Shane H. Weathers
Slasher remakes are rarely heralded as peak cinema. In a particularly fickle fandom, usually the best they can hope to achieve is a small cult following of people who enjoyed the new direction they took, such as with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Marcus Nispel, 2003), Black Christmas (Glen Morgan, 2006), Halloween (Rob Zombie, 2007), and Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel, 2009). Most of the time, they are outright reviled and considered an affront to both the original film and to movies in general: Psycho (Gus Van Sant, 1998), Prom Night (Nelson McCormick, 2008), Sorority Row (Stewart Hendler, 2009), My Bloody Valentine 3D (Patrick Lussier, 2009), and Black Christmas (Sophia Takal, 2019). In the latter category for most loathed is Samuel Bayer’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, the 2010 remake of Wes Craven’s 1984 classic of the same name and the most recent, as of 2025, of the nine Elm Street films. Bayer’s version not only exists in the “reviled” slasher remake category but is often the first film mentioned. The film sits at a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest of the nine Elm Street films, with the following consensus: “Visually faithful but lacking the depth and subversive twists that made the original so memorable, the Nightmare on Elm Street remake lives up to its title in the worst possible way” (see Rotten Tomatoes). Rankings of the Elm Street films, from media outlets as well as fans, have often felt the same, with the film at the bottom or the near bottom of the lists (see Entertainment Weekly, IndieWire, Collider, and Game Rant).
