The Confession of Fred Krueger (2015) User Reviews

Milliner and Co. Have Crafted One Of The Best Fan Films Around

[rbozell · 8/10 · 23 September 2015]

There are a lot of mediocre (read: terrible) fan films out there. Most fan film creators are content to lazily and sloppily recreate scenes from their favorite films without presenting anything different or entertaining. "Confession" is not one of those films. Milliner and his cast and crew have crafted a loving tribute to the original Nightmare that doesn't get by only on fan service (though there's plenty of moments that should make fans giddy).

Kevin Roach is perfectly cast as a pre-burned Freddy. Does he look or sound like Robert Englund? No, but that's what makes his performance work. He's not mimicking Englund as Freddy, but playing him the way he sees fit. He takes some bits from Englund's performance, but there are moments that clearly come from the mind of Milliner and Roach. A few people have played Freddy before he was killed by the parents of Springwood, but Roach's performance was the first time I watched someone play Freddy who actually held my attention, and who felt threatening on- screen.

Milliner also has what a lot of fan film creators don't have: a great eye and a knowledge of how films should work. Make no mistake: this is a low-budget production. Films about conversations usually are, but Milliner manages to make it feel grand and cinematic through cinematographer D.P. Bonnell's widescreen compositions and composer Lito Velasco's pitch perfect versions of Charles Bernstein's iconic score. Low-budget or not, it never feels cheap.

All in all, this is a wonderful tribute to a film that still holds up as a classic in the horror genre. It's definitely worth setting aside the half-hour it takes to enjoy it.

"Those poor little children..." A dark gem of a short!

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 2 March 2020]

Wow well for a start I really don't get why some people seem to downright hate this horror short so much, as I found it to be one of the better and more gripping short films to focus on an iconic horror character that I'd seen in a long while, I was impressed by how it actually managed to instil a little depth and a small measure of something akin to sympathy in a character as gleefully evil and cruel as Freddy Kruegar, but for me they did it by showing that Freddy's ultimate evil came from a tragic and hopeless place and just what a truly twisted fiend who never had a chance he really was... It's played completely straight and is a mini prequel that features a still living but already plenty unhinged and completely remorseless Freddy on the night of the confession of his grisly crimes against the innocent as he wavers between maniacally taunting his captors about the children he's murdered and lucidly going through some of the events in his pathetic nightmare of a life that led up to him discovering his wicked calling almost by accident, when, as a filthy vagrant he felt the first bit of power he ever did when a group of children were scared of him, a power he soon came to embrace and use against the helpless children of Springwood... I can see how some might have taken issue with how he didn't have the trademark witchy Robert Englund look to his face, but I loved Kevin Roach as Freddy, he was so full of manic energy and was so creepy that he just nailed it, he had the look of someone you'd want to move away from on the bus and for me he really made the short work and gives credence to the idea of Freddy being played (well) by anybody other than Englund someday. I just thought he captured the sadistic essence of Freddy as he was before he became a wisecracking slaughtering jokester very well, and it was great to see a little of the dark and serious version of him again, although there are also possible hints at his twisted sense of humour there to! I also personally appreciated the small detail of how it brought home that Freddy was a originally a child murderer and not so much a pervert, and here at least he only loves to subject the children to as much terror as possible in his hellish boiler room before moving in for the kill... I loved the callbacks to Freddy's Dead and the original movie's style of font in the opening credits, as well as suggesting that he had a deeper reason for seeking out nancy. I've seen some real rotten excuses for short films involving famous horror villains in my time that are truly not worth the time to watch them, but this one hooked and kept me interested right to the end, just by Roach's excellent performance. I could seriously watch a whole feature of the story that leads up to the fateful burning, it could work, and this short shows that. Decide for yourself what you think of it, because it's well acted and definitely worth watching! Thanks x

Awesome

[mdeitzman · 10/10 · 25 June 2019]

Opens a window as far as what you can do with a fan film and where you cab go with it. It has in my opinion the best actor since Englund to wear the sweater. Have re watched at least a dozen times.

Truly one of the greatest fan films ever made

[cyanidefun · 10/10 · 27 September 2015]

With the recent passing of horror master Wes Craven, you don't have to search hard to find people talking about the legacy and mark he's left on horror, filmmakers, and stories. His original Nightmare, released in 1984, introduced us to one of the most prolific characters in modern film, Freddy Krueger, who was played as equal parts dark, demented, and hilarious by Robert Englund.

It's disappointing that Craven never got to see the mark he left on artist and filmmaker Nathan Thomas Milliner, whose 30-minute love letter to the series is truly one of the greatest fan films ever made. Set in the 1970s, after Kruger is found and arrested for his crimes, Milliner's Confession focuses on Freddy the man, who is still a monster, but before he became the creature of literal nightmares, as he describes the heinous acts he has committed to a police detective during interrogation.

Fanboys will surely cringe to hear it, but watching Milliner's take on the stories and characters, it's clear that Englund is not the only actor who could ever play Freddy properly. He may, indeed, be the man who brought to life the boiler room devil behind the makeup, but in actor Kevin Roach, Milliner may have found the perfect man to portray Freddy as a sadistic killer. Roach's portrayal is one that should be praised, as he takes bits of what Englund did for the character, but makes it his own, bringing to life an intensity and intelligence in Kruger we don't get to always see, all the while keeping the subtle humor intact.

Watching the film as someone who highly appreciates not only the original Nightmare series, but also of Craven's work in general, it's clear as day that Milliner is a die-hard fan of the legendary filmmaker. Between the research that must have gone into this short to keep it canon, to the bits of dialog ripped straight from non-Nightmare Craven films, it was one of the most enjoyable films I've had the pleasure of watching this year.

It's great that with such a small budget, Milliner was able to create a film that feels very much like a full-blown studio production. Obviously his talents as an artist (especially in the horror genre; Milliner has drawn covers for over a dozen Scream! Factory releases of cult horror films) help him in visualizing the look of his film, because it's got the polished look of a big budget masterpiece while maintaining the dark, dingy feel of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The costumes and settings really added to the perfect look of an incredible short.

Personally, I would love to see more filmmakers not just create homages to the films that inspired them, but to actually take up a bit of the story and make it their own in this way. What Milliner has done for the characters and the films with his Confession was inspired by his love of horror and of Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street, but what it seems he has done is make a piece worthy in itself of being inspiration.

This is the third attempt at an Elm Street prequel...

[DDPhilly · 2/10 · 22 September 2015]

and it's partially hit, mostly miss for me.

I watched the trailer when it came out and I thought it was derivative of other projects, but seemed to be shot well. The film was released online recently so I decided to give it a watch.

Well... I think this is a fairly decent attempt, but I think I was right about it borrowing a bit too much from what's already been done in regard to a prequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Three things about the film stick out in my mind.

1) The grungy, dirty homeless outcast Freddy was attempted a few years ago in a film called "Son of a Hundred Maniacs" that was never made. I didn't think that version of Freddy worked then and I don't now. It's way too obvious that this drifter version of Freddy would be the Springwood Slasher. It would be no surprise and way less frightening to the police and the people of Springwood and what child would be lured away by this Freddy? Yes, I know that there is a short story that portrays Fred this way but it is not canon.

2) There are quite a few scenes that seem lifted directly out of the short film series "Krueger: Tales from Elm Street". Most of "The Confession of Fred Krueger" revolves around an interrogation scene (done in "A Tale from Elm Street"), plus there's some exact same cinematography such as Freddy stalking in a playground (done in "Another Tale from Elm Street"), Freddy slinking along a building in daylight (done in "A Walk Through Elm Street", the detective being dragged out of the interrogation room (again done in "A Tale from Elm Street") and more. Confessions even has it's Freddy say "pretty please" during the interrogation, lifting dialogue directly from the Krueger series.

3) The film is decently shot, the score is great, but the acting is very singular. Not a cut on the actor who plays Freddy as the character was written that way, but again, it's not canon and leaves no room for the actor to really show any versatility. All of this, of course, is just my opinion.

I felt the Krueger series did all of the above better. They also did it first.

Almost as good as Robert Himself

[tristandelorca-936-952560 · 9/10 · 10 December 2022]

The rest of the performances are negligible but Kevin Roach's performance as Fred Krueger is awesome! I am a HUGE Freddy fan, and what I mean by that is Robert Englund Freddy only!!! However I was amazed by his performance. I would watch a movie with him as Freddy Krueger. He had the Fred swagger, the evil grin, the malice and evil in his eyes. The hunger when he saw the claw. He gave me the creeps and I loved that. He wasn't predictable. I would love to see him on the big screen as Freddy. I highly recommend anyone who loves Freddy give this short one YouTube a shot! I truly hope Kevin Roach himself reads this.

Director obviously has good friends...

[cinema-denizen · 2/10 · 30 August 2016]

The writer/director of this rubbish obviously has good friends, but bad skills in film-making... why else would an atrocious viewing experience like this get such high ratings.

Do people actually like these poorly made fan-films? Do they not have access to the REAL productions that these are based on, and can only watch free videos online? I for one, think that I am pretty much done with these fan-films. They are becoming a pain to watch. Out of the dozens I've seen, only a few of them are tolerable to watch and actually entertaining. Seems like, for being "fans", they are completely missing the point of the source material and taking their stories in the wrong direction(in my opinion).

Why do I loathe this so? Well, above all else, the over-acting... especially from the lead Freddy wanna-be is so appalling and literally hurt my soul to watch. The only reason that this short got a 2 star rating from me and not the lowest one star, is because I thought the production value(for the most part) was relatively decent, as opposed to the billions of fan shorts out there that look like they were filmed with a cellphone camera from the '90s. Which, honestly, isn't hard to pull off with the extremely affordable digital cameras these days that all have great video capturing abilities.

I usually try not to be so negative in my reviews, but this was so bad in my eyes that I seriously can't think of any other way to put it. It's just plain BAD! All in all, nice try, Milliner. But... FAIL! Next time, try to tackle something original and DO NOT try and put your own spin on a horror icon that we all know and love all too well. Like they always say, "don't fix it if it ain't broke". 'Nuff said!

Waste of time.

[jeremy-david-kuehnau · 2/10 · 16 January 2017]

Same idea as it's 2011 counterpart, but more poorly executed. Further, the actor they found to fill Freddy's role just didn't fit very well.

The dialog is largely boring. I wasn't invested at all in this film and they did very little to try and capture my attention.

As a huge fan of the franchise, you would think it'd be awfully hard to make Freddy Krueger and his story boring and yet somehow they managed to do just that. The best part of the film was the art they did for the cover/poster.

You can find it for free on YouTube, you be the judge, but I feel it's a waste of a half an hour.