Craven’s film, as well some of the later entries, were genuinely scary, technically polished and delivered the goods expected from the genre at a time when violence, blood and gore were still used in moderation; the excess in these departments came much later, and now seems the main raison d’etre for remaking them.
Writers Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer claimed to have used Craven’s 1984 film as a blueprint but evolved the ideas further to presumably explored the psychological elements of Freddy’s troubled and complex persona as a righteous avenger, who might have been falsely accused. However, despite their bold move to deal with pedophilia, they have crafted an unremarkable story, in which most of the teenagers, who are paying for the sins of their parents are boring and undistinguishable, unlike the original, in which each of the teenagers had a distinct personality.
Arguably, Jackie Earle Haley is a better and more well-rounded actor than Robert Englund, who became a celeb and an icon after starring in the 1980s series. In recent years, Earle Haley has proven to be an especially intense and eccentric supporting actor, as was evident in his Oscar-nominated turn in “Little Children,” and more recently in Scorsese’s “Shutter Island.”