New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP’s look at the latest Blu-ray discs and DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: A Nightmare on Elm Street gets redone, Beauty and the Beast gets prettier and Jaden Smith confuses kung fu for karate.

Pick of the Week

For people who think Freddy Krueger should only be played by Robert Englund: A Nightmare on Elm Street

Good god, A Nightmare on Elm Street was by far the worst of the recent horror remakes to come out of Hollywood in recent years (the Halloweens, Friday the 13th and My Bloody Valentine included). This was the only one I actively laughed at, mostly because of the movie’s tremendously trite script.

Some gems:

- Kris: I'm having these dreams... and there's this man... and he's burned.
- Kris: I’m so afraid. All I want to do is go to sleep, but if I do he’s going to kill me like Dean.
- Quentin: Wake up Nancy wake up. Nancy please. Please don't do this please, Nancy come back, please wake up you promised.
- Nancy: Memories don't kill you.

They’re all out of context, and without the driving visuals, it’s probably hard to imagine what made them so funny in the first place. But trust me. Or don’t, because I’m about 77% sure you’re gonna want your 95 minutes (and, well, money) back.





At one time, I saw the original Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s been awhile, so I can’t tell you how much the remake borrowed from the original. Yet, based on what I’ve read, the people behind the update changed very little from Wes Craven’s 1984 baby. So much so that the unoriginality of the whole thing is troubling. And the project’s status as a cash grab? Obvious.

For the ill informed, A Nightmare on Elm Street is the story of a group of teens who realize that if they fall asleep, they’ll likely die at the hands of deranged villain Freddy Krueger, whose choice weapon is a right hand aesthetically similar to Wolverine’s.

DVD includes: Freddy Krueger Reborn featurette, alternative opening, alternate ending, additional scene

For people who live amongst cursed furniture and other household items: Beauty and The Beast (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, it’s been way too long since I’ve seen Beauty and the Beast. It isn’t my favorite of that string of Disney musicals of the early ‘90s – that title is bestowed to The Lion King – but it’s probably the runner-up.

I remember watching the crap out of Beauty and the Beast as a kid. I mean really, I must’ve seen the flick 50 times or more. Because as a child, just about nothing gets old. This is the reason I could sit through hours and hours of Mac and Me or Short Circuit 2. Or, read my Calvin and Hobbes books end to end (and so on). It’s so fresh and funny every time!

Continued:       1       2