In 1984 a character came along who managed to make knitwear evil – Freddy Krueger. Robert Englund, the man behind the mask and woolly jumper, went on to play this iconic dream boat no less than eight times; the last, in 2003, was against yet another screen maniac and ice hockey nut Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise.

But let’s face it, eight times doesn’t sound like nearly enough films for one character to star in, so why not dream up yet another ? And yes, call it a ‘reboot’ while you’re at it.

Springwood is a sleepy little town in the good ole US of A. Unfortunately for some of the teenagers who live there, sleep turns into a serious issue. It seems that when they attempt to catch some well needed Zzz’s, a sinister character by the name of Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) not only torments them in their dreams, but if he kills them in their sleep they’re dead in real life.

Staying awake is a real problem for most teens as it is, but not even the threat of a being killed in their dreams is enough to keep them awake 24/7. One by one, as they find themselves nodding off, the man of their bad dreams appears. And so the horror continues.

Hey kids, don't play with fireworks. I did and look what it did to me. I love a sparkler me, too.

It doesn’t take long into this ‘reboot’ to realise that a return to Elm Street truly is a nightmare. The main problem with it is that it just isn’t that scary. Despite Freddy’s trademarked chopping glove still being used, you’ll find more blade action in a Gillette razor advert. Who would have thought that the coming together of Woods, Henry and Federer would be scarier than Freddy?

And even though that Englund (wisely) isn’t involved in this version, the Krueger look is so iconic, it doesn’t really matter who else plays him. It’s like someone else playing Darth Vader; it really doesn’t make that much difference if Dave Prowse is inside the costume or not.

The problem with not having Englund however surfaces in other areas. As good an actor as Haley is, he doesn’t come across as being that menacing. Part of this is due to his dialogue obviously being dubbed on after his performance; the problem is that they’ve toyed around with his vocal so much, it doesn’t really sync up with the shabby lip movements of the mask he wears. The end result makes him resemble more of a Doctor Who baddie from the seventies (and looking just as threatening) rather than a cutting edge horror icon.

The other thing that set Englund’s Freddy aside from other killers was his humour. Englund imbued Freddy with a personality; he had a nice collection of one-liners that helped reinforce how warped he was. Haley’s Freddy is both sombre and serious; but as he’s nowhere near as threatening or frightening as he should be, he comes across more like a stern Dennis the Menace.

It doesn’t help that the story is also virtually a re-telling of the first. Sure we all have recurring dreams, but do we have to have them in films too? Not only have we seen it all before, but the original still remains the nightmare to end all nightmares.

Although Haley is allegedly signed up for two more sequels, we hope the filmmakers wake up and smell the coffee: the nightmares need to end now.