A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy & Thomas Dekker Written by Wesley Strick & Eric Heisserer Directed by Samuel Bayer

Let's flash back to the "Nightmare on Elm Street" of 1984. Wes Craven took a bunch of first timers and a few character actors and introduced us to Freddy Krueger played famously by Robert Englund. The film went on to be a phenomenon, spawning a slew of sequels and one crossover with "Friday the 13th" star Jason Voorhies.

On fair Elm Street is where we lay our scene. Dean (Kellan Lutz) is being tormented by nightmares of a man burnt to the core. Wielding razor sharp knives as fingers, he's trying to kill him, and kill him he does. Well, at least he makes it out that Dean went off the deep end and slit his own throat in front of everyone, but hey it's just the opening scene. Next up is Kris (Katie Cassidy) who was in a conversation with Dean right up until he turned himself into a cadaver who begins to speak of her own nightmares, the same which Dean spoke of. When compared to the original, Kris' character is obviously based on Tina, the doomed ceiling bleeder that gave the first 'Nightmare' its charm - and yes Kris does fly up the walls and ceiling right before she is gutted by Krueger, so far the first stolen scene from its predecessor.

The Street, or Streets I should say, that carry the film the rest of the way are Nancy (Rooney Mara, of "The Social Network" fame and the impending "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" remake), and Quentin (Kyle Gallner). By keeping the name Nancy it's obvious who she is supposed to be playing while Quentin is replacing the role of Glen originally played by first time actor Johnny Depp. Nancy and Quentin begin to heed their friends' words about their nightmares and begin to look into the how's and why's of being the only victims of the nightmares.

Like the original their parents have something to hide but what exactly leads to a need to dig some more. Evidently in this version, Krueger was a janitor at a preschool who may or may not have molested the children who were students there. When he went free, the parents took it upon themselves to rid the world and their children of this menace. Quentin's father Alan (Clancy Brown) led the charge and still is unsure as to whether or not they killed an innocent man.

Without spoiling anything I will stop there but I will say the door is open for the more than likely sequel.

When it comes to remaking classics it easy to get into a tizzy over whether or not it should be done. We should know by now that money fuels Hollywood and art went out the window back in the late 70s, but much can be said about this particular remake. It kept several of its original scene stealers intact, such as the Freddy claw coming up between Nancy's legs in the bath, and the previously mentioned ceiling gutting. What it lacked though was good special effects and a completely thought out script. It had a good premise but lacked in several different areas including scares.

Freddy Krueger to this day still terrifies the everyday horror fan because he takes them back to when they were kids and they watched Nightmare for the first time. If the "Nightmare on Elm Street" 2010 version is the first time someone has seen a Freddy Krueger movie, then they are missing out on truly being terrified. You won't have problems going to sleep after seeing this remake.