Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Just like the theme for its Halloween killer of the same movie's name has Freddy's theme easily entered itself into the consciousness of the human mind. A simple lullaby set audiences aware that Freddy, the Nightmare on Elm Street dream killer was about to strike on its easy victims. The films which kept going on were a whole different matter. The first and the second captured good scary ideas yet the others somewhat made a mockery of Robert Englund's character, who nonetheless kept playing Freddy. I remember a fifth or sixth picture which was much more humor then horror, stating ideas like "The map says we're fucked" and when Freddy is playing with Nintendo, ditto stating "Now you're playing with power". How well that made me laugh, it was nonetheless silly because it wasn't supposed to be silly at all. However the final episode was a different matter, with a very interesting film plot inside a film plot, the movie made a wonderful final act in bringing both Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund into a final fight of good vs. evil. The mere fact that the whole story was simply real and stating that a film was going to be made, while outside of the set Heather was being hunted down by Freddy was simply genius. More, it brought actual terror back to the screen and made me enjoy J. Peter Robinson's score all the more. Not much known,, he created a very enjoyable score for the final Highlander III and here Robinson proves that even a horror score with its dissonant moments could make me enjoy it outside of the context. Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a very light treasure in the horror business.

Robinson is actually a born suspension builder in that he uses great ideas in bringing the horror to life. When it's actually all killing or scary moments, then the expected dissonant or blasts of the orchestra come to the fore. Yet in the other situations even a more reflective darker moment is heard, or even a great action / suspension moment which made the day in the film. Of course the binding element of any Freddy film is the theme, and never is it loud nor never forgotten when its hypnotizing performance is spotted. 'A new Nightmare Begins' shows it really good for the first time, before a more comical stage up performance is heard in 'And now ... Heeere's Freddy!!'. When it actually comes down to dissonance few pieces emerge from the shadows. Its actually more low horror brooding then really ear drumming pieces. 'The Claw and Chase's Death' is short and later in the score short pieces of 'The Funeral' and 'Tongue / Escape' are dissonant, yet that last track has other qualities. So, from the more hypnotizing signs of light menacing qualities to the quite sparse dissonance or low brooding build up of either vocals, electronics or orchestra, New Nightmare is a bit more then just that. J. Peter Robinson so far in his mentioned scores Highlander III: The Sorcerer and now New Nightmare also injects a lovely doses of choral music. And together with several well stated ideas, this actually makes the score quite pleasant for a horror entry.

The highlights are these, 'The Park' which after 2 minutes and 30 seconds states Latin Chants and a menacing brass fanfare, easily to get the blood pumping. More, 'Wes Craven's Nightmare' is capturing suspense with choral back up and 'Everything's not all Right' is actually capturing the film's own theme, a rather harsh yet very effective motif. While speaking of themes, the piano led theme for the child Dylan in various tracks (11, 21 and briefly in 26) is rather attractive yet simple. 'The Freeway' is one track to remember, way in the begin a short but frightening fanfare puts your spine to tingle before an excellent action / chase motif is heard, ending very loud and thrilling for when the chase comes to an end. 'Transformation' is actually more a highlight in the film then on disc since it is more effective there, but the choral back up when Freddy rips through the bed sheet is stunning nonetheless, the fanfare and Freddy's theme are equally very effective. 'Bread Crumbles' captures a bit of wonder for the entrance to the world of Freddy and as mentioned before 'Tongue / Escape', apart from the short dissonance captures wonderful heroic and relieving choral work that is great to hear. Together with everything, Wes Craven's New Nightmare is at times solid, at times average and at times great. There are moments that make you enjoy an album more then just a dark written score overall. J. Peter Robinson's composition was always noticed when seeing the film, since it is easily a score perfect for the movie and by so making the movie so much more effective. On disc it could have been a bit more, but the moments make up for the rest of the tiny flaws.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Playground *** (1.07)

2. A New Nightmare Begins *** (0.55)

3. And Now ... Heeere's Freddy!! ** (1.17)

4. Heather And Chase Theme (1.12)

5. Scratches * (0.39)

6. Phone Calls (0.18)

7. The Glove Goes Berserk (1.02)

8. Heather's Departure (1.47)

9. Dylan Tells Heather About Rex (1.35)

10. Heather's Concern (1.58)

11. Bedtime Story (Dylan's Theme) * (2.18)

12. Chase Blues (1.51)

13. The Claw And Chase's Death (0.37)

14. The Police Tell Heather About Chase (1.54)

15. The Funeral (3.00)

16. The Park (3.36)

17. Nosebleed * (2.10)

18. Robert's Painting (1.18)

19. The Claw In Heather's Bed (1.36)

20. Attack (2.05)

21. Heather Reassures Dylan (1.16)

22. Wes Craven's Nightmare (2.29)

23. Never Sleep Again! (1.00)

24. Miss Me??!! (0.49)

25. Ongentyton (1.45)

26. Everything's Not All Right (1.24)

27. The Freeway (3.35)

28. Transformation * (3.03)

29. Bread Crumbles (3.29)

30. Freddy's Netherworld (1.19)

31. Script / Freddy's Attack (2.01)

32. Tongue / Escape (1.39)

33. Safe At Last!! *** (2.03)

* Includes the Nightmare on Elm Street Theme, written by Charles Bernstein

** Written by Charles Bernstein, arranged by J. Peter Robinson

*** Written by J. Peter Robinson and Charles Bernstein

Total Length: 59.09

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