"Get Out", "The Conjuring", "Midsommar", "A Quiet Place"; original horror films are in once again. Even classic horror franchises like "IT", "Halloween", "Child's Play", and "Saw" are seeing a resurgence, but there is one horror icon who has remained dormant amidst everything since his lackluster remake in 2010.

The bastard son of a thousand maniacs... Freddy Krueger.

As a horror fan, I'm glad to say that first and foremost, a new "Elm Street" film should be anything but a remake of any of the previous films. Even though it is a continuation of a pre-existing franchise, it needs to be its own thing in order to be successful. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film should not be a fun experience; it should be a horror film, but there should also be some levity and humor sprinkled in throughout to give the drama a more down-to-earth feel.

The characters should be developed as people before Freddy even enters a frame. The audience should care about the people being targeted by Freddy, so when the dream stalker does make his move, the deaths are actually felt. A cast of characters that do not change every film would be a way to keep the franchise consistent and audiences invested with the characters and the films as well.

A current horror franchise that a new "Nightmare on Elm Street" would benefit from emulating is "IT". "It Chapter One" was not only successful because it was a horror film with an established character, but because of the humor, the chemistry and comradery of the child cast, and the unpredictability of Pennywise the Clown's character.

Unlike Pennywise, you can't just leave town and get away from Freddy; he is in a place you can't avoid... in your sleep. The original "Elm Street" films focused mainly on teenagers, but perhaps it would be a good change of pace to have the shift from teens to adults. The dreams of middle-aged adults are much more complicated than that of a teen and allow the filmmakers to get even more creative with what it can explore with its characters. The same horrors that kids experience are not the same as an adult's, as evidenced by the grown-up kids in "It Chapter II".

What I'm going to say next may offend longtime fans of the "Elm Street" series, but just stick with me. You do not need to bring back Robert Englund in order for a new "Elm Street" to be successful. Englund is iconic and put Freddy on the map, but he is in a league of his own that will never be topped at this point that fans may or may not ever understand.

Jackie Early Haley ("Watchmen", "Alita: Battle Angel") did put on the gloves for the 2010 remake and failed to impress with audiences and fans, but that was more the fault of the script and poor directing. Freddy needs to be scary and calculated, but also larger than life and, at times, charismatic, which is what a new actor needs to bring without completely replicating Englund's performance.

The character of Freddy Krueger is a writer's dream; the character can do really anything once he has an unfortunate victim in his dream world. It allows the writer to really get their creative juices flowing and bring almost anything to the table. The 2010 remake was definitely lacking in the creative department as it mostly just retread scenes form the original 1984 film (Freddy's hand coming out of the bathtub, the little girls playing jump rope, Freddy's body coming out of the wall behind Nancy, Tina's death scene, and many others).

With the technology and visual effects of today's Hollywood, it's frustrating that none of the dream sequences in the remake were memorable in any way. I was not alive during the 1980s, unfortunately, but I have heard whispers and murmurs about a time when Freddy Krueger ruled the world of horror.

This generation needs that as well.