Sure, you expect your teenage slasher films to be light on the narrative, character development & dialogue, so why did I expect more out of the re-imagining of A Nightmare On Elm Street?

The 2010 remake takes most of the elements of the 1984 original, adds some darker imagery, and turns it into the Hollywood version of a modern scary movie for teens. For some reason, I kept thinking of the Final Destination films while watching this one.

The central character is Nancy, one of a group of high school aged kids who begin having nightmares of a man. The man in question, Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Hailey), carries a glove that only comes in one size; extra-stabby. The nightmares seem to start as each of the characters begins to remember an event from their childhood that they blocked out.

One by one, Freddy gets busy with his bedtime butchery and it was pretty much par for the course. No big surprises here.

Realistically, would suburban parents of kindergarten kids in 1997 opt for a gang vigilante-style justice on a man who may, or may not have done something suspect to their kids? No. That’s the type of thing that gets settled in the courts and on Jerry Springer.

That’s not the real problem I had with this remake. What was wrong is that Freddy Krueger seemed small in stature and fright-induction. You almost feel like he’s a severe burn victim, which makes you feel sympathetic, until you find you find out what he’s done.

The slashings were fun, but they didn’t come often enough in the dream sequences, like they should have. It was also obvious when we were supposed to be scared. Again, nothing really surprised me. One remaining question: Did he really need to kill the dog?