. Before I dig into the names let me just say I think it has its high points, but there are some issues too.
Jackie Earle Haley of Watchmen (2009) fame was cast as Freddy Krueger. Jackie was also in Shutter Island (2010) and will be appearing in Dark Shadows (2012). I have to say I thought he was awesome for the new, different Freddy. Kyle Gallner plays a new
character to the storyline by the name of Quentin Smith. Kyle was the star of The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)--see it as soon as possible if you haven't already--Jennifer's Body (2009), and most recently in Red State (2011). Rooney Mara plays the new Nancy, with the new last name of Holbrook. Rooney's only other horror part was in Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)--I guess she had a speaking role otherwise she likely wouldn't have the credit--but credited as Patricia Mara. Katie Cassidy plays another new character, Kris Fowles. Katie starred in the Black Christmas (2006) remake, played Ruby from 2007 to 2008 in Supernatural (2005), and then was in the intentionally short TV series Harper's Island (2009).
Thomas Dekker plays Jesse Braun, also new. Thomas has been in Village of the Damned (1995), Laid to Rest (2009) and ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011), played John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008) in between, and is now back on TV in The Secret Circle (2011). Kellan Lutz was in Ghosts of Goldfield (2007) and
the Prom Night (2008) remake. Clancy Brown of Pet Sematary II (1992) is in the movie somewhere. Connie Britton plays Nancy's mother and is now seen in the new TV series American Horror Story (2011). Lia D. Mortensen plays Kris' mother and was in a memorable thriller called Blink (1994). Christian Stolte plays Jesse's father and had a tiny part in Stir of Echoes (1999). Now, I just had to mention that way down in the acting credits is a Tim Krueger. Eric Heisserer is the notable of this remake's two writers and is also listed as sole writer for Final Destination 5 (2011), and The Thing (2011) remake/prequel now playing in theatres. Finally, director Samuel Bayer has done nothing pertinent to our discussions besides this movie. Don't hold that against him.