A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

I just wanted to share this new acrylic painting I've finished for Nightmare 2. I know the original and Dream Warriors usually gets all the love and that this movie isn't everyones cup of tea, I however personally enjoy it. I noticed not much art gets made for this film so decided to create something!

I hope you all like it!

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 😭

Despite the bad rap a lot of people give Elm Street 2, I still hold a certain soft spot in my heart for it.

I remember seeing it first as a young kid on VHS. The quality obviously wasn't good and the movie was about as darkly lit during some scenes as the first.

Freddy was still intended to be scary then, and he was for me as a small kid. As an 8 year old I never thought, "Hmm, this has got a lot of gay stuff in it." No, I thought "Whoa, Freddy goes after boys, too."

Obviously, scenes like the pool party look absurd in retrospect but, at the time, New Line had nothing else but Freddy and he hadn't reached the peak of his pop culture stardom.

I'm sure they would've wanted a do over if they could. But, as it is, it's still a favorite of mine. Definitely higher on the list for me than Dream Master, Dream Child and Freddy's Dead.

Just my opinion.

The only thing I remember about A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge the first time watching it was that Freddy was different and I didn’t like it. (Granted, I was like 10 years old at the time.) I didn’t see the subtle and not so subtle homoerotic undertones. I was very excited to see another Freddy movie, but it was different. Boy, I was in for it when I got older and understood all that.

Released: Nov 1, 1985Director: Jack SholderWriter: David Chaskin, Wes Craven (Characters)Runtime: 87 minsActors: Robert England, Mark Patton, Kim Myers

PLOT

You've got the body…-Freddy Krueger

Freddy Krueger (Robert England) is back with a new group of teens to kill. It’s been 5 years since the previous movie and a new family has moved into the house. Jesse (Mark Patton) starts having nightmares of a burnt man with knives for fingers. While unpacking boxes in his room, Lisa (Kim Myers) discovers Nancy’s old diary and finds out about Freddy. Jesse’s dreams get more real as Freddy tries to possess Jesse. Before long, people start dying and it’s up to Lisa to save Jesse and their friends.

MY THOUGHTS

I've got the brains-Freddy Krueger

Wow, where to begin. Let's start with the positives. We get Robert England and Freddy back. The acting and actors did a good job with what they had. It was Kim Myers and Christie Clark’s film debuts. Add in Clu Gulager (from Return of the Living Dead and Feast) as Jesse’s father and Marshall Bell (from Total Recall and Starship Troopers) as the school Coach with a S&M secret. Mark Patton as the first (and only) Final Boy in the series.

Another positive is that there is a higher kill count than the other movies. We get 10 kills in this movie. Granted, there weren’t too many memorable kills though. I think the most memorable is Coach’s death. Starting with a painful towel snap in the shower, Coach gets an interesting death. The rest are kind of meh.

Now onto the negatives. Did they not really watch the first movie? Freddy is scary because he kills you in your dreams. This is the only Nightmare movie where all the victims are killed in real life and not in the dreams. The party scene made my jaw drop because nobody was asleep and he just killed people. I’m not a fan of the plot line that Freddy is possessing Jesse. Or I just don’t like how it plays out in this movie.

On a side note, I read somewhere that Mark Patton was treated horribly by the director and several others during and after this movie. There’s a documentary out called “Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street” discussing Mark Patton’s treatment and a look back on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. I haven’t seen it yet but I heard it was informative and I hope to watch it soon.

Overall, not even close to a favorite in this franchise. Nothing against the cast, but the story is not good and doesn’t fit into the Freddy universe.

• The bus driver in the opening scene is Robert England, without his Freddy face on.

• Robert Englund has stated that Freddy's Revenge is his least favorite Nightmare On Elm Street movie.

• In an interview featured in In Search of Darkness: Part II (2020), Robert Englund states that he was fully aware of the homoerotic elements of the film and was enthusiastic about playing up these undertones in the on-screen interactions between Freddy and Jesse.

• Jesse's car is the same car used in the television series Freddy's Nightmares (1988). It is used by Lar Park-Lincoln in the Freddy's Nightmares: It's a Miserable Life (1988) episode.

• This is the first time the front door color is red. The first movie it’s blue. From now on, it will be red.

• The S&M bartender is played by Robert Shaye.

• Freddy is only on-screen for 13 minutes of the film's 87-minute runtime.

Let’s get into the rankings:

Kills/Blood/Gore: 2.5/5Sex/Nudity: 1/5No sex and the only nudity is we see Jesse’s butt when he’s depantsed playing softball, and the Coach is naked in the shower’s during his death scene, but we only see his bare butt.Scare factor: 2/5Enjoyment factor: 4/10

My Rank: 2.3/5IMDB: 5.5/10Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 4.1/10 audience: 3.3/10Letterboxd: 2.8/5

Just curious what people thought about this, especially when he kills grady/at the pool party.

Welcome back to our weekly slasher horror movie discussion. I know, I know I'm a few days left c'mon give me a break. Last week we started the Nightmare on Elm Street Series discussion. This time we discuss our the second entry in the Nightmare on Elm Street Series… A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

IMDB Rating: 5.4

Rotten Tomato Score: 40%

Director: Jack Sholder

Cast:

Robert Englund - Freddy Krueger

Mark Patton - Jesse Walsh

Kim Myers - Lisa Webber

Marshall Bell - Coach Schneider

Robert Rusler - Ron Grady

Clu Gulager - Ken Walsh

Hope Lange - Cheryl Walsh

Synopsis: A teenage boy is haunted in his dreams by Freddy Krueger who is out to possess him in order to continue his murder spree in the real world.

Running time: 87 Minutes

Trivia (Provided by IMDB and Never Sleep Again Documentary): Nightmare series creator Wes Craven refused to work on this film because he never wanted or intended to have A Nightmare on Elm Street tp become an ongoing franchise (and even wanted the first film to have a happy ending).

In the opening sequence, the bus driver is Robert Englund without the heavy "Freddy Krueger" makeup and his signature clothing.

(Spoiler Alert) The only "Nightmare" film in which the lead character is male.

Michael J. Fox was considered for the role of Jesse Walsh, but was unable due to his commitments to Back to the Future.

This film is famous for having undertones and themes that many perceive as homoerotic, and the events of the film are often seen as an allegory for Jesse's closeted homosexuality. While the makers of the film initially denied that this subtext was intentional, screenwriter David Chaskin eventually admitted that the subtext was intentionally written into the script in order to give the characters more depth.

Bonus Question 1: What were your thoughts when they saw this for the first time?

Bonus Question 2: Were you aware of any homo-erotic undertones when you saw this movie? Or did you only find out when someone pointed it out?

Bonus Question 3: How did everyone feel about a male being the main character this time around? Generally, it's always a female who plays the 'final-girl' in horror films.

Table of Contents:

I'm glad NOES 2 is seeing a resurgence in appreciation. It is by far not the worst Nightmare in the series. For me it's better then 4-5-6.

The movie is a bit of an anomaly. Alot of fans say it deviates from the lore established in the first film. But is that really a bad thing? I never saw the sequel as "breaking rules" but rather extending them by adding more lore to the mythology.

I always thought Freddy was too weak to do damage in dreams so instead of entering nightmares, he was trying to break into the real world by corrupting and possessing Jessy to kill for him until he was strong enough to come back.

I like Mark Patton's performance in the movie, he's really into it. The scene in Grady's room where he wakes up feeling sick is the best part. The way Freddy tears out of him is spectacular 80s animatronic effects.

I also like that Jesse finds Nancy's diary. I saw NOES 2 before I saw the first one, so hearing Jesse read out of the diary made me curious about the backstory. Watching the first film afterwards connected the dots.

As for Freddy himself, damn he looks good in this one. Witch nose, amber eyes and deep voice. There's a nice touch where he wears the glove for most of the film, but once he's in the real world, the claws protrude out of his fingers.

Anyway I'll stop rambling. I'll always have a soft spot for NOES 2. Probably because I saw it before the others, but also because I rewatch it every now and then, and I can't help but be hypnotized by it. Oh and that damn bus nightmare at the start of the film. It's awesome.

Thoughts on NOES 2?

Why was it so different than the film preceding it and the film following it? Were audiences at the time of its debut aware of the homoerotic tone in the film or did it fly under the radar?

How beloved is the film among fans of the franchise? What are your thoughts on it?