September 2, 2018
Written by: David Chaskin
Starring: Robert Englund, Mark Patton, Kim Myers
Budget: $3,000,000
Tagline: Someone is coming back to Elm Street
Trivia: This film is famous for having undertones and themes that many perceive as homoerotic, and the events of the film are often seen as an allegory for Jesse's closeted homosexuality. While the makers of the film initially denied that this subtext was intentional, Screenwriter David Chaskin eventually admitted that the subtext was intentionally written into the script, in order to give the characters more depth.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, the often overlooked Freddy film. What makes it so overlooked is that it is missing the gifted directing and writing of Wes Craven that the first film had and it also lacks the silly and fun goofiness of the later Nightmare films. It is neither scary nor funny. Instead what we're left with is a watered down version of the first movie that is completely forgettable. I really hate to agree with People magazine of all things, but it really is a "tedious, humorless mess."
The movie takes place five years after the original. In the film we learn that the mom from the original committed suicide (was that what that was when Freddy pulled her through the door window) and Nancy is now committed in a mental institution (what about the car at the end...?). A family moves into Nancy's old house and the son becomes possessed by Freddy Kreuger who has him go out and kill for him. It's basically turned into a haunted house possession movie instead of a murderous pedophile getting revenge on the kids who killed him. It's weird to think of Freddy as a pedophile since he was everyone in the 1980s selling pizzas and shoes. It was probably wise for the producers to distance him from that part of his character and just make him silly. Bad puns sell pizzas easier than pedophilia.
Anyways, the new family has a son named Jesse who has a crush on a girl named Lisa (you're tearing me apart!) and becomes friends with a tough guy named Grady. Jesse and Lisa find Nancy's diary in the house which chronicles her Freddy nightmares that she was having. Jesse immediately recognizes her nightmares as some of the same ones he was having. After this it's a bunch of nightmares that blend with reality. People die and Jesse is left holding Freddy's glove or with blood on him. Did Freddy kill them? Did Jesse? Who cares.
In one odd plot choice, Jesse wanders into a gay bar where he is caught by his gym teacher (who is played by the guy from Total Recall that had Quato living in his stomach), who is in his leather daddy attire, and takes Jesse back to the gym to run laps, alone. Just the two of them at midnight. Remember, this guy is his teacher, who has now taken him to the gym to run for him. If that wasn't weird enough, the coach then order him to take a shower. Luckily Freddy (or Jesse) kills the coach before he has a chance to diddle the kid or complete whatever weirdness was going to transpire.
Later, there is a pool party at Lisa's. Alright, this scene is pretty great. Her parents DJ the party at first, but after a cocktail or two mom is getting horny so she, not so subtly, lets the kids know she is going upstairs to bang Lisa's dad, to which the kids immediately turn up the rock 'n' roll and bring out the beer. Teenage beer drinking party, hell yeah! While upstairs Lisa kisses Jesse which makes him turn into Freddy. What finally takes down Freddy is Lisa facing her fear of going to the boiler room and kissing Freddy which causes Jesse to fight his way out of him. It's a lame and anticlimactic ending.
There is a lot to be disappointed about in this film, not least the casting and acting. But I think what really made the film disappointed is that I have seen A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, 4, and 5 and this film does not fit into the overall narrative of the film which makes it seem more like a spinoff than a sequel. Also, the weird sexual energy in this film seems so misplaced. Lastly, it is missing the two elements that make the A Nightmare on Elm Street films so beloved: scares and laughs. The film is not scary. The horror moments are clunky and the plot focuses more on Jesse's mental stability, a character that is hard to care about. And there are no laughs, no intentional ones anyways. It's possible that if this film came out more recently it could garner a midnight movie cult following like The Room has done. I could see people shouting out the dialogue at the screen and imitating the movie in the aisles. Alas, it was never recognized as such and has gone down as the bastard stepchild of the franchise.
It grossed $30,000,000, ten times its cost, so what do I know?
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