Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Tagline: The man of your dreams is back. See, it sounds sweet, but really it is ominous. It’s a double entendre… FROM HELL.

Curiosity: There’s something alluring about watching what most consider the worst Nightmare on Elm Street installment. Also, I’ve read that the movie may or not have a subtext about repressed homosexuality.

Plot: Set five years after the events of the original film, Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge finds a new family living on Elm Street. All American kid Jesse (Mark Patton) has been having nightmares featuring the return of Fred(dy) Krueger (Robert Englund). Only this time, Kruger doesn’t want to kill. Rather, he wants Jesse to kill for him. As the dreams become increasingly painful – and Freddy causes ghostly mischief around the house – Jesse begins to transform into the killer. It’s up to Jesse and his friend who is also a girl, Lisa (Kim Myers), to figure how to stop Freddy from claiming… FREDDY’S REVENGE.

Thoughts: Sheesh, no wonder creator Wes Craven was originally opposed to making sequels. Here’s the thing. There is no gay subtext to Jesse’s character. “Subtext” implies a nuance, something that the audience has to work towards. Not to glorify stereotypes or anything, but Jesse’s homosexuality is pretty surface level:

Yeah, that’s the only scene I’m going to give you.

Freddy’s Revenge is the first step towards softening the character – it’s right there in the nickname. In the original he was Fred. The film is also fairly low on gore, although Jesse’s transformation sequence into Freddy still looks decent 24 years later. It’s no The Thing, but it gets the job done.

But then, Freddy spends so little time on the screen that it’s hard to think of this movie as an Elm Street installment. The filmmakers show little interest in the character’s original powers, allowing him to pretty much do whatever he wants in the real world all the time, thereby ruining the dream aspect almost altogether. Given his seemingly endless supply of power, it makes little sense that Freddy would ever want to possess Jesse. Maybe he’s trying to explore his homosexuality too. While the possession angle was later used to better effect in Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy’s Revenge merely comes off as poorly researched. Also gay.

Reflection: Jesse goes to a gay leather bar. He also spends a lot of time naked/wet/WITHOUT PANTS AND I CAN SEE BUTT EW GROSS. This is the Batman and Robin of the Elm Street franchise.