Abstract
This article aims to discuss the 1984 slasher film A Nightmare on Elm Street and its 2010 remake within a Gothic framework. The main hypothesis is that while both versions display Gothic traces in their imagery and structure, such as transgression and excesses (Botting, 2004), the monstrous character, the haunting return of the past, and the Terrible Place (Clover, 2015), the 2010 film capitalizes more efficiently on the interplay between appearance and reality by enhancing the importance of trauma in its plot. The proposal’s pertinence and originality rely on the juxtaposition of a consolidated framework (Gothic studies), a prolific horror cinema subgenre (slashers), and a recurrent tendency in contemporary cinema (remakes).
Highlights
Popular ilms, respond to interpretation as at once the personal dreams of their makers and the collective dreams of their audiences – the fusion made possible by the shared structures of a common ideology
Film audiences from the late 1970s-early 1980s witnessed a remarkable level of explicit violence due to the emergence of the slasher, a subset within horror cinema characterized by the presence of a psychotic killer responsible for multiple murders whose face is invariably covered, leaving victims and audience members alike in suspense regarding the murderer’s identity and motivation
Remakes and reboots have played an important role in the perpetuation of the genre, as the releases of Black Christmas (2006), Friday the 13th (2009), Halloween (2007, 2018), My Bloody Valentine (2009), Prom Night (2008) and he Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) evidence, corroborating the notion that slasher ilm remains an attractive and proitable genre in the American movie industry
Summary
Claudio Vescia Zanini1* Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil*. Abstract his article discusses the 1984 slasher ilm A Nightmare on Elm Street and its 2010 remake emphasizing the presence of recurrent tropes both in Gothic iction and slasher ilm such as transgression, excess, disrupted family structures, the monster, the haunting return of the past, and the terrible place. A literature review for slasher ilm theory precedes a detailed analysis of the symbolic and thematic connections between the opening and closing sequences in each ilm. He conclusion highlights the remake’s resigniication of the original movie’s Gothic legacy by updating its supernatural monster into an earthly threat and by endowing its heroine with the strength and proactivity necessary for the inal confrontation with the monster.
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