In Defense of The Remake...

We have quite the toss up here:

On one hand, Wes Craven is against the rebooting of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise. This is also the man who subjected film audiences to the Scream franchise. Truth: What this man has to say is completely irrelevant. He certainly can't argue the finer points of cinematic integrity when he green lit that lot of bunk.

On the other hand, we have Robert Englund completely in support of not only the film's reboot, but also his own replacement, the quite stunning Jackie Earl Haley. A quick look at Haley's resume shows him in the driver's seat as one of the leads in last year's breath taking opus Watchmen as the film's narrator and chief anti-hero Rorschach. Rubbish alternative ending aside, Haley translated his character perfectly from the comics and his demise at the hands of Dr. Manhatten at the film's end was poignant and tragic and all too human as his flame was extinguished in the name of preserving integrity and truth.

Rumors abound quite loudly as of late that he'll be starring in another DC property as arch villain/Hal Jordan's former mentor/former Korugarian borne Sinestro in the budding franchise Green Lantern.

All said, there are reputable detractors and supporters on both sides. What can break this movie however, is the involvement of Michael Bay, the architect behind the abysmal Transformers franchise - will this be another bummer like the rebooted Texas Chainsaw film several years back? Or will it languish in relative obscurity like its sibling franchise Friday The 13th which saw a relatively underwhelming reboot this past year?

As something of a devotee to the original Elm Street franchise, I'll give this one a shot - judging by the trailer, it would appear Freddy gets a much stronger back story and origin ala Mike Myers in 2007's Halloween reboot (noticing a pattern with the seminal slasher reboots yet?) and resultantly, the film's villain/lead gets a more human albeit still jarring face.

Come April, we'll see how this one washes...