A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

Director: Jack Sholder. Cast:  Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler, Robert Englund 

Out of all the Freddy’s sequel this is known as the poorest of the lot (a bar which is already set pretty low by part 5 and especially 6, as many Freddy fans know too well). I had not seen it since first released in 1985: I wasn’t old enough to watch it on the big screen and I vividly remember watching a pirated VHS copy at a friend’s house, though as far as the content of the film I could not remember a single frame.So when the New Line Cinema logo appeared at the front the film, I was ready for that to be the best thing in it. And let’s be honest, this is indeed a bad bad bad film, but not as terrible as its fame wants it to be: there are in fact some interesting visuals here and there and some good gory effects (kudos to the effects team), also it’s so camp that it’s actually quite fun to watch (the “girly screams” from the main actors alone are probably enough to lift it up from the “1 star” pit).

The main problem of this sequel is the legacy it stands on, which is set a pretty high mark in terms of ideas, scares, visuals and mood. Part 2 is definitely NOT SCARY at all (I mean how could exploding canaries be scary?!), is badly acted (the woman who plays the girlfriend who shall remain nameless, is atrocious!),makes very little sense, it builds up to a their act which is absolutely ludicrous (not to mention the very last “gotcha” moment, which is so badly handled that I’m willing to bet nobody ever got scared watching it), and crucially, it seems to betray all the rules and parameters and clever ideas set by the original: Freddy has to operate inside the kids’ nightmares, that’s how he kills them. The moment it comes into the real world, it really becomes just like another villain, whether Michael Myers, Jason, or whatever other killer from a thousand movies. There’s a certain clumsiness here in the way the bring him into reality and even more incompetence in what they have him doing in the real world (at some point, while terrorising some teenagers, he smashes a vase with flowers and throws a couple of deck chairs… ohhh, scary!).

Over the years “Freddy’s Revenge” has gained a lot of attention (and attraction) for its supposedly homoerotic subtext. Well I have to be honest, I don’t think anyone involved with this would have been smart enough to add of any subtext to the film. I believe the sad reality was that main actor was gay and he just wasn’t good enough to pretend he wasn’t for the part, whilst the director, most likely gay too, couldn’t quite control himself and peppered the film with unintentional clues throughout (he must have enjoyed directing naked people in the shower rooms).