Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Five teenage friends living on one street all dream of a sinister man with a disfigured face, a frightening voice and a gardener's glove with knives for fingers. But when one among them dies, they soon realize that what happens in their dreams happens for real and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake. Buried in their past is a debt that has just come due. To save themselves, they must plunge into the mind of the most twisted nightmare of all: Freddy Krueger. Jackie Earle Haley plays the legendary evildoer in this contemporary reimagining of the seminal horror classic.

New release movies typically have the advantage of a pristine print to work with and all the modern wizbang to make them look great. Unfortunately this one didn’t get the A list treatment as the video presentation had some noticeable issues not typically associated with a new film like this. There were several scenes that exhibited noticeable compression artifacts and aliasing. There were also a few sequences where the resolution changed dramatically and looked like an SD upconvert compared to the scenes leading up to it and following it. Most of the movie had decent detail and a decent sense of depth, but overall I was pretty disappointed in the inconsistency on display. The audio side fared better though with nice atmospheric effects and an ominous bass line that gave my subs a nice workout. Horror is all about atmosphere and this track did its best to deliver.

Extras include Warner’s new staple of an included DVD copy along with a digital copy for your portable device. You also get a look at the new Freddy, some additional scenes and a movie mode feature that delivers a bit more insight into the film.

I’m a huge fan of Wes Craven’s original Nightmare but this new reimagining left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. While horror films are supposed to do their best in to scaring you enough to keep you awake, I found myself falling asleep from boredom through most of this. A rental at best.