Harefooted Halloween: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

What I Liked: They didn’t simply remake the first film and instead went for a very different story.  Freddy (Robert Englund (The Mangler)), or Fred as they still call him, wants to cross over into the real world and uses Jesse (Mark Patton (Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean)) as his conduit.  Kinda similar to Ghostbusters which came out the year before but it makes sense for Krueger to attempt this.  If he can exist beyond the dream world and still retain his supernatural powers then he can kill people at any time and not only when they’re sleeping.

There are a few genuinely creepy moments in here.  One is when Jesse and Lisa (played by NOT Meryl Streep Kim Myers (Hellraiser: Bloodline)) start to read Nancy’s diary and all the entries are very intense and describe someone trying to kill her.  Then Jesse realizes he’s been having the same dreams and finally it ends with the last entry being “Tina’s dead”.  Can you imagine discovering this in your house?

The filmmakers subtly incorporated the colors of Fred’s sweater in a few scenes.  When Jesse and Lisa are unpacking the moving boxes in his room Lisa puts two sweaters, one green and one red, away in his closet next to two fedoras.  And the power plant during the finale is lit with green and red lighting.  This usage will be a recurring motif throughout the sequels.

What I Didn’t Like: There’s confusion on a number of levels.  Like, what exactly are Krueger’s powers in this installment?  He can manipulate real world objects like in the first film but he can do it when people are awake now.  This is evident in the scenes where the gym teacher is bombarded with possessed sporting equipment and when Jesse’s pet birds go crazy and spontaneously combust.  If Krueger can murder folks when they’re awake then why does he need to take over Jesse’s body?  In fact Fred may only have a single dream death in this one (it’s inconclusive because it’s part of the quick stinger at the end to setup another sequel).

Also, Jesse’s family moves into Nancy’s old house and into Nancy’s old room and that’s when Krueger starts to haunt him.  So is it that specific house or room that’s a paranormal doorway?  If Jesse’s sister took that room would Krueger have tried to engage her as the way into the real world?  Is this why Krueger disappeared for five years and is now suddenly back (yea this actually takes place five years after the events of the first movie, a fact that I don’t think most people pick up on, so technically this takes place in 1989)?

Furthermore I thought Fred’s motive for killing was to take revenge on the parents who murdered him.  I guess he’s done with that now?  He wants to kill because he’s evil and just feels like it?

Overall Impressions: It’s weird to change the fundamental concept of the original picture, especially when that was the biggest reason why it resonated so well.  Everyone needs to sleep but if you do that you’ll die.  In Freddy’s Revenge you only need to be worried if you live in this one particular house on Elm Street.  And even then maybe it’s that one room that’s an issue.

But despite my griping I think the movie’s pretty fine.  I appreciate the risks it took with the story and there’s a bunch of really awesome effects work to take in.  Plus the soundtrack uses an actual orchestra and holds up much better than the first film.

This isn’t really a slasher picture.  There are more psychological elements with Jesse being tortured by Fred to do his bidding.  I mean the first death doesn’t even occur until nearly the halfway point and doesn’t resume again until the finale.  These aren’t bad things though.  It’s just a departure from what was setup in the previous film.

Ok so now let’s briefly discuss what’s on everyone’s mind, the gay factor.  It’s been widely accepted that this is a gay horror picture.  Director Jack Sholder (Renegades) claims he had no idea at the time, lead Mark Patton was a closeted homosexual who had an inkling there was something going on and writer David Chaskin (The Curse)) denied it for decades but has recently admitted he purposely wrote gay subtext into his script.  Jesse can be viewed as someone struggling with his homosexuality, feeling alone and tormented that he can’t be who he wants to for fear of how his family and society will react.  Krueger is a stand in for that anxiety.  Although you could also read it as homosexuality being this horrible thing that tears you apart and you have to try to contain it or overcome it but that’s just fucking awful and I don’t think that was the intention of the filmmakers.

This certainly makes this horror film very unique and fascinating to analyze.  You could do an entire thesis on trying to breakdown the psychology of Jesse and Krueger’s relationship and interactions.  I definitely recommend checking out Freddy’s Revenge or giving it a second look if you haven’t seen it in a while.  It’s not nearly as good as the first Nightmare but it’s undeniably interesting in its own right.