A Nightmare on Elm Street: Up All Night (2020)
PC3's Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!
I’m a busy man. I’m a husband, father, writer, editor, and student, with commitments to numerous individuals and projects, all while holding a day job to cover the bills until the BIG ONE makes that job unnecessary. Thus, there will be times when I’m not posting as many movie reviews and updates. Or, like today, maybe I’ll post about a short film instead.
When it comes to fan films, this is as good as it gets.
In fact, I would venture that it’s a good deal better than the Nightmare on Elm Street remake disaster from 2010.
Nightmare on Elm Street: Up All Night was funded on Indiegogo, written, produced by, and starring horror author Matt Shaw, and directed by Jeremy Brown. As someone who knows Matt, I was a bit skeptical about the decision to cast him in the lead role. In the interactions we’ve had, he didn’t strike me as an actor. But, thinking on it now, what does that even mean? How would one strike me as an actor?
Matt Shaw does a surprisingly good job, both convincing and funny as an English bar patron whose one-night fling turns out to be more than he bargained for. The cast as a whole was excellent, as was the cinematography. Coming in at a cool 17:29, the movie plays with the quality of a big budget feature film. The ending leaves you scratching your head a bit, but it plays to the fantasies of horror movie buffs everywhere.
It’s well made, quick, and entertaining. I don’t know that I’ll make a habit out of reviewing short films, because many of them are little more than single scenes. But this one is a little longer than most, and it has just enough of a story to make a review feasible.
PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness!
Gore - 6
Special Effects - 6
Nudity/Sexuality - 6
Wow Factor - 4
Acting - 8
Fear Factor - 3
Story/Plot/Originality - 5
Cinematography/Atmosphere - 8
Sound/Music - 6
Fun Factor - 8
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Up All Night is fun as hell, with a great overall PHEMSA of 60. And since it’s a fan film, it’s free on YouTube!