A NIGHTMARE
ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE
CAST
Mark Patton, Hope Lange,
Robert Englund
DIRECTOR
Jack Sholder
YEAR OF
RELEASE
1985
This
sometimes scary, sometimes unworthy, somewhat
homoerotic first sequel in the Nightmare
series has it's ups and downs. It's about
Jesse, an akward teenager who suffers from
nightmares (suffers being the key word) and
who's family has unfortunately moved into the
Krueger house. It has the shadowyness of the
first film, but that's about it. In a unique
twist, Freddy isn't just trying to kill
Jesse- he wants to posess his body, using him
as his murderous tool. Which he succeeds at
several times; one such time is a great scene
in which Freddy leaves Jesse's body via a
bloody skin-shedding to terrorize a teenage
pool party. One such not-so-good scene is one
in which Jesse goes for a late-night stroll
into an S&M bar (?) where he finds his school
coach, dressed S&M and all (??) who makes
Jesse in turn run late night laps at school
(???). The coach is then attacked by tennis
balls (????) and slashed in the showers
(?????). Actually, Nightmare 2 is worth a
rent. It has scary moments and still feels
like a nightmare. It displays Freddy in that
low-lit, stranger-with-a-claw style that is
from the first one but disappears after this
one. Many people knock this one for not
making sense, but that kind of disorientation
is a film device that is implemented well in
horror, if not always intentionally. If you
do rent it, get the digitally remastered one,
unless you want to miss half the dialogue and
only barely see Freddy's crispy mug. By the
way- this movie gets 1 CAMP point for posssed
paraketes and killer jumping
ropes.
SHOCK/SUSPENSE
2
GORE
3
CAMP
1
OVERALL
3
