Starring: Robert Englund, Mark Patton, Kim Myers
Directed by: Jack Sholder
For me, you can't have the month of October without including Freddy Krueger. A Nightmare on Elm Street has always been one of my favorite horror franchises, but I can't hold it up to the well-made standard that something like a Scream franchise can boast. The first film was a groundbreaking piece of film history, but the studio demands for sequels to be churned out nearly every year meant that each film deteriorated in quality film after film. This, mixed with the Halloween and Friday the 13th sequels spelled the impending doom for horror in the early '90s, which was eventually revitalized by the first Scream movie. Some sequels have some originality to them, but a lot of them are laughable to the point of parody. No film in the Nightmare films better symbolizes that than A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. Swapping out the usual horror movie heroine for a male lead wound up becoming one of the most unintentionally homoerotic films of all-time. And again, they weren't trying. As if those problems weren't enough, the story concept took an interesting approach with Freddy that also resulted them sacrificing the one thing about Freddy that made him unique. Let's see how this colossal mess of a film has garnered such a cult following over the years.
The main characters are nothing special. Jesse, played by Mark Patton, is a unique approach for a main protagonist that doesn't really work well. The man screams like a little girl, has scenes where he's sleeping in his tighty whities, and scenes where he dances like an idiot. It doesn't mix well for something that could be taken seriously, or at least in a scary movie something that's actually scary. It's like they were going for a comedy instead of horror with a character like Jesse. His girlfriend Lisa, played by Kim Myers, is pretty generic, but at least Myers looks like Meryl Streep. Seriously, once you see it, you'll be convinced you're watching the low point of Streep's career. Don't worry, it's not her. Ron Grady, played by Ron Rusler, is your typical '80s wise guy. He's funny and whatnot, but doesn't have enough screen time or development to truly stand out. There is something else, however, that really stands out in Freddy's Revenge.So, what about that homoerotic thing I was talking about? Well, just look at the movie to see for yourself. The film has towels snapping across a bare butt in the shower, males pantsing other males, a leather S & M bar, a main character who seems distant from both his girlfriend and his family, seems very drawn to his best friend, and the main conflict involving a grown man taking control of a young man's body (thus, him questioning and being confused about what's going on with him). Not to mention the fact that Mark Patton is gay in real life. And can you believe the cast and crew didn't notice the undertones until well after the film had been completed and released? I can't make this stuff up if I tried. How do you get all of this from a Freddy Krueger movie? That reminds me...
For a Freddy Krueger movie, the film is really lacking from a great Krueger performance from Robert Englund. Thanks to the film's concept, a lot of Freddy is seen in Jesse's dreams, but when other characters are being killed by Krueger, it's because Krueger has possessed Jesse's body. So Freddy isn't really doing the killing, Jesse is. An interesting concept, but that's not what the fans came to see. When Freddy finally does appear, it's out of the dream world and he terrorizes a pool party. Here, Freddy has been removed from the dream world (where we like him best) and assumes the role of a generic teen slasher. No one wants that. We like Freddy Krueger for his originality and how unique the dreams can look on film. We don't get any of that in the dreams, shy of a few pretty good practical effects. Every dream feels TOO grounded in reality. You always should enjoy some form of fantasy in the dream like state, at least with the Nightmare films.Rating: 1 out of 5 stars.
Where you stand on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge really depends on how you want to look at the film. For horror, it falls very short of living up to the original and it's a sequel you can definitely skip. If you're looking for comedy, it's one of the most unintentionally hilarious horror films you can watch from the '80s and is worth checking out at least once if you're in the proper mindset for some campy laughs.
Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge and movie images are copyrighted by New Line Cinema
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