Goodwin, could you please email me that Nightmare on Elm Street script. I promise it won't distract me from my McBeth readings. Email's joshiswalkling@hotmail.co.uk Thanks
Ok, just finnished reading the script. I have to say, I'm quite dissapointed. After re-watching the original just last night, the script for this one pales in comparison.
The dialogue was terrible, the writer was clearly trying too hard to capture the way teens speak, and failed miserabley. Also, what was up with the writer's obsession to do those fake scares where someone get's spooked because of someone tapping them on the shoulder or whatever. A few of them are okay, but it was used so much in this that I was getting really irritated, and i think if I'd read "jesus, you scared me" one more time, I would have smashed my monitor. That being said, there were a few cool things about it, the Crystal Lake reference stood out, and the last ten minutes were quite good too.
Also, the "nightmare world" made no sense at all. Now, sure it's never really made much sense in the others either, but in this is was just extra bad. A map? How does that work, the world keeps on changing... And were the character's dreams all in the same dream world or something, because last time I checked that's not how it works, he's supposed to enter their individual dreams.
So yer, that was my opinion, now I'd like to hear yours goodwin.
I agree with everything you said, Josh. My first impression was that I may not be able to finish this piece of rubbish. My second thought was that this may be a fake -- some company's have been employing writers to write fakes to throw people off the scent -- my final thought was: how much did New Line pay for this?
I agree with you that the teens were paper-thin and I didn't care that they died. There was no menace to Freddy.
What I liked about Freddy in the original was that he was TERRIFYING. Everything from the lighting to how he ran after the blonde girl in the alleyway to how his face peels off... he was a scary creation. What's tragic is that he later became a complete parody of himself and the way he appeared in each nightmare was comical.
I'm afraid this version doesn't make Freddy scary at all. He is immediately a parody of OUR MEMORY of him in the original. Not to mention he copies the original too closely. For example, the glove in the bathtub scene.
Very disappointing, I must say. On the formatting side, it's a quick, easy read. Action is clear, with no paragraphs extending beyond three lines. Dialogue is stupid, but thankfully, brief!
The Crystal Lake thing stuck out for me too. Well spotted!
I did like the micro-sleep business. That was a nice touch the original didn't have.
I agree on the final third of the script. The climax was decent -- which is unusual since it's often the final moments of a film that blow it!
The map was COMPLETELY redundant. Why have a map if all they have to do is GO IN A STRAIGHT LINE DOWN ONE STREET?
Why was the tree full of crows? This has nothing to do with Freddy or any of the kids or their parents. Why is it there?
Another scene that went nowhere was when the parents are observed going into the one house, obviously to discuss how the kids are on to them and their lynching ways. But this results in absolutely nothing! Does their lynch mob save the day at the 11th hour? No.
I REALLY WANTED Freddy to have been innocent when they lynched him all those years ago. I thought that would have been an excellent theme: who is the REAL monster? The gardener or the group of paranoid parents? It made me so angry when Nancy looks in the folder and, instantly, that all comes crashing down. I really wanted Freddy to be, technically, the only character NOT a monster and, really, those mongrels deserved to die for what they did to him. Wouldn't that be interesting, cheering for the serial killer! And when Nancy defeats him, we don't know how to feel: is she right in doing so?
But, of course, they took the easy way out.
This film will make bucket-loads of money, but my final thoughts are that this is a really weak and, frankly, boring screenplay. Did not need to be written.
To me, Freddy didn't seem like he would be very scarey either, however, I'll reserve my judgement for him until I've seen the actual movie. Who knows, the director may make him terrifying. I'm also hopeing that it's been rewritten severely.
I agree with you about the parents meeting scene, it was totally pointless. The hospital scene among others also seemed a little off. The only thing that really happened in the hospital for me was that parents talked to the kids a little. They should have added something else into it, maybe a dream where all the hospital staff freak out when they see Nancy shaking in her sleep.
I myself didn't mind that they had that bath scene in there, it is a remake after all. The micro sleep idea was pretty cool, although it sort of got annoying at times.
I have mixed thoughts about the whole 'freddy being not that evil thing'. I sort of liked the idea, but at the same time, when Nancy found out at the end the truth, I was sort of smiling and thinking to myself "that's what you get for making rediculou assumptions about a bad guy based on nothing." Perhaps had they reversed it, so that all along the kids thought he was evil, and then at the end they find out that they were the evil ones, that would have worked better.
I haven't really read that many screenplays, maybe 5 or 6 full lenth ones. And out of all of them, this one has the least description of locations and actions. I'm not sure if that's bad or good, but for me, it certainly took some of the entertainment out of reading it. The fact that one of the characters' names was Quentin didn't help either, because it just made me think back to how much fun I had reading Tarantino scripts.
Thanks very much sir, I don't really know why it's uk, it wouldn't let me have it as anything else when I created it.
ReplyDeleteOk, just finnished reading the script. I have to say, I'm quite dissapointed. After re-watching the original just last night, the script for this one pales in comparison.
ReplyDeleteThe dialogue was terrible, the writer was clearly trying too hard to capture the way teens speak, and failed miserabley. Also, what was up with the writer's obsession to do those fake scares where someone get's spooked because of someone tapping them on the shoulder or whatever. A few of them are okay, but it was used so much in this that I was getting really irritated, and i think if I'd read "jesus, you scared me" one more time, I would have smashed my monitor.
That being said, there were a few cool things about it, the Crystal Lake reference stood out, and the last ten minutes were quite good too.
Also, the "nightmare world" made no sense at all. Now, sure it's never really made much sense in the others either, but in this is was just extra bad. A map? How does that work, the world keeps on changing... And were the character's dreams all in the same dream world or something, because last time I checked that's not how it works, he's supposed to enter their individual dreams.
So yer, that was my opinion, now I'd like to hear yours goodwin.
I agree with everything you said, Josh. My first impression was that I may not be able to finish this piece of rubbish. My second thought was that this may be a fake -- some company's have been employing writers to write fakes to throw people off the scent -- my final thought was: how much did New Line pay for this?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the teens were paper-thin and I didn't care that they died. There was no menace to Freddy.
What I liked about Freddy in the original was that he was TERRIFYING. Everything from the lighting to how he ran after the blonde girl in the alleyway to how his face peels off... he was a scary creation. What's tragic is that he later became a complete parody of himself and the way he appeared in each nightmare was comical.
I'm afraid this version doesn't make Freddy scary at all. He is immediately a parody of OUR MEMORY of him in the original. Not to mention he copies the original too closely. For example, the glove in the bathtub scene.
Very disappointing, I must say. On the formatting side, it's a quick, easy read. Action is clear, with no paragraphs extending beyond three lines. Dialogue is stupid, but thankfully, brief!
The Crystal Lake thing stuck out for me too. Well spotted!
I did like the micro-sleep business. That was a nice touch the original didn't have.
I agree on the final third of the script. The climax was decent -- which is unusual since it's often the final moments of a film that blow it!
The map was COMPLETELY redundant. Why have a map if all they have to do is GO IN A STRAIGHT LINE DOWN ONE STREET?
Why was the tree full of crows? This has nothing to do with Freddy or any of the kids or their parents. Why is it there?
Another scene that went nowhere was when the parents are observed going into the one house, obviously to discuss how the kids are on to them and their lynching ways. But this results in absolutely nothing! Does their lynch mob save the day at the 11th hour? No.
I REALLY WANTED Freddy to have been innocent when they lynched him all those years ago. I thought that would have been an excellent theme: who is the REAL monster? The gardener or the group of paranoid parents? It made me so angry when Nancy looks in the folder and, instantly, that all comes crashing down. I really wanted Freddy to be, technically, the only character NOT a monster and, really, those mongrels deserved to die for what they did to him. Wouldn't that be interesting, cheering for the serial killer! And when Nancy defeats him, we don't know how to feel: is she right in doing so?
But, of course, they took the easy way out.
This film will make bucket-loads of money, but my final thoughts are that this is a really weak and, frankly, boring screenplay. Did not need to be written.
To me, Freddy didn't seem like he would be very scarey either, however, I'll reserve my judgement for him until I've seen the actual movie. Who knows, the director may make him terrifying. I'm also hopeing that it's been rewritten severely.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the parents meeting scene, it was totally pointless. The hospital scene among others also seemed a little off. The only thing that really happened in the hospital for me was that parents talked to the kids a little. They should have added something else into it, maybe a dream where all the hospital staff freak out when they see Nancy shaking in her sleep.
I myself didn't mind that they had that bath scene in there, it is a remake after all. The micro sleep idea was pretty cool, although it sort of got annoying at times.
I have mixed thoughts about the whole 'freddy being not that evil thing'. I sort of liked the idea, but at the same time, when Nancy found out at the end the truth, I was sort of smiling and thinking to myself "that's what you get for making rediculou assumptions about a bad guy based on nothing." Perhaps had they reversed it, so that all along the kids thought he was evil, and then at the end they find out that they were the evil ones, that would have worked better.
I haven't really read that many screenplays, maybe 5 or 6 full lenth ones. And out of all of them, this one has the least description of locations and actions. I'm not sure if that's bad or good, but for me, it certainly took some of the entertainment out of reading it. The fact that one of the characters' names was Quentin didn't help either, because it just made me think back to how much fun I had reading Tarantino scripts.