The Steves discuss the divisive 2010 reboot, A Nightmare on Elm Street, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's making us happy?
Movie Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the divisive 2010 reboot, A Nightmare on Elm Street, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!
What's making us happy?
Movie Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin.
Stephen:And this is Stephen Martin-Bennet, and welcome
Steve:to a lifetime of happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of help culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way. And
Stephen:we're kicking off a spring full of reboots with the 2010 remake of a Nightmare on Elm Street because one, two Freddy's coming for you.
Steve:Yes. But before he comes for us, my love, what's been making you happy? So,
Stephen:Anyone who is in the know knows that the legend Zelda, tears of the Kingdom comes out. This May,
Steve:we recently saw a new gameplay footage trailer. Yes, we
Stephen:did. And I played Breath of the Wild for hundreds of hours when it first came out. Yeah. But I had moved on to other things by the time the DLC came out, and I never went back to it. It's been five years. Yeah. So I finally played through the D. And it was fantastic and it was such a nice Zelda refresher, and it made me very,
Steve:Excellent. I'm very excited for the new one. What about you? What
Stephen:is making you
Steve:happy? I've been enjoying playing until your rise at three, which we spoke about a little bit in last week's March recap episode. Mm-hmm. But I figured I'd take this time because I've been playing these games for pretty much as long as we've been together, if not longer. Correct. Correct.
Stephen:Because I remember artillery.
Steve:Yes, exactly. I wanna know how well I've done at telling you exactly what all these games that I'm playing are about. So what do you think a till your games are about? My love.
Stephen:That is easy. So you have a lead character who has to craft different. Spells and things in a cauldron and it's an R PPG and each story is different. I don't know.
Steve:Okay. You're on the right, you're on the right path. There are different characters in each of the series, and they typically come out in trilogies, but it is about an alchemist. So you use that's Yeah. A magic cauldron to make items. And it's this R p G. Kind of gameplay loop of going out in the field, collecting materials from gathering them or from beating up monsters to go back to your base to make stronger items and stronger weapons and stronger defense so that you can go out to beat newer, bad guys in harder areas and collect a rarer materials to start the cycle all over again. Because
Stephen:I, I remember that cuz in one of the ones you were doing there, I think in one of the trilogies, it was a female protagonist that. I would always hear her as you were putting items in the cauldron and stirring and like making things. She kept saying the same things over and over and over again. Yeah, that was
Steve:probably one. Atelier. Arona, yeah. But yes, that is the gameplay loop and they really perfected it and up its like graphics and its size and scope of the worlds and. The synthesis system. So I'm really enjoying it all.
Stephen:Well, I'm very much glad that you are enjoying
Steve:it. Yes. Now, the original nightmare on Elm Street, we actually covered Yes. Already 70 episodes ago. So just a minute. That was back episode number 1 0 5 in February of 2022. So give that a lesson to hear our thoughts in depth on the original.
Stephen:Yes. And if you're not familiar with the. It is a 1984 slasher by the master himself, Wes Craven, about Freddie Krueger who enters your nightmares to kill you, whether it be creatively or with his claw gloves that he's known for, and he's going after teenagers of the parents who burned him to death over missing children and child murders and, and. The final girl for that first movie is Nancy, played by Heather Lanin Camp, and she mostly kind of beats him at the end. Yes.
Steve:And in terms of the question of why rebooted, we are living in an age where, Every movie that made a lot of money back then is remade or rebooted or has a rel or prequel or something. Yeah. Everything old becomes new again. But the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise is successful. It's had eight previous movies releasing across 1984 through 2003. With the last being one of your favorites, A crossover of our dreams or well nightmares. Freddy versus Jason.
Stephen:Yeah. I really did enjoy that movie. It's complete trash, but it is so enjoyable. Like it, they u overuse the word bitch a lot. Yeah. But it's thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly an enjoyable movie.
Steve:Yeah. And I mean, there's certainly money there with the average box office for these movies being around 50 million. It was getting stronger and stronger with Freddie versus. Being a hit at 114.7 million. And
Stephen:one of the issues with things like this and other franchises, is after you get far enough along in it, do people feel that they can't jump on as new fans and have you written yourself into a corner that you can't go any further? Those type of things, and.
Steve:So, I mean, the first option is just to let it die. There's always that. Well, did you, which did you, after watching Freddie versus Jason, did it leave you wanting more Freddie's stories to be told?
Stephen:It did. Like there were, there was a talk at one point where they were like, oh, we should do Freddie versus Jason versus Michael. And I was like, no, thank you. Yeah. He does not need to go into your campy world. Mm-hmm. Did I feel that nightmare on up street itself should die a by for a while? Mm-hmm. I, it's one of those things that it's okay to be quiet for a bit and then come back. But I would've been okay with a Freddie versus Jason
Steve:too. Yeah. And you know, with that we, you know, Freddie versus Jason too was the next logical thought and there was a lot of speculation. It was confirmed pretty much at one point. And it, the question was who, how with versus who? And it looked like they were setting their sights on it being versus Ash from the Evil Dead series, which were not as familiar with. No. And so, We read an article, there's a whole bunch of reasons why it's not happening, but it looks like Freddie versus Jason two wasn't an option. So could you top a Freddie movie going back to Elm Street without having him face
Stephen:off? So while Freddie versus Jason was a ton of fun and it had more scares than the last mainline nightmare movie, Freddy's dead. It still had seeded itself in the horror camp territory, and I was ready for more straight up horror. So I actually supported the reboot idea. And there are many, many, many, many people who love the character Freddie Krueger, as played by Robert England, and they also love Robert England. And I have a lot of respect and affection for both the character and the actor. He's amazing. But like all slashers of the eighties and early nineties that were a f. There was not a guiding hand watching over the franchise, so quality and consistency were not there. As the films continued on and there's a loyal fan base, and I'm definitely a fan, but I just look back and I see what these movies could have been. Mm-hmm. If there had been a Kevin Faggy, like from Marvel watching over them. And so at that point it was either let it go quiet for a while or try to reboot
Steve:it. Yes. Well, let's see how they did with the reboot. It was the directorial debut of Sam Bear and was written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heiser, and produced by Michael Bat, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller
Stephen:Bayer started in music and went right back to it after. And he helped produce maroon five song animals.
Steve:Yes. Question on that. Am I the only one that hears in the the chorus? Like animals? Animals like animals balls? Yes. No. Once you hear it, Lee, I'll have to listen to it. Okay. I'll have to listen to it again. But like all these sing in the end is like animals balls. Oh,
Stephen:that's cuz they say animals moles.
Steve:But it sounds like balls. Okay. It sounds like ball. Yes. And Stricted Batman Returns. And Heiser is writing the Netflix show, shadow and Bone, which I've heard good things about. Yes. Meanwhile, a Bay is known for movies with great commercial success that critics tend to hate. Yep. This is his fifth horror reboot under his production house, platinum Dunes, which he co-owns with Fuller, and we know Fuller or Form, I think from The Purge. Yes.
Stephen:And the movie Stars, Jackie Earl Haley. Kyle Goldner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Decker and Kellen Luz. Yes. And Jackie Earl Haley is Kruegger.
Steve:Yes. And you talked earlier about how with Robert Elin's, Kruegger not coming back, part of the idea or his goal with this was to be scarier and not as quippy. How did he do?
Stephen:It was so refreshing because if they were going to keep Freddy and the quip then just keep Robert England. Yeah, yeah. Just do that. But if you're going to change it up and highlight the anger and the rage and the terror of the character change the actor and Jackie Earl Haley succeeded so spectacularly. As this scary Freddie Krueger. Yeah.
Steve:And who are these teens? I mean, cannon fodder. I mean, I know, I know Katie Cassidy from the Arrowverse, but who else might
Stephen:we know? So Rooney Mara starred in the inferior version of Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. Okay. Kyle. Kyle
Steve:Goner. Was that creeped? I know one was said when we saw him. Diane Scream five, right?
Stephen:Correct. And Thomas Decker is the hero from all about evil that we have also covered on the podcast. Yes. I also Oh, and. Sad news I saw today. So Peaches Christ fan of the show or friend of the show, I guess they say. One of the co-stars of all about evil and Peach's best friend, heck Lena was found dead this morning. Oh
Steve:no, that's not sad. This is why I don't listen to the news. Yeah.
Stephen:So. She was quite young for this time period. So our thoughts are definitely with hecks family, friends and fans.
Steve:Yes. And I also noticed all the parents. Yes. Mostly Connie Breton was Dr. Gwen Holbrook, Clancy Brown as Alan Smith and Leah Mortenson as Nora Fouls.
Stephen:Yes. Now the movie was released on April 30th, 2010 with a budget of 35. And a box office of 117.7 million. So it was a success. It did
Steve:Well. I would take that
Stephen:money. Yeah, it was, it did extraordinarily well. So I do have a funny story about this. Of course. So my friend Samantha and I went to see this at the theater at Newport on the levy, and there was a group of parents sitting three rows in front of us, in the very front row who were just there to chaperon their kids and the parents not being a fan of the horror movie. Talked nonstop, not in a whisper and not about the movie. The kids, all nine to 10 years old were in the back, all girls, and they were just trying to make, make each other scared and scream by like boo and grabbing each other every three seconds. And we didn't make it out of the diner scene in the movie before Samantha and I stormed out of a theater, grabbed a manager. Had them listen at the door, saw what both of'em were doing, and had all 18 people thrown out of the theater. They restarted the movie for us because there was enough time after this showing, before something else had to be there. And so they could rewind, like take the movie back to just the beginning of the credit. I've never had someone thrown out of the movie theater, let alone 18 people. You probably loved it. I did. Yeah. I see. It was, and at that point it was just Samantha and I, cuz the other people that had left angry got didn't stay, got refunds. Yeah. And so Samantha and I got a whole theater door, so.
Steve:Well, you saw this beginning a couple times. I did. Starts off with Dean Russell alone at night at the Springwood Diner. He just wants coffee, but the waitress ignores him and keeps walking away. He follows, and the kitchen is filled with pig parts of all kind, including whole heads. Lots of lots of them of fire. Oh, I want bacon. Ew, out of nowhere, he meets a man covered in burn scars, wearing a red and green sweater. We all know in love with a C clogged glove on his. Nancy wakes him up and we see that the slash across the palm of his hand from his dream manifested in the real world. But we know this from the
Stephen:original. We do know this, but they learned it a lot faster here. They did. And Nancy is a waitress at the diner, Nancy, of course, being the same name as the character from the first movie. Yeah. And she's friendly with Quentin who we know really likes her, but she's just. Friendly to him. Yeah. Quentin's best friend, Jesse is a dick, and they leave a mess all over the table. Dean's semi quasi girlfriend Chris, who recently broke up with Jesse, wants him to get help. He says he has, and the doctors all say it stems from his childhood. Mm-hmm. He says he can sleep, but he doesn't want to because the dreams are real. And Chris says they're just dreams. So she goes to the bathroom and he takes the opportunity to fall back asleep at the. Where the burn man cuts Dean's throat in his dream. Meanwhile, in reality, it appears that Dean is cutting his own throat while Chris and Nancy watch.
Steve:Yes. And initial impressions of the new Nancy and other standouts.
Stephen:I like the way they're introducing Nancy because it's kind of like the Jamie Lee introduction. Yeah. In the original Halloween. You want somebody that could be in every girl. Yeah. Like she's not too much of any one thing and you're like, oh, I could see a little bit of myself in her. Yeah. That's what you're wanting with a She works. A lead works. Yeah. Yeah. And I love Katie Cassidy. Yeah. I always have. I think she has an amazing onscreen presence in every role that she's in. Like I've never seen. Even in bad things. Yeah. She never turns in a bad performance. Yeah. Kyle Garner as Quentin is also good and it's such a different role than in Scream where I disliked him from the jump and scream and here he still has like this boyish goofy charm. Yeah. And you immediately like him too. Yeah.
Steve:And you also loved Freddie Line here?
Stephen:Oh yeah. When Dean's like, you aren't real and Freddie. I am now.
Steve:Yep. And at Dean's funeral, Chris sees a little girl dressed similarly to the Jump Rope girls in the original movie, and Freddy grabs her by the ankle from the grave she wakes up. It's just a nightmare. But as she's looking at the flowers and photos, she sees a photograph of her and Dean as children with her as the little girl matching the little girl she saw in her dream. But she can't recall ever knowing Dean before. Chris says When Dean died, it was like someone was making him do it. Nancy says she believes her that she has seen things. Jesse says it has nothing and to leave Chris alone. Chris's mom is evasive when she asks about her missing childhood par pictures. Who couldn't remember being five years old? That would be my parents. Yeah. That night Chris goes to look in the attic over the garage for pictures. She finds them in a box marked 1996. And also in the box there's some toys and the dress from her nightmare at the funeral that has slashes in it. But then Freddy appears saying, Remember me, so it was a nightmare of that part. Yep. Now, question, first of all, did having the child children's box numbered with the year 1996 make you feel old? Yes,
Stephen:it did. Okay. Because I was about ready to graduate high school. I was 17 in 1996.
Steve:Yeah. And a big thing here that we get that's new and unlike in the original, is that these kids knew each other back then, or it's hinted at from the get go. Right. Did you ever forget a childhood friend that you didn't recognize or remember as an
Stephen:adult? So I missed my 10 year reunion, but a week later I was back in my hometown and I was looking at pictures of the reunion with a friend and he was pointing out. That he had zero memory of this is 10 years since high school. Yeah. And like no memories. And he'd be like, they were in this class and they did this activity. Nothing. Yeah. What about
Steve:you? It's guaranteed. Yes. Yeah. I would say that if anyone other than like someone from my core group of friends in high school or someone that made my high school a living hell, like came up to me and was like, hi, I'm so-and-so be like, no. Yeah. I
Stephen:had somebody friend me on Facebook that. I have zero memory of us being together in high school and now. We're good Facebook friends, but I'm like, I really didn't remember. Yeah. And but great person.
Steve:Yeah. And what do you think of this whole, they're connected as children take. I love
Stephen:that. I think it makes the story tighter. It doesn't feel random. It's all connected. There's more fear and it has a better and more realized backstory. And it shows that his plan is to be remembered and that it is more revenge.
Steve:Yep. And I mentioned like, I mean, who can remember being five years old? That'd be me. That's the household I grew up in. Who remembers? Do
Stephen:you what? What is the earliest you remember having memories,
Steve:like define memories? I remember stories that were told about me over and over again from when I was little.
Stephen:So you've created images in your mind of those stories?
Steve:Yeah, but in general, I would say probably, I think I have like a couple flashes of what my preschool was like. A couple flashes of my kindergarten and grade school, and then it gets clearer come like fourth, fifth, sixth grade. Wow.
Stephen:Like I can remember some stuff from between the age of one and two.
Steve:Yeah. But no, if you were like, even like. What school play did you do that year? I, I don't know. You were in it? I, I don't know.
Stephen:I can remember, I can still remember the songs from the school play we did in second grade for Christmas. Yeah.
Steve:Well, do you remember having a boogeyman that you had that existed in your brain before you had all the influence from pop
Stephen:culture? So between Scooby Doo Yeah. And watching horror movies as early as eight horror movies in pop culture have always informed the boogeyman for me. Yeah. And for me it always was the boogeyman. Yeah. That I was most afraid of. My brother's eight years older than I am, and I loved all of his friends, and all I wanted to do was hang out with them. But he wanted a time where they were alone and could do big kid things. So he would say that if I didn't leave them alone, the boogeyman would come and get. And I also had this image that the, or belief that the boogeyman could reach through glass. So I would not stand or walk by our back glass door at night by myself for fear that he could grab me and pull through, like if I had to go there to get to the kitchen. I would rush past it. Interesting. What
Steve:about you? I remember when I was young, before I watched horror movies and things, being afraid of like a dark void. That was like how, like the form of a person, but like, it was like basically would come from the shadows and like, absorb you into nothingness. Oh. And so that's what I was afraid of, or that was with my Boogie man, so to speak, or what I was afraid was under my bed and my closet or whatever. Interesting. And at school, Quentin and Nancy flirt some more, and then Chris falls asleep in class and has another Friday nightmare. She knows she's asleep when she sees the glove in the book and can't wake herself up. The classroom transforms into a nightmare realm of burn and ash and also water and mold in other areas. Freddy says
Stephen:you're still just as be. This won't hurt
Steve:a bit, and I think that I don't believe him. He slashes, she screams and wakes up only to have a slice of her haircut off on her textbook and a whole bunch of peers who thinks she's crazy.
Stephen:Yep. That night, Jesse, Chris's ex-boyfriend, shows up at her house, which is on Elm Street. They show us yeah. To keep her company while she sleeps. Since her mom is working on an international flight to London. Chris tells him that she's having dreams and she's scared and Dean was having them. And she always sees the same man burnt with knives on his fingers. Jesse admits that he's seen him too and all she wants to do is sleep, but she says if she does, he'll kill her. Like Dean?
Steve:Yes. Chris wakes up hearing her dog Rufuss, barking outside, and as she found him outside, when she got home from school, she was worried. He's out again. She finds him dead and Franny's there. So we know that the dog's still alive in real life and she runs back into the house, but now she's in a preschool. Young. Chris grabs her hand and tells her to hide as Freddy is counting down like in hide and seek. Girls in another classroom are singing the Freddy Rhyme.
Stephen:One, two, Freddy's coming for you.
Steve:She wakes up, but Jessie won't wake. Then Freddy has her, slams her around the room, breaking her bones before slicing her deep, and she bleeds out and falls into the bed. Jesse was awake for the attack and. He runs and sets off the alarm covered in blood. Jesse runs to Nancy's house to try and explain what's happened, and he learns that Nancy has been having dreams about the same man. That name is Freddy. Jesse tells her not to fall asleep because if you die in your dreams, you die for real. Jesse's apprehended by the police while professing his innocence. Yes, he's fucked. Yeah. Now, is it me or was Chris the protagonist for the first half of.
Stephen:She actually absolutely was the lead character for the first
Steve:part of the movie. And what do you think about that? Rather than having a beef circling from Nancy from the beginning, I
Stephen:actually like this because it's kind of like psycho, where Marion Crane was the star of the first part, but also the first to die. So Chris is kind of like the marrying crane of this movie, though she is the second body. But in doing this while still letting us have scenes of Quentin and Nancy, It gives us more time to care about all of them. And Chris becomes a more realized character than her counterpart in the first movie.
Steve:Yeah. And Chris's death was definitely a take on how the character died in the first movie, but that first movie is iconic. How do you feel they did recreating it?
Stephen:It seemed more vi like in the first one. She Was drug up the walls and flipped around the ceiling, and lots of blood and everything, and this one seemed more violent because of the force of it. Like there was more blood in the original, but this one seemed personal.
Steve:Yeah. And it, it just goes to show, I guess, different ways that you see it. Cuz like I see it as like, I remember the first one being bloodier. Yeah. And like sure. Them throwing around the room was slower cuz it was like using ropes or whatever magic they had to use back then. Yeah. But I definitely remember it being like bloodier, so I was surprised it was so much bloodier. So I guess it just, depending on how our, our viewers, you know, and listeners react to violence if they see blood as violent or forces violent.
Stephen:Yeah. I. It seemed kind of like you know, if Remy grabs a toy that he likes and he's dragging it around, versus him grabbing the lammy and slinging it back and forth in his mouth. It's kind of how I see it. Yeah.
Steve:And also I noticed that it seems like most of the parents here are single parents, which they also took from the original. I think there was only one kid in the original whose parents were still together, but
Stephen:Nancy had two parents in the movie. They were just estranged or separated. Yeah. And Johnny Depp had two parents at home. So this one was interesting that each person had one parent and that was the only parent that was acknowledged, whether it was. Ums or dads we get Yeah. Yep. Crazy. I also, when Chris died, she was wearing the same jersey to sleep in as Johnny Depp did when he died in the first movie.
Steve:I love Chris, but I would say Johnny Depp wore a better
Stephen:That's cuz he was also wearing a crop Top Jersey. Exactly, yes. And so Nancy calls Quentin to tell him what's happened. And he's looking up the side effects of sleep deprivation, which include insanity and physical sickness.
Steve:Yes. In prison, Jesse's asleep and in a boiler room, he hears Chris begging for help. Freddy chases him. Jesse screams. Oh my God. No,
Stephen:just me. Can you turn back time? Can you, or are you screaming? I haven't even cut you yet.
Steve:Jesse turns and Freddy's gone. He thinks he's safe, but Freddy's hand goes through his chest.
Stephen:Did you know that after the hard stop speeding, the brain can continue to function for seven minutes. We've got six more
Steve:minutes to play and Jesse screams and that's an interesting take. It's so
Stephen:original cuz usually when a character dies in the Nightmare franchise, that's it. And this sadistic Freddy is far creepier. Death is not the end for these people. It just gets worse. Yes, because in Freddy versus Jason, he was about to take on this girl. And Jason killed her and it pulled her out of the dream
Steve:area. Yeah. Been in here. It doesn't matter. He doesn't still gets to
Stephen:play with his. Yep. Because they were in there and they will continue to be So I thought that I, I thought this was
Steve:darker. Yes. And Quentin and Nancy are exhausted, rightfully so. He's taking pills that are like speed to stay. They find a story on the Pied Piper, which is about a man betraying, betrayed by a town who gets revenge by taking all their children. So I
Stephen:have always heard of the Pied Piper and how he played his flute and the children followed him. I had no idea that it was about him kidnapping the children. I thought
Steve:he made pies. So this is all new to me. All right. Nancy is dreaming about children at a school. Quentin says that nightmares are triggered by the belief that the dreamer has no control, and this can cause insomnia. After 70 hours, you begin experiencing micro napps where the brain shuts down to recharge, where essentially you're dreaming while awake and don't know it, and it sounds a lot cuter than it is. After that, you could slip into a coma with just like a permanent sleep, and I
Stephen:think this is also really original. I like the idea of micro napps. You're fighting to not enter his world, but your body's gonna betray you and there's nothing you can do to stop it. And I also love that the cast looks sleep
Steve:deprived. Yes, they look rough like me without my nap. Now, Nancy asked her mother about going to school with Chris or knowing a man named Freddy. Her mom hesitates just slightly, but when she denies it, her voice changes and you can tell she's lying. Nancy calls Quentin's. Nancy's starting to remember. It's
Stephen:never said, but how do you think the parents got them to forget drugs? Hypnosis? Combination
Steve:of both. Combination of both. And therapy and not talking about it. I
Stephen:mean, you would think such traumatic things as well as their friendships, they would remember. That somebody did some major work.
Steve:No, I, I can see it more as someone with sexual abuse in my childhood growing up, that, that I think that that's a big part of the reason why so much of my memories around that time of my life were drowned out to help protect me from what I went through. Mm-hmm. Well,
Stephen:that's probably a much better take. Yeah. Now we have a bath scene that is similar to the bath scene in the original, but only slightly. Nancy sets an alarm on her phone and falls. A glove starts to come up out of the water, and we think that her mom wakes her up, but when she gets back into her room, it's snowing. And then she's at the Batam school the same place that Chris was. Freddy shows up. Hello, Nancy. All grown up. You're my number one. You're my little Nancy. And then he licks her face.
Steve:Gross. Yeah, they have been slowly laying the groundwork for the reveal of what he did, but it's quite obvious.
Stephen:Yeah, it's really starting to come together now.
Steve:Yes, Nancy begins to question what everyone's connection is to each other, but given that none of them can remember each other before their teenage years, it's difficult. Eventually, Nancy and Quentin discovered that all of them, including other children, attended the same preschool. Nancy's mother, Gwen reluctantly tells Nancy and Quentin that there was a gardener at the preschool named Fred Krueger, who hurt Nancy and the rest of the kids. Gwen explain, explains that Nancy was his favorite and came home one day to tell mommy about Freddy's magic cave and things that happened there. Gwen claims Krueger skipped town before he was arrested and he can't hurt them anymore, and it's so obvious that she's lying about all of that last part. Yeah. Gwen says Her dreams are just repressed memories from a terrible time. Nancy doesn't believe her and attempts to track down the remaining kids from the school, and this discovers that most of them or all of them have been killed. Most of them in their. Including that chilling video from the one kid from YouTube that I think Marco make a great prequel movie of how they all died in Freddy won. Yeah.
Stephen:Obviously mom's lying, but I do believe her when she said she's not said anything because she didn't want Nancy to go through her life of that memory. Yeah. Meanwhile, Quentin believes Gwen's story and tries to accept that nothing, that it's nothing more than repressed memories, but he falls asleep during swim practice while swimming. And witnesses what really happened to Krueger. He sees everyone's parents hunt down Krueger while Krueger screams that he's innocent, that he didn't do anything, and he begs for them to stop and then they burn him alive. And while, and he's also wearing the famous sweater. While he is being burned alive. Quentin and Nancy confront Quentin's father Alan Smith, who appears to be the principal of the school about the reality that they murdered Krueger with no actual evidence that he'd committed the. Quentin's dad says they did what they did to protect the kids, and as far as anyone else's concerned, Fred Krueger never existed. Quentin's pissed thinking that they got this man killed with their stories and lies. Nancy and Quentin, who both began sporadically dreaming while they're awake as a result of the insomnia, decide to go to the preschool and learn what they can about Kruger and find what it is that he wants them to find.
Steve:Yes. And I mean, how do you tell your kids that you burned a man to death? You don't, I guess that answers that, but how would you react if your parents did that to someone targeting you as a preschooler? So
Stephen:I would wanna know the full story, but if someone had been molesting me or harming me, and my parents burned him alive so that it stopped happening to me and would never happen to anybody else, I'm pretty sure that I could easily come to terms with that. And then,
Steve:Easily at night. Yep. And would you lose it if they changed it to where Freddy was the victim back then? And this was all just a misunderstanding.
Stephen:So yeah, like while I was watching this in the theater, I started getting really pissed. I kept thinking, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And in the original, Freddy was a child killer, but we all knew that they meant child molester, but they never actually said it. Yeah. Because
Steve:when we cover that episode, we talked to how at the time there was a string of. Just sexual abuse Yeah. And murders that they didn't want to be told they were drawing reference from.
Stephen:Right. And so in this one, they're not shying away from it. And I appreciated how dark they were going, but then to potentially back away from it to make Freddy the victim. No ma'am. No thank you.
Steve:Yes. And these kids are pretty badass about trying to stay awake. I mean, they have the adrenaline that they're shooting themselves up with. Yep. Nancy burned herself with a cigarette lighter, which I would say No, thank you ma'am.
Stephen:And also like if you've ever burnt yourself on flame or the stove Yeah. Or the oven or something, you know that that pain sticks there and it's even hard to go to sleep that night with that burn pain. Yes. So, like it makes. That that's the type of pain she was trying to achieve. Do you think
Steve:that I would be able to survive Freddie Krueger as the salt of my
Stephen:sleep? No. You can't stay awake for anything.
Steve:I know. I would be dead in the opening scene
Stephen:now. Everyone. Everyone, please stay awake. Where's Steve? Oh, he's taking a nap. Yeah,
Steve:he's already done. All right. Now on the way Nancy falls asleep and is attacked by Freddy. But when Quentin wakes her up and just discovers that they, she pulled a piece of his sweater out of the dream world and into reality. Quentin takes Nancy to the hospital for the cuts on her arm, and he steals some adrenaline and a syringe to help them stay awake. Nancy and Quentin leave the hospital and eventually make it to the preschool. Now, in the original, they were all friends or like close-ish, right? Yes. And it, it feels like since they, they've been estranged since preschool here, that there's something missing with the way that we. To the whole group, like of the four or five of them that we've encountered, it almost feels like a part one and part two with what happened with Chris and then what's happening with these two. So in, do you feel differently?
Stephen:Slightly. So in the original there was a core four. It was Nancy and Johnny Depp and Chris and her boyfriend. Chris dying on the ceiling, boyfriend dying in. Same Moy here in this, they've expanded it to include others that we're at five characters we know in this movie, plus some. And I can see the parents trying to keep them apart and to try to keep the memories from resurfacing. But once they're reconnected in school and they're all drawn back together, most likely from repressed connections and friendship, this feels more like. A mystery and a slasher. Yeah. And so I feel okay with the characters feeling like they're missing puzzle pieces. Yes.
Steve:Well, the puzzle pieces are all put together now because Quentin uncovers Kruger's magic cave behind a wall, and they find evidence that proves Krueger was physically and sexually abusing all of the children. If
Stephen:you can keep a. I'll take you to a special place.
Steve:Freddy is after them, not because they lied, but because they told the truth and he's brought them there so they would remember what he did to them. Nancy decides the only way to end this is to pull Krueger out of their dreams and kill him. In reality, it worked in the first and a couple other ones too, I would say. So I'd say, let's go for it. Quentin tries to stay awake long enough to pull Nancy out of her dream when she is Freddie, but he falls asleep and Kroger slashes him across the chest and leaves him for. Krueger then goes after Nancy and explains he intentionally left her for less, so she would stay long enough so that when she finally fell asleep, she would no longer be able to wake back
Stephen:up. Oh. So whenever he told Quentin, you can't save her, there was so much force in Menace. Yeah. In his voice. And that was such a fresh line delivery from the character Freddy. Like, I love the things that they're exploring with him. It really brings back the fear. Yes.
Steve:And in the magic cave, that stick figure man was supposed to be phallic. It was a penis, right? I think so. Okay. Just checking cuz that's all I saw is I was like a penis with eyes and a mouth. Yeah. And how relieved were you to find out that
Stephen:he was guilty? I was so relieved. Like beyond relieved. I. Woo. Because for a few minutes there I was prepared to hate this new movie. Mm-hmm. But then I was firmly able to be back and the, okay, I really like this
Steve:camp. Yep. Nancy runs from Freddy, but the hallway turns into a pool of blood. Oh, so good. She falls through the ceiling with blood. In an homage to Johnny Depp getting eaten by his bed and exploding with blood. She's now dressed as a child. This
Stephen:dress was always one of my favorites. Your mouth says, But your body says yes. Ugh. So gross. Don't turn away. Look at me. Look at what you did to me.
Steve:Yeah, I mean, it's just gross.
Stephen:There's such anger, such hatred. This revenge on the kids in this version feels more personal because though the parents killed him, it was because of the kids. And he says, you can't hurt me. You're in my world now, and you can never leave.
Steve:Yeah, because like most predators, it was always about power and
Stephen:control. Yep. While Nancy struggles with Freddie, Quentin manages to wake up and uses the adrenaline to bring Nancy up and pulls Freddie into reality. With Krueger distracted by Quentin, Nancy uses the broken paper cutter blade to cut Freddy's gloved handoff, and then slices his throat to where he bleeds green blood. Yes.
Steve:Afterwards, Nancy torches the secret room with Krueger's body left inside while she and Quentin.
Stephen:Hey, Quentin. Nightmare's over. Only thing the first responders say nobody. There's nobody inside.
Steve:Yep. Nancy and her mother return home from the hospital with Nancy being told she should get some sleep. I know you were
Stephen:just trying to
Steve:protect me. Her mom says, I'm just glad you're safe. Krueger suddenly appears in the mirror's reflection and kills Nancy's mother before pulling her body through the mirror while Nancy scream. The end? Yes. And what did you think of it?
Stephen:So the original ending ended with Nancy's mom being pulled through a window and a door while Nancy and her friends, the ones that had died in the movie, are trapped in a convertible that a red convertible with a red and green top on it, like Freddy sweater. And that ended up being just a dream. So maybe this is. Or maybe it was set up for a sequel. Either way, I'm okay with it.
Steve:Yeah. I mean, this movie gets a lot of hate, but I don't think that it deserves it necessarily. Overall, it's enjoyable. It
Stephen:really is. And people say that his burn face is bad, but I think his mask actually looks more like a burned victim. Yeah, for sure. And in the original Fran Cise, like we said, he was just a child killer. And they never really explicitly went with child molester. So it was always okay to be a fan of Freddie, and many people are, and were, and he was the reason to see the movies. But now they've made him a true Irredeemable villain that you're not supposed to root for. And I think this angered a lot of the fans of the original. But like in Halloween, you can appreciate the kills that Michael. But you're supposed to root for Jamie Lee or whatever final girl it is. And with this, they're saying the same thing. Don't root for the killer. Root for the hero. And I think many fans of the original were not prepared for that and didn't want that in there. Freddie Kruer.
Steve:So, I mean, it sounds like you're saying it's better written, better acted, and better paced, more believable and scarier. Does that mean it's a better movie? I
Stephen:didn't say that. But I will say it was the type of Elm Street movie I had been waiting for for many years. Do you want
Steve:to see this director or this team take on nightmare in Elm Street too?
Stephen:So I think we're 13 years past it now. It's a done deal. It's not happening again. What's next for Freddie? I worry that they won't do any more nightmare movies while Robert England is still alive because the franchise fans don't want to accept anybody else in the role. I do feel if they want to use him and even Heather Lanin Camp, they could go the Halloween route and say that only the first movie was Cannon and pick up with Nancy as a mother and Freddy returning 40 years later. And I wouldn't mind seeing that movie. I would
Steve:watch that too. Yes. So
Stephen:what are your thoughts? Like, we know how I feel about this. What do you feel about this as a standalone nightmare on Elm Street film? What do you think? I would
Steve:say that for someone who wants a scary movie, watch it. For someone who's looking for a nightmare on Elm Street eight, it might or might not satiate what you've come to expect with the franchise previously, but it is good for the new take.
Stephen:I, I agree. I think that if they had made more mm-hmm. And kept this tone, I think it would've done a lot for the series. Yeah,
Steve:we would love to hear what you all think. You can do that by emailing us at Happy Life pod@gmail.com.
Stephen:You can get in touch with us on all the socials and tell me how much you hate my take on this movie at Happy Life Pod. And
Steve:until next time, everybody. Stay
Stephen:happy and awake. Yes.