Jesse's Homoerotic Inclinations

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Let's get something straight: I am big fan of Freddy Krueger. I know it is politically incorrect to like a talon-gloved, burn-scarred child murderer but at least he has some wit (unlike the robotic Jason Voorhees). Of all the "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, "Part 2: Freddy's Revenge" is the most abominable. Sure, it is dark and contains some clever moments, but it misses the mark on developing any empathetic characters or any real story sense.

This time, a family moves into the old Elm Street house where our heroine, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), last defeated Freddy Krueger in her dreamworld. Jesse (Mark Patton) is the new kid on the block - little does he know that a boiler room is in his house! His father (Clu Culager) orders his son to clean his room of all moving boxes - he better or else he won't be able to hang out with major babelicious student, Lisa (Kim Myers), whom he knows from the local high school. One night, however, Jesse confronts Freddy, who merely takes over Jesse's body so he can kill more high-school teenagers on Elm Street. Jesse slowly loses his mind, sleeping in class and inadvertently showing his bum during gym practice. A huge barbecue/pool party at Lisa's house results in mayhem, including a boiling hot swimming pool! Jesse even attends an S&M bar where his leather-clad gym coach (Marshall Bell) is seen (no Amazon.com gift cards to anyone who guesses that the coach will get his just desserts). A nearly naked Jesse is later returned to his parents by the police! And there are strange goings-on at the house on 1428 Elm Street including exploding parakeets, unplugged toaster ovens that shoot flames, and Jesse's dad making accusations that his son is taking drugs!

"Nightmare 2" is fairly rudimentary horror, traveling the same path as the classic original minus a worthwhile protagonist. In the original, Nancy was a real, three-dimensional human being who was confronting detached parents, a peeping tom for a boyfriend, as well as evil dreams with Freddy. Here, Jesse is nothing more than a troubled kid with baleful eyes - I would not want to see this guy in a dark alley. Thus, it is hard to care for Jesse and his plight. Kim Myers is cute as the typical girlfriend, though her one inventive characteristic is that she assumes Jesse has clairvoyant capabilities. Clu Culager steals the show as Jesse's father, though why anyone would think that their own son would place a firecracker in a parakeet's mouth is beyond comprehension.

As always, Robert Englund makes for an intense Freddy Krueger, devoid of much of the humor of later entries. Fire seems to be the major special-effect, and homoeroticism runs rampant throughout. Yet with an unsympathetic protagonist and unbelievable lapses in dream logic, "Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2" is simply an unscary run-of-the-mill slasher picture.