I went and saw Repo Men last night and was treated to this little beauty of a trailer… and admittedly at first glance I was expecting to see a new Zombie/Survival horror film- and to my surprise (and everyone else in the audience) it was A Nightmare On Elm Street. MAKE SURE YOU WATCH THIS BEFORE READING ON!

Now- I am embarrassed to admit this, but since I had no idea what I was watching, and was mostly expectant of something else- when Freddy pops around the corner and swipes his hand at the beginning of the trailer- I jumped. I have never- ever- never- ever jumped at a trailer for a scary movie before. So, yes, I was immediately hooked.

The next thing I noticed and that really stuck out at me was everyone’s eyes: The casting was a good choice of “teenagers” who can look like they are bright eyed and bushy tailed, and then (with minimal make-up) look as if they haven’t slept… for… days… I got a sense that “the eyes are the window to the soul” is going to be a very prevalent thematic presence throughout the movie. (just look at the blond in the beginning and how they’ve over corrected her eyes to be SHINING blue until she falls asleep and sees Freddy, its quick edits, but you can see it)

Another thing I’m REALLY interested in is the “micro naps” addition to the film… “…you’re dreaming but don’t even know it… even if you’re awake”. This one line opens up the film to an entirely new realm of scary/unpredictability. I’d be lying if I said I wanted this remake to be a “true to form” remake of the original… I adore the original but I don’t want to see it again with a bigger budget… it has its own, Robert Englund charm, its hilarious and startling… but when it comes to dreams; I now want to see something truly terrifying… and if I have no idea when a character is going to be asleep or awake… then presumably I should have no idea what’s going to happen next. I especially can see Jackie Earle Haley taking Freddy Kreuger to the place I viewed him as a child- You know- back when your imagination took the humor of his snarky one liners and developed it into something so frightening you couldn’t sleep for months until one night it was so bad you had to force yourself to kill Freddy with a bazooka- and ever since that fateful night you could control your dreams… wait- where was I?

Oh yes- I know there are naysayers- I was one. But after this trailer- I’m going to give the movie a shot. At the very least it will be a good “jumper” and if we are lucky they decide to throw it into 3D.

Midnight screening with a bunch of excitable nerds, a date, a bag of popcorn and knifey fingers being stabbed at your face: priceless

p.s. there is one thing that truly bothered me about the trailer- you can’t tell as badly in the small version on their site- but on the big screen- the stretching wall scene from the original is VERY cartoonesque and yanked me straight out of the trailer. It seemed like everything else in the preview spoke to the effort being put into a honorable re-make- but then they got lazy for that scene. I hope its fixed, or at least stomach-able by the release in April.