I have a thing for older horror films, I grew up in the 1980s and it has been a goal to see as much horror as possible. Expect a good amount of Retro Reviews from me.
Let us go back in time, way back to sometime either 1985 or 1986. This was when my life as a horror film lover began. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 Freddy’s Revenge was the first horror film I sat through and watched the entire movie. It may have been the first non-Star Wars movie I watched to the end. I remember my mom and I watching HBO and she fell asleep on the couch, leaving 5 year old me sitting and watching the world premiere of Freddy’s Revenge. I really enjoyed watching the movie and it did scare the 5 year old me. I was greeted with a treat, when Freddy’s Revenge ended, HBO played the original movie. It was so great and that one scared the hell out of me. Watching these two movies set me off into the path I have followed since. I love horror because of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
This one is not great, over the years, I have grown to realize this movie is not too good. I think nostalgia kept me thinking Freddy’s Revenges was a good movie. It is not terrible but, if I would have wanted to follow up an amazing horror movie, this would not be the way. Dream Warriors is the obvious choice, but Freddy’s Revenge is good to put some space between the first and Dream Warriors. But still, it almost works as a haunted house/possession film and again, this is really never re-visited in the series. I prefer Freddy haunting people’s dreams and killing them, rather than having someone kill for Freddy. In the early days of this series, why change. The studio noticed it didn’t work and returned to formula.
One thing about this that I did not get until I was older, how homosexual…I not sure how to say it. But there was some really gay themes in the movie and Mark Patton(Jesse) himself is gay. Not that there is a problem with that, I thought it was just me that noticed this, but there is an article I read that confirmed this on many different websites. Then, the amazing documentary, Never Sleep Again, the cast and crew talk about the how “gay” the movie actually is. To top it off my brother, who is gay, made fun of me for not noticing when we were children. I guess I am blind to that, I saw it for what it was, a horror movie. I still enjoy this, not matter how bad or gay or whatever. I really look forward to Mark Patton’s documentary, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street, which has been funded by Kickstarter. I would one day like to meet Mark Patton, he was the first Scream Queen I have ever enjoyed!
You gotta love when the film takes a break to follow Jesse as he cleans up his bedroom and does a little dance. Who doesn’t love this scene.
Joking aside, this movie is not terrible as I have said. It is an interesting chapter in the Nightmare series and not one to skip. Really this is not the worst film in the series, that may actually belong to Freddy’s Dead: the Final Nightmare. Out of eight films with Freddy, I would put this ahead of Dream Child and Freddy’s Dead, possibly Freddy vs Jason. If for some reason you missed this one or have not seen it again, check it out. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is on Netflix now.
IMDB.com gives Freddy’s Revenge a 5.4 and I give it a 5.2.
