Ah, the first sequel in the series, and a film that could have inspired two or three Carol Clover dissertations. This is the film that puts the "sub" in subtext. It's got it all: a teenager torn between his attraction to his best friend and peer pressure telling him to stay with his willing girlfriend; a gym teacher who frequents leather bars; an exploding bird. Really, it's everything you might want in an '80s horror movie, as long as you don't want it to be a legitimate sequel to the first flick. Yes, we're looking at
A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge.
Concept: Five years after the events of the first movie, a new family has moved into the same house, and Jesse, the teenaged son, is very, very confused about his sexuality. He's an outsider at school, he's the mark of the school jock and the gym teacher, and he's been having these strange dreams about a man in a funny sweater. Soon, he discovers the diary of the girl who used to live in his house, and realizes that the guy in his dreams is Freddy Krueger. But Freddy seems to be influencing Jesse's life, as he wakes up in strange places (like a biker bar, his little sister's room, and the back of a Volkswagon). And, even worse, bad things are starting to happen to people near Jesse. Really bad things. Can the love of a good woman save him from this terrible evil?
Kills: At least seven, probably more. This is Freddy's most prolific performance, although, like Jason's in the crossover, it's helped by a large massacre scene.
Really Bad Kills: None, really.
Really Good Kills: None here, either. Things are pretty straightforward here.
Freddy's Quips: Although this movie is from before the wisecracking era of Freddy, he still gets some great lines, mostly on the strength of Englund's always wonderful delivery. "Daddy can't help you now," is the standout line. But seeing Freddy say, "you've got the body; I've got the brain," as he rips open his own skull open is a classic moment. And, of course, Freddy's appearance near the end gives us the great line, "you are all my children now."
Notable Celebrities: Jesse's manly rival/best friend/victim, Ron Grady, is played by none other than Robert Rusler, the doomed Keffler during season 2 of Babylon 5. Jesse's parents are played by character actor extraordinaire Clu Gulager and Emmy-winner and Oscar-nominee Hope Lange. Christie Clark, who played little sister Angela, went on to have a pretty long run as Carrie on
Days of Our Lives.
Denouement: After massacring a bunch of kids at Lisa's pool party, Freddy vanishes in a puff of
logic fire. Lisa tracks him down at the old factory, where she confronts Freddy in Jesse's body, and saves him by showing him what the love of a good woman can do. Seriously. She confronts Freddy (after he chases her for a bit, of course), tells him that she loves Jesse and isn't afraid of Freddy, and (to ice the cake), kisses Freddy. And behold, the kiss of a woman saves Jesse. Freddy starts burning up, as all this straight action purges him from Jesse's body. As the flames die down, Jesse emerges from the ashes of Freddy, like a Phoenix. The next day, on the schoolbus, we get a replica of the ending of the first movie, with Freddy emerging from Lisa's body and driving off with Jesse and company into the dreamworld.
Miscellany: Director Jack Sholder, possibly the best known director from the category "directors whose names are misspelled body parts," also gave us
The Hidden and
Wishmaster 2. Screenwriter David Chaskin matters even less in the scheme of things, having only produced one movie -- the guilty pleasure
I, Madman -- worth mentioning.
The timeline for the Freddy movies gets a little confusing here. The movie is supposed to take place five years after the first one, but it was only made one year later. Which means that the events are either really happening in 1990, or the first movie happened in 1980. No bid deal, but worth noting.
To this date, I've not seen anything resembling a good explanation for the exploding bird (or, more importantly, the lack of any real concern about it).
Overall: I'm not only struck by how layered the psychosexual aspects of this movie are, but how much of it I missed when I saw on the big screen. Granted, I was all of twelve when it came out, but the themes aren't exactly subtle. Jesse (note the androgynous name) is clearly struggling with the fact that he's gay, and an outcast at school. His attraction to Ron (which is unquestionably mutual) grows as Freddy (representative of the foreign homosexual feelings) takes over his life more and more, but Freddy also serves as his protector from embracing those feelings, as he's the vehicle through which Jesse kills his gym coach, and later slaughters Ron as well. That said, there's no question that Freddy represents the gay side of Jesse. At the party, when Jesse and Lisa start getting busy and Lisa removes her shirt, it's Freddy's tongue that comes out of Jesse's mouth, preventing him from engaging in any heterosexual fun, and driving him to the waiting arms of Ron. And later, after Ron's death, when she's there to comfort him, Freddy explodes from him, and attacks the party full of randy heterosexual teens. Only her expression of true, hetero love at the end is enough to convince Freddy to abandon Jesse, but even then, Jesse's inner homosexuality exerts itself at the end. The moral: Repression is bad, yo.
Anyway, the fact that this is one of only three NoeS movies that actually can be analyzed on any level gives it serious props. Fans of the series (Englund included) gripe that it isn't in continuity, but, frankly, that's a retcon issue. At the time, Freddy didn't have a defined set of powers, so nothing seemed off, in terms of the actual dream events. Sure, this was less about Freddy the Child Killer than it was about Freddy the stand-in for Jesse's sexuality, but it still makes for an interesting view. The real problem is that A) lead actor Mark Patton is just terrible, and B) the movie just wanders all over the place, with crap like the randomly exploding bird, or the scene in which Jesse wakes up to find he's been stalking his sister (if you're going to throw an incest theme in there, do it right, not just half-assed). If you don't view this expecting the wisecracking gimmicky Freddy most people know and love, and can forgive the usual issues with '80s teen movies aging poorly, this is a damned interesting movie to watch.
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