Exactly how I felt about it. No imagination and making the subtext into text with regards to Krueger was just cheap and disgusting. Had to rewatch the original right after just to get the taste out of my mouth.
First of all, it's "Watchmen", not "THE Watchmen", and the distinction matters for powerfully thematic reasons. It's not just a syntax issue. I'M GONNA BE THAT GUY.
That being said, all of this is written here is true. Is Platinum Dunes possibly the worst prolific production company in the history of Hollywood?
I saw this once and only once. That was enough. Comparitively, I've seen every other entry in the series multiple times - even the bad ones. This one felt "off" from start to finish. It's too bad. When I first heard about Jackie Earl Haley taking the role, it sounded like an inspired choice - I had seen Watchmen recently before it, and was impressed by how far he had come since the Kelly Leak days.
But it wasn't good - the story and the makeup were just uninteresting. And Freddy is such a specific "character" that Englund honed over the years. It's like anyone other than Doug Bradley as Pinhead just isn't pinhead. These are characters that are deeply imbued by their actors and these aren't just silent masked killers that could be played by almost anyone of a certain build (noted, Kane Hodder was the best Jason).
I think of Karloff as more in the former group of actors who almost become forever linked to the famous characters they play, similar to Englund. Sure, Frankenstein's monster was largely mute, but every actor to take the role in his wake (specifically Universal stuff) was purely doing an impersonation of Karloff's performance - plus you don't see Glenn Strange's likeness on Halloween decorations. But how many people have played Jason Voorhees over the years, or Michael Myers?
::I think of Karloff as more in the former group of actors who almost become forever linked to the famous characters they play::
At the time, the popular consensus was that any tall actor in that makeup could play The Creature—one reason Lugosi turned it down initially, and why Universal hired Glenn Strange to play the Creature in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.
That Karloff made the character iconic, whereas Lugosi was kneecapped by all references to The Creature being blind being cut out of FRANKENSTEIN VERSUS THE WOLFMAN (hard to say how his performance would have come out if that hasn't been how he was directed!), and Strange's Creature is widely acknowledged to be...competent but uninspired, was not acknowledged until later, and after audiences had seen Karloff in other roles and realized just how much he brought to it.
Freddy Krueger, as depicted in Wes Craven’s first chapter is one of the most arrestingly original antagonists of slasher films or any genre really; that should have been reason enough to not try this. I’m not even that big of a Freddy / Elm Street fan and I know that.
You can redo Michael Myers. You can redo Jason Vorhees. But not Freddy Krueger.
This Platinum Dunes ill -conceived remake leaned hard on the WORST aspect of Freddy's character I guess as a response to their ill-conceived F13th remake in which not much really happened and the filmmakers patted themselves on the shoulder for providing an unnecessary explanation of how Jason teleports around assuming that counts as character development? Though I'm one of the few who didn't think their TCM remake was that bad, I'm glad Platinum Dunes saw that three misses indicates they might not understand horror and should stop.
I have a much better setup for a NMoES film, but since Nathan decided to piss on JEH for his height and only his height, Rabin doesn’t deserve to hear it
the repeated ragging on JEH's height feels...unnecessary?
I only brought it up because he’s supposed to be terrifying, so it seemed germane.
requisite invocation of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas goes here.
Exactly how I felt about it. No imagination and making the subtext into text with regards to Krueger was just cheap and disgusting. Had to rewatch the original right after just to get the taste out of my mouth.
First of all, it's "Watchmen", not "THE Watchmen", and the distinction matters for powerfully thematic reasons. It's not just a syntax issue. I'M GONNA BE THAT GUY.
That being said, all of this is written here is true. Is Platinum Dunes possibly the worst prolific production company in the history of Hollywood?
I saw this once and only once. That was enough. Comparitively, I've seen every other entry in the series multiple times - even the bad ones. This one felt "off" from start to finish. It's too bad. When I first heard about Jackie Earl Haley taking the role, it sounded like an inspired choice - I had seen Watchmen recently before it, and was impressed by how far he had come since the Kelly Leak days.
But it wasn't good - the story and the makeup were just uninteresting. And Freddy is such a specific "character" that Englund honed over the years. It's like anyone other than Doug Bradley as Pinhead just isn't pinhead. These are characters that are deeply imbued by their actors and these aren't just silent masked killers that could be played by almost anyone of a certain build (noted, Kane Hodder was the best Jason).
::these aren't just silent masked killers that could be played by almost anyone of a certain build::
Boris Karloff would like to politely disagree with you.
I think of Karloff as more in the former group of actors who almost become forever linked to the famous characters they play, similar to Englund. Sure, Frankenstein's monster was largely mute, but every actor to take the role in his wake (specifically Universal stuff) was purely doing an impersonation of Karloff's performance - plus you don't see Glenn Strange's likeness on Halloween decorations. But how many people have played Jason Voorhees over the years, or Michael Myers?
::I think of Karloff as more in the former group of actors who almost become forever linked to the famous characters they play::
At the time, the popular consensus was that any tall actor in that makeup could play The Creature—one reason Lugosi turned it down initially, and why Universal hired Glenn Strange to play the Creature in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.
That Karloff made the character iconic, whereas Lugosi was kneecapped by all references to The Creature being blind being cut out of FRANKENSTEIN VERSUS THE WOLFMAN (hard to say how his performance would have come out if that hasn't been how he was directed!), and Strange's Creature is widely acknowledged to be...competent but uninspired, was not acknowledged until later, and after audiences had seen Karloff in other roles and realized just how much he brought to it.
Though any time anybody does an impression of the monster, it's Lugosi's (and subsequent actors') version, shambling with arms outstretched.
Which is sad given he was only shambling with arms outstretched because the Creature was supposed to be blind.
Freddy Krueger, as depicted in Wes Craven’s first chapter is one of the most arrestingly original antagonists of slasher films or any genre really; that should have been reason enough to not try this. I’m not even that big of a Freddy / Elm Street fan and I know that.
You can redo Michael Myers. You can redo Jason Vorhees. But not Freddy Krueger.
"A stand-in"??? That's Jay Bauman you're talking about, Nathan, you say his name!
This Platinum Dunes ill -conceived remake leaned hard on the WORST aspect of Freddy's character I guess as a response to their ill-conceived F13th remake in which not much really happened and the filmmakers patted themselves on the shoulder for providing an unnecessary explanation of how Jason teleports around assuming that counts as character development? Though I'm one of the few who didn't think their TCM remake was that bad, I'm glad Platinum Dunes saw that three misses indicates they might not understand horror and should stop.
I have a much better setup for a NMoES film, but since Nathan decided to piss on JEH for his height and only his height, Rabin doesn’t deserve to hear it
"Anybody want to hear my idea? Anybody...?
"Buehler? Buehler...?"
He said elsewhere in these comments "I only brought it up because he’s supposed to be terrifying, so it seemed germane."
No, he pissed on several other aspects of Haley's performance as well.
Turns out… maybe unintentionally too close to a 1987 treatment John Saxon wrote for a prequel.
Not a copy though.