Rebooting Batman wasn't a problem because all the Batman actors were empty suits. This will be more like trying to remake Dragnet, where the Joe Friday character was personified by Jack Webb and no one else can play it.
I have no idea how they can remake the mystery of the original. It seems like trying to remake the Sixth Sense.
I think the bottom line will be what it usually is, a combination of screenwriting, acting, and direction. In the original series, it took five films to get Freddy’s back story out, so it would probably be a good idea for Freddy to start fresh, and not let too much out of the bag too fast.
A lot of it will be in how effectively they use suspense, instead of shock. The audience should be squirming in their chairs with just little hints that Freddy is coming. Things that would normally not be noticed, but now stand out in glaring fashion.
For instance, the “moment points” that James Cameron used in “The Terminator”, like when Arnold says, “Ill be back” in the police substation, and then there is a few seconds of the police desk officer writing with a pencil. The audience knows something dramatic is about to happen, but get to squirm while waiting for it.
As they go about their ordinary lives, walking inside a house, the audience catches a little reflection in something like a clock face, but the actors are unaware of it. Something distinctively Freddy, but just a hint. Freddy is invisible and in the room with them, as they are talking about something mundane.