The second movie I’m covering is “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge,” and it is… strange to say the least. When Robert Shaye saw that Wes Craven’s original film created a license to print money, and with Craven moving on, he shopped for a script to get a sequel underway. The movie made $30 million dollars against a $3 million budget, but it received mixed reviews.
We get arguably the most serious portrayal of Freddy the series has to offer, and the movie has a homoerotic overtones that the producers swear they didn’t notice at all… right. Jesse Walsh and his family move into Nancy’s old house, and Freddy makes his presence known immediately as the bus driver from Hell as we get the first of MANY screams from Jesse as he wakes up in a pool of his own sweat.
Mark Patton who played Jesse was struggling privately with his own sexuality at the time, and I think that his own experience brought a lot to the role. He is called the first male scream queen for his more feminine portrayal of the male lead. His character’s awkward interactions with Lisa include an odd dance scene were he suggestively dances with a miniature bat as Lisa and his mom walk in on him.
Freddy has some decent kills, but this is a far cry from where the series would go. You get more quantity but less quality. After Jesse wanders in the rain to a gay bar (cameo by Robert Shaye who is the leather clad bartender that serves Jesse), he runs into his gym coach who is dressed in his kinkiest outfit who then proceeds to make Jesse run laps at the gym. Sports equipment binds Coach Schneider, and after being stripped, he is slashed in the back by Freddy who turns out to be… Jesse!
The film tears through days and nights like a kid with his Halloween candy, and by the time we get to the pool party, Jesse and Lisa get hot and heavy in the cabana before Freddy’s tongue ruins things sending Jesse running into Ron Grady’s room for solace as Ron makes the “subtle” overtones more obvious by questioning Jesse’s choice to be in his room instead of in the cabana with Lisa. The two had already had a tussle on the baseball diamond where Jesse almost lost his pants. After the whole “don’t let me fall asleep” trope, we get an awesome scene of Freddy exploding out of Jesse’s body to murder Ron as he stabs him through the door.
All Hell breaks loose as the teens are locked in the pool area, and the pool begins to boil. Beers explode, fish tanks burst, and electricity goes haywire as Freddy bursts through the back door and begins murdering. He slashes one boy down the middle of his face as we see teens boiled alive, one set on fire, and one slashed through the stomach. Freddy disappears and the confrontation between he and Lisa ends at the power plant with her defeating him and getting Jesse back by killing him with… kindness? What would “A Nightmare on Elm Street” be without one last surprise kill as we get a very similar bus scene to the opening one with Freddy laughing before the credits roll.
My biggest complaint with the movie has nothing to do with the sexually suggestive nature of the plot but more the departure from what Freddy is. Krueger doesn’t attack the kids of Elm Street in the usual way through their dreams but instead uses Jesse as a conduit to do his dirty work. The nuanced approach through the dream world left kids and adults alike shaking in fear long after the movie ended. With Freddy getting his kills in in the real world, the awe and suspense is sucked out of it, and we are left with your typical slasher film (albeit it with a more talkative antagonist).
I would give this film 5 human faced dogs out of 10. In the grand scheme of things, “Freddy’s Revenge” has some thought provoking elements, but it’s blatant disregard for who Freddy is lowers it significantly for me. In fact, I would put it below a majority of the films including “Freddy’s Dead” which is regarded by many to be terrible, but to me the bombastic, snarky quips of Englund are more over the top and oddly satisfying. It’s worth a watch in the grand scheme of things, and after watching this entry, you will have a greater appreciation for the third installment, Dream Warriors, that brings the dream world to the forefront as Craven returns to the franchise to write the screenplay and finish the movie franchise… or so he thought.
