I will start out by saying that I am a huge fan of the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. I happen to think that it is one of the greatest slasher films ever created. A strong heroine, a terrifying villain, and an intriguing concept make the film worlds better than your standard 1980’s slasher flick. As for the sequel, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge”, well…it’s…umm…interesting.

The film has a teenage boy named Jesse Walsh and his family moving into Nancy Thompson’s old house on Elm Street. Within days of moving in, young Jesse begins to have horrific nightmares – ones that feature a burned man in a dirty red & green sweater, with knives on the fingers of his right hand. His neighbor & new sweetheart, Lisa, discovers the truth behind Fred Krueger and his horrible murder spree. Freddy vows to take over Jesse’s body to continue his vile crimes against the Elm Street residents. Soon, those closest to Jesse start dying violently. Will Lisa’s love for Jesse be enough to help him overpower the demonic presence inside him? Or will Freddy get what he wants to become Jesse and live on in the real world.

For those of you who haven’t seen this film, I don’t really know what to say besides the fact that it is very, very homoerotic. From the gym coach that Jesse finds at a gay bar (???) while sleepwalking to the gym coaches’ bondage death to the love scene between Jesse and Lisa in which Jesse can’t “perform”. Everything about this movie screams gay…and I haven’t seen talked about the dancing bedroom cleaning scene. It’s all funny, campy, over-the-top and “oh so 80’s”. haha

But the problem with Nightmare 2 isn’t its gay themes, it’s the fact that it breaks too many of the rules laid out by the original. Why would Freddy want to be in the real world when the real world is the only thing that can kill him? How does Freddy make the parakeet explode if no one is dreaming? It doesn’t make scene. I will give this film some credit. The imagery is imaginative, the acting solid, and Freddy is pretty damn scary. It just doesn’t feel like a Nightmare movie. This is both it’s greatest weakness and it’s greatest fault.

Buy it here: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 – Freddy’s Revenge