I still say they should make a prequel movie about Freddy's reign as The Springwood Slasher, and call it Elm Street: The Nightmare Begins. I wouldn't even mind it if Jackie Earl Haley were to play the role of a pre BBQ'd Freddy, just as long as they stay far, far, FAR away from the remake's f**ked up reimagining of Freddy's origins.
And don't go "RZ's Halloween" with it either. We don't need to see Freddy's f**ked up upbringing, or his birthmother being gangraped in a hospital for the criminally insane. Just start with the first abductions and/or the discovery of the first bodies.
I'd work it kinda like Manhunter/Red Dragon, or Silence Of The Lambs. Maybe even a little of the TV movie version of Stephen King's IT. WE know who the killer is, but the police/FBI don't.
It starts off with either the abduction of a child, or the finding of a child's body. We watch as the police investigate while more kids go missing, and others are found mutilated. There will be creepy scenes of the latest abducted child in a cage being psychologically tormented by Freddy. He comes creeping up on them, scraping his knives along the walls and pipes in the boiler room, singing "One, Two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, Four, better lock your door . . ." (This is how the song originates, at least in my version of Freddy's history). Freddy takes the kids out of their cage to "play". Then when he's done with them, he kills them and dumps their bodies.
Then Freddy gets careless. A child escapes, or someone who knows him from his dayjob at the local elementary/preschool witnesses him abducting a child. They contact the police, who go to arrest him. Here we can either use the original backstory (the search warrant wasn't properly filled out), or the TV series version (the police neglect to Marandize him during his arrest, and all evidence against him comes from an illegally obtained confession). Either way, we witness the trial and his subsequent release. Then the lynch mob is formed and they hunt Freddy down and burn him alive.
Perhaps after the end credits roll, there'll be a teaser of Freddy coming back in the dreams of the little boy/little girl who got away. Perhaps even hint at an explaination of why Freddy has to wait until the kids are teenagers in order to kill them in their dreams.
I have a few theories about this, by the way.
1) He needed that long to learn how to control this new dream power.
2) He needed them to be frightened enough of him to have the strength to kill them (he had been haunting their dreams for years by the time the killings start anew, the kids just didn't remember him).
3) Children are naturally born lucid dreamers. As a child, the creative part of the brain is the most active. This is why so many children's games requires the use of imagination, why they so easily believe that a fat man in a red suit gives them presents every Christmas, and a giant rabbit hides chocolate eggs arount their house every spring. So when they dream, they're in complete control. Freddy could try entering their dreams, but then he'd find himself fighting Superman or She-Ra. But as we get older, we begin using the logical sides of our brains more. We no longer believe in Santa Claus or The Easter Bunny. Playing make believe seems silly and embarassing. And we lose the ability to control our dreams. And THAT is when Freddy strikes.
Those are my theories at least. Of course the real reason is that Hollywood has a long standing taboo against depicting violence against children. It can be implied, but never shown. They've relaxed on this a bit in recent years, but it's still a touchy subject. But you can show a lot more with teens, so that's who Freddy goes after in the movies. But a feel there should be a story cannon reason as to why he waits. Personally, I like the third explaination best.
