A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is a 1985 American supernatural slasher horror film directed by Jack Sholder (Alone in the Dark; Arachnid).
It stars Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.
While the film was successful at the box office (grossing $29.9 million in North America alone), it was widely considered inferior to the original by fans and critics. In the years since its release, however, it has become a cult film among gay audiences due to its overt homoerotic subtext. Screenwriter David Chaskin denied that until 2010, when he admitted he intentionally added it to increase the film’s horror for the teenage boys who made up the bulk of the audience.
Plot:
Five years have passed since Freddy Krueger was seemingly defeated and the Walshes have moved into the Thompsons’ former home. Their teenaged son, Jesse, has a nightmare about being stranded on a school bus with two girls and being stalked by a violent killer. He wakes up in terror and attributes the dream to the unusual heat in the room. Jesse goes to school with his friend Lisa, whom he is interested in romantically, but is too shy to flirt with her.
After getting into a fight with a boy named Grady during gym class, Coach Schneider makes them stay after class and they eventually become friends. Lisa comes to visit Jesse after school and they discover a diary from Nancy Thompson detailing her nightmares which are strikingly similar to Jesse’s. Small fires happen around the house, which culminates in the spontaneous combustion of their pet birds. Jesse’s father accuses him of sabotage.
The following night, Jesse has a nightmare where he encounters Freddy Krueger, who tells Jesse to kill for him. The dreams grow more intense and Jesse attempts different measures to keep himself awake, none of which stop him from approaching his sleeping sister with a clawed glove…
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Reviews:
” … viewers who skip from part one to part three, as is a common recommendation, are missing out on one of the few slashers out there that shakes up the formula, and which offers spectacular dream sequences, impressive gore, and a phenomenal depiction of Freddy to boot. In spite of its faults, the movie should not be shunned from the Nightmare canon…” Brendan Morrow, Bloody Disgusting
A phallic snake…
“One thing’s for certain: after years of young women being chased and hunted down by hulking murderers in slasher movies, it was pretty bold for the second Nightmare film to introduce an entirely new scream queen. While it broke from the formula of the Nightmare series, it stands on its own as — what else? — a horror camp classic.” Tyler Coates, Decider
“Despite doing things differently, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge succeeds in giving us the following: A truly “dark” Freddy. Excellent musical score. Fantastic gore effects and makeup. A small tidbit of backstory about Freddy when he was alive, but not enough to kill the character. (That wouldn’t start until Part 3, and continue getting worse until 6). And can be seen as a metaphor for adolescent development regarding sexuality – very ahead of its time.” Furry Senpai
