A Nightmare on elm street comparison
There are many similarities and far more differences between the 1984 film A Nightmare On Elm Street and the remake made in 2010, examples are actors chosen, special effects used, portrayal of the main antagonist and the inevitable defeat of said antagonist.
The 1984 film A Nightmare On Elm Street was written and directed by Wes Craven and released on November 9th while the 2010 remake was written and directed by Samuel Bayer and released on April 30th. The original film had a budget of $1,800,000 and the USA gross was $25,504,513 while the remake had a budget of $35,000,000 and the USA gross was $65,075,011. Due to the large difference in time and budget the potential quality and realism of the 1984 film was limited in comparison to the remake, however the film still possesses an excellent use of cinematography and an aspect of genius in regards to the special effects. An example of this is when Tina is flung onto the ceiling and dragged around. To create the illusion of this the entire set of the room was flipped upside down and actress Amanda Wyss (Tina Gray) crawled around on the now upside down ceiling and walls.
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As few may already know, Wes Craven had previously revealed that the 1984 A Nightmare On Elm Street was partially based and inspired on real events regarding the killing fields in Cambodia. He claimed to have read a story in the LA Times about a family who had miraculously survived these killings and made it to the United States. Soon after a young boy in the family claimed to be experiencing nightmares regularly. Craven explained: "He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time. When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died in the middle of a nightmare." According to Wes Craven, as a schoolboy he was bullied by another student named 'Fred Krueger', this naturally led to the name of the murder-fueled antagonist of the film.
At the time of casting the actors hired to play the roles within the 1984 film were relatively unknown and therefore restricted the films marketing campaign and may have made the film’s target audience less interested. However, the remake of the film casted a few well known actors such as: Jackie Earle Haley, who is best known for his role as Rorschach in the film Watchmen; because of this fans of Jackie Earle Haley would be more likely to purchase tickets to the film due to their interest in witnessing his performance.
The original film was filmed over the course of 30 days in Los Angeles, California; whilst the remake was filmed between the 5th of May and the 10th of July in Illinois. In an attempt to match the portrayal of Freddy Krueger, the producers looked for locations that were “old and decaying” to film.
The drastic difference in the quality of special effects is particularly evident via the portrayal of the main antagonist, Freddy Krueger. The film’s director Samuel Bayer felt it necessary to make Freddy look more like a real-life burn victim and by extension making the scarring and damaged skin seem more like that of an actual burn victim. This was done with not only makeup but green-screen technology too; Jackie Earle Haley had parts of his face covered in a specialised green paint so it could be edited and altered with the use of said green-screen technology.
Another major addition to the remake was the incorporate of technology, it especially highlights the drastic change in society and time between the two films and is used effectively to grab the attention of a younger audience in certain scenes. An excellent example of this is Marcus Yeon’s video diaries that Nancy and Quentin find regarding the persistent attacks by Freddy Krueger. The diaries give the characters an insight on what to expect and the side-effects of stay awake for a prolonged amount of time. In one of the diaries Marcus says: “I’m starting to dream with my eyes open. I can’t tell what’s real anymore. I haven’t slept in three days. If I sleep, I dream. If I dream, I’m dead.” Not only do these diaries give the characters and audience another person’s perspective and opinions of the dreams, but they relate to the film’s target audience’s lives eerily well; this is in relation to the growing and persistent occurrence and production of blogs and vlogs alike on the internet
The original A Nightmare On Elm Street used sound to create an eerie atmosphere that would in theory make the audience uneasy and anxious about the rest of the film. As odd as it sounds, the audio used when jumpscares were present almost sound as if they belong in an old sci-fi film, however despite this it had the desired effect on the audience at the time. In comparison to this, the remake of the film’s audio consisted of a much faster tempo during scenes which caused the audience high stress and anxiety, such as when Freddy Krueger is chasing one of the main characters. This is not only due to its effectiveness at creating fear, but also due to the typical film’s expectations of sound, most films of this day and age, both within and outside the horror genre, feature fast paced audio and therefore the ‘scary’ effect it once had on an audience has worn off; because of this the tempo of the music and audio within horror movies is encouraged to be increased in an attempt to create that nostalgic feeling of fear the original film is most renowned for.
Typically, horror films lack an abundance of dialogue, because of this lighting is an extremely important aspect of the genre and makes a massive impact on the overall quality of the film. The difference in the quality of lighting is extremely noticeable when comparing the original A Nightmare On Elm Street to the remake. Due to the vast difference in technology, the production of the original film may have been limited in regards to quality of lighting in comparison to the remake, this is because of the advancements made over time since the 1980's. Another factor to consider is the difference in budget, with a difference of just over $33 million, the production company of the remake were in a far more ideal position to purchase/rent the best equipment possible in comparison to the remake, which was greatly limited due to their minimal budget. The improvement in lighting not only aids in the 'scare-factor' of the film, but also makes it far more visually appealing to watch; because of this the viewership and cumulative worldwide gross is typically expected to improve.
Typically, horror films lack an abundance of dialogue, because of this lighting is an extremely important aspect of the genre and makes a massive impact on the overall quality of the film. The difference in the quality of lighting is extremely noticeable when comparing the original A Nightmare On Elm Street to the remake. Due to the vast difference in technology, the production of the original film may have been limited in regards to quality of lighting in comparison to the remake, this is because of the advancements made over time since the 1980's. Another factor to consider is the difference in budget, with a difference of just over $33 million, the production company of the remake were in a far more ideal position to purchase/rent the best equipment possible in comparison to the remake, which was greatly limited due to their minimal budget. The improvement in lighting not only aids in the 'scare-factor' of the film, but also makes it far more visually appealing to watch; because of this the viewership and cumulative worldwide gross is typically expected to improve.