Freddy's Revenge

As it turns out, I hadn't actually watched Nightmare On Elm Street #2. The original is, obviously, a classic, but the follow up is a bit confounding. It's called Freddy's Revenge, but I'm not too sure where the revenge part comes into play. Like, I can't even be certain who Freddy is reaping revenge on. After all, not one character from the first movie actually appears in this follow-up.

Here's a brief rundown of the plot. New kid in town Jesse is living in Nancy's old house (five years after Johnny Depp died), sleeping in her old room, and soon is visited by her old pal Freddy. Except, in this one, Fred isn't only causing kids to have sleepless nights, he's trying to take over Jesse's body. Why? I'm not sure. And I can't really give you much more, since it isn't explained or developed very well. In fact, all I can surmise is the film was only created to ride on the coattails of the first Elm Street and cash in on the success of the leading man with knives for fingers.

It isn't all bad. There are some gory scenes, though a shockingly low body count, and some great one-liners. The issue is, it isn't clear what's going on. Furthermore, the lead character is so annoying all you want is to watch him die from the get-go. Sounds mean, doesn't it? But he's incredibly whiny! And can't seem to pull the trigger with his girlfriend. I get it, it's hard enough being the new guy in town without having Freddy Kruger's tongue make an appearance when you're kissing your girlfriend.

If there is one redeemable part of this locomotive that runs off the rails, it's the parents. They are delightfully old and think Jesse is on drugs (how cliched!). At one point, the father says, "Jesse doesn't need a psychiatrist, he needs a methadone clinic."

After I watched the movie, I took a look online to see if I missed something important (like the entire plot) and found myself knee deep in articles talking about the homoeroticness of the film, another thing I happened to miss. Apparently, people consider the movie to have a bisexual theme and that Jesse manifested Freddy in response to repressing his homosexuality. If that isn't a reason to come out of the closet, I don't know what is! All jokes aside, I think people dig too deeply into the 'meaning' of things. Sometimes there isn't anything beneath the surface. Personally, I don't think the movie intentionally had homosexual themes, even if that's how it seemed in the end.

Tons of laughs, for sure, but it's definitely one of the most confusing horror movies of the eighties.