A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Director: Jack Sholder

Screenplay: Robert Shaye

Cast: Mark Patton as Jesse Walsh; Kim Myers as Lisa Webber; Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger; Robert Rusler as Ron Grady; Clu Gulager as Ken Walsh; Hope Lange as Cheryl Walsh

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #126

Before the Elm Street series properly began with Dreams Warriors (1987), there was the original sequel which took an alternative route on the road to a franchise. Part 2 was stuck in the position as a black sheep of the series, even against the later sequels, but with the years having past it's been brought up in critical standing and had the last laugh. Initially, it's not that strange an idea for a sequel, the major criticism in terms of canon more to do with for changing Freddy Krueger to someone who now wants to escape back into the real world, breaking certain rules that would be canonised afterwards. However the other aspects of this idea, set a year or more after the first film with a new family living in the original home of the first film's heroine, isn't that bad in how now the home's now been infected by Krueger's spectre since the events of the prequel. Now, even before he discovered the diary of the previous owner of his bedroom, the son Jesse (Mark Patton) is now in the position of being used as Krueger's puppet, to become a shell for the evil figure to enter the waking world. It does jar from the initial premise, but with where it goes, I cannot argue with how rewarding it is even if it's a rewrite of the initial premise.

From https://s3.drafthouse.com/images/made/
nightmareelmstreet21_1050_591_81_s_c1.jpg

The gay subtext, and blatant text, has been one of the biggest reasons why this sequel's been rightly redeemed in modern eyes, and whilst the director Jack Sholder was oblivious to it, the screenwriter Robert Shaye snuck the material in, an anecdote that's been repeated over and over again a lot to the point it asks how drastically different the eighties were in terms of LGBT politics for such blatant subject matter to go over people's heads. It's not subtly in the slightest, as this is a film where Jesse enters a gay nightclub in his pyjamas during one of his nocturnal sleepwalking moments, only to encounter his gym teacher in full on leather gear. Its blatant in the modern day, but it softens the continuity issue the film has in the series by giving it a more meaningful, worthwhile point to have rewritten the lore, more important in what its tapping into than the canonical. Having a likable male lead helps greatly, his conflict with his sexuality as a result more convincing as its depicted in a self-destructive, and generally destructive, way in this fantastical horror. A potential love interest in Lisa Webber (Kim Myers) adds to this as does Ron Grady (Robert Rusler), a jock that eventually befriends him and adds to the subtext in their interactions. The violent psychological disconnect, where people die, becomes a lot more complex when this obvious meaning is added to it, and helps separate the film out from the future sequels by having a more meaningful side. Even if it's not the deepest of subtexts, it's still evocative considering how rare it is still as a subject to tackle in mainstream horror.

From http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UqWQ0I_2vCY/VM70xbS8QuI/
AAAAAAAAYio/6v8ckU0umF0/s1600/Slasher%2B-%2BA%2BNightmare%2Bon%2BElm
%2BSt%2B-%2BFreddy%27s%2BDead%2B-%2Bgay%2Bbar.JPG

It's also helped by its dark, peculiar streak, one which arguably makes this film out of all the series the most "abstract" and oddest of the bunch for its heightened tone. Aspects are intentionally light hearted, forcing one to remember that this is still a fun roller coaster of a horror film and the better for it, such as Jesse getting to show his stuff in a dance scene done in only underwear. Others are unintentional moments of hilarity but they all add a disorientating oddness to the proceedings nonetheless, such as the exploding bird scene or human faced dogs, the later probably the worst practical effect of the entire franchise but yet paradoxically one of the weirdest for a brief, one shot scare. There's still a tone as well, throughout the running time, so alien to the glossier later sequels but closer to the original. Feeling like a production of a company yet to reach the mainstream, yet to remove the roughness of their films and still with the tonal shifts of earlier independent horror. The unintentional weirdness fed on by the fact that, as a film about a killer living in one's dreams, there's no rules barring what the screenwriter and practical effects team had in mind during the creation of the film. Even when there's spectacle, like the bookending nightmares involving a school bus, it has a griminess mixed in its bright colours that contributes a great deal.

From https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTgxMTI0ODM1
NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTA0MTg0NA@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,1524,1000_AL_.jpg

There was arguably as well the best version of Freddy Krueger in terms of visual look here in the gruesome makeup, emphasising his grotesque appearance alongside Robert Englund playing the part at his most insidious. A sweltering hot atmosphere adds to the tone, part of the reoccurring aspect that, as Krueger's presence in the central home is there, the temperature especially of Jesse's bedroom let alone the whole house is like a steam room. It also has arguably one of the best practical effects in the franchise, in terms of construction and the nightmarish surrealism behind it, with Krueger bursting out of a person. Put together, whilst the film can be erratic at points, that itself is as much a virtue as it is the qualities it possesses. I've always liked Freddy's Revenge, and particularly revisiting the later sequels, its arguably for me of the best of the series still.

From http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SHPseIp5L4o/VGuSbCePRQI/AAAAAAAAHkA/
DzUGLGbwquY/s1600/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street_2_Freddys_Revenge_37.jpg