Commonly referred to as one of the "gayest" films in horror history, for years Freddy's Revenge carried the burden of being viewed as the worst of the NOES sequels (a fate it never deserved when the likes of The Dream Child and Freddy's Dead exist) and had the unfortunate distinction of following an instant classic original. Wes Craven never liked it and happily ignored it when he worked on Dream Warriors. It's the red-headed stepchild, but it's experienced a bit of a cult renaissance in the wake of documentaries like Never Sleep Again and Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street and despite its criticisms, I think it ironically has actually proven itself to be indispensable to the franchise's lore and pop culture imprint. Not many "bad" sequels have had an impact quite like Freddy's Revenge.

• Freddy's look: Not only is Freddy's makeup the best in the series, this was the first film to add stripes on the arms of his sweater; a style choice that remained in every depiction afterwards. It's also the first and only film aside from New Nightmare to feature blades coming directly out of Freddy's hand, which was one of Craven's original ideas instead of the glove.

• Quotables: This movie has not one, but two of Freddy's most memorable lines, which are, "You've got the body, I've got the brain" and "You are all my children now". The latter is so popular, it's included in New Nightmare, despite Craven's distaste for the movie.

• Freddy's powers: A big criticism of the film is betraying the rules and premise of the original, mainly Freddy possessing Jesse's body to kill in the real world. It wasn't an ability shown in the first, however, possession does become one of Freddy's tricks that returns in both The Dream Child and Freddy vs. Jason. Crossing over into the real world is also the main goal of Demon Freddy in...you guessed it, New Nightmare.

• Reassessment: It seems 1985 might not been the ideal era for a film with homoerotic overtones and a closeted gay star, but this movie has since become well-recognized and even appreciated within the queer community. Outside of that, a number of critics seemed to have softened on it in recent years, admitting that while it may not be as cohesive as the original, it's arguably Freddy at his most sinister before he started tuning into jokester in the following film. Then, there's Scream, Queen!...while the film's focus isn't solely on Freddy's Revenge and is more about Mark Patton's struggles due to being in it, it still fleshes out and adds to this much maligned sequel's mythos (for better or worse). I mean, you don't see anybody rushing to do documentaries on Halloween: Resurrection or Jason Goes to Hell, do you? Didn't think so 😭