Review Detail

I'm not a massive fan of the original Elm Street film and I went into this knowing that Ray wouldn't have ticked all my personal boxes for an edit. That being said, I think it's a nice little update and I enjoyed it all the more for what's been done. On a subjective level, I think the film is chiefly let down by some of the dated scoring choices and the acting from the lead and her mother.

I know that Ray has recently made a big technical update to this series, so I hate to point stuff out. But at 3:23 there is a jarring digital pan that I would guess is not intentional. I also don't think the removal of opening credits is worth the obvious drop in resolution on some shots. Beyond that though, I didn't notice a single change. Audio is seamless.

Narratively, I would personally choose to shuffle the order of some early events a bit, and I would also (controversially) probably eliminate the backstory and keep Kruger a sinister mystery. Mainly because the exposition for this is so poorly delivered and kind of comes out of nowhere (it's just such an iconic piece of lore that no one would probably ever consider cutting it). The original ending is terrible and Ray was wise to cut it. I'm ambivalent about the new end scene that foreshadows Elm St. 3.

Overall, a light edit, but the work shows and it's an improvement. Nice job.