A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 : Freddys Revenge

Enter the LaNd of your nightmares!

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 : Freddy's Revenge

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Reviewed by FreD

Directed by : Jack Sholder

year : 1985

Company : New Line Cinema

Tagline : He's back, but he's not happy!

Cast:

Robert Englund .... Freddy Krueger

Mark Patton .... Jesse Walsh

Kim Myers (I) .... Lisa Webber

Robert Rusler .... Ron Grady

Clu Gulager .... Ken Walsh

Hope Lange .... Cheryl Walsh

Marshall Bell .... Coach Schneider

Synopsis:

Our film opens during a nightmarish school bus ride, where we see Jesse Walsh, our hero ladies and gentlemen, looking very uncomfortable. It's turns out that it actually IS a nightmare, and the bus is being driven by everyone's favorite razor-fingered, dream stalking madman, Freddy Krueger. After some effective use of miniatures, Jesse wakes up screaming (which appears to be normal) and goes off to school with his female pal Lisa after a defensive breakfast.

At school, thing are a lot like they are at home, with Jesse on the receiving end of torment. From other students to his gym coach to his biology teacher, he's getting it from all ends (and not that way! even though the movie kind of suggests it....). After a fight during a baseball game with a student named Grady, the 2 bond during their punishment and become pals. Grady even tells Jesse the story of Nancy Thompson (at least the way the kids of that time saw it).

That night it's time for nightmare #2, as Jesse finds our pal Freddy in his basement and has a little chat with him ("You've got the body, and I've got the brains...").Freddy reveals his plan to Jesse, and then lets him go.

The next day at school, the torment continues. It pays off though, as Jesse ends up with a date with Lisa that night. Actually, it doesn't pay off, as his parents make him stay in to dance like a flamboyant homosexual...err...umm... I mean, clean his room.

Lisa comes over to lend a hand, and catches Jesse being his true, flamboyant self. She ignores this, and helps out anyway. She even finds Nancy's old dairy in the closet, which the 2 read and Lisa gets a kick out of, while it disturbs Jesse more than a little.

After some typical exposition, we head straight into nightmare #3. In this dream, Jesse finds Freddy's glove and is urged by our REAL hero to "try it on for size". It turns out that the really is in Jesse's house. Was it all a dream???

The next night, all is well in the Walsh household. By `well' I mean "disturbingly hot and with the family bird attacking its owners"(with a fiery climax). After yet another argument with Dad, Jesse runs to his room like a hurt little girl. Being distraught, Jesse goes for a walk in the rain, and ends up (coincidence?!?!?!?) at a Gay stud Leather S&M bar. His gym coach ends up being there as well and he makes Jesse go run laps in the school gym (note: Why, exactly, Jesse listened to him at this point is completely beyond me. Once 3 o'clock rolls around, teachers have no power over their students whatsoever).

While Jesse is in the locker room shower, nightmare #4 takes place, which involves Freddy stripping the gym coach, tying him up, and whipping him to death. Yes I realize what I just wrote and No, I'm not making it up. It really happened! The real question is "was it Freddy or was it Jesse"?

The next night, Jesse sees the infamous Jump Rope Girl in his house, which freaks him out enough to start asking questions. After some investigating, Jesse and Lisa get the full low-down on Freddy during a trip to the boiler room in which he worked while he was alive.

After a dream where he almost kills his sister, Jesse decides that he's had enough and officially stops sleeping. Good Idea. Will it work?

Flash to Lisa's Pool Party. Everyone's having a blast except for good ole Jesse. He wants to leave, but Lisa has other plans (tee hee, tee hee). After a botched (and hilarious) love scene in the pool house, Jesse runs away to Grady's house (man, he runs from a woman to a man. Once again, Coincidence?!?!?!?). Sadly, he falls asleep while he's there and (through a great special ef-x sequence) you know what that means...

After Grady's gory demise, Jesse runs back to Lisa's to ask for help. Unfortunately, Freddy takes over once again while he's there, and goes on a killing rampage amongst the partygoers.

After the carnage, Lisa runs out to find Jesse/Freddy, and a final conflict takes place in Freddy's real-life boiler room. Look forward to a messy conclusion and a "gut-wrenching" ending.

My Thoughts:

I think that this film gets a bad rap. A lot of people refer to it as the worst in the nightmare series, and I have to disagree (that honor goes to Freddy's Dead). It has good points and bad points. the good? Freddy. He's sick, twisted, and sadistic, just the way we love him. It's also quite dark and moody, which works really well for the film. The bad? Jesse, for one. Jesse is terrible. He's just a whiney closet homosexual that acts like a 6 year old girl. The director has been quoted as saying that he was looking for a pretty boy for the role. By pretty, did he mean flamboyantly gay? come on! Then again, the director also stated that the homo-erotic overtones in this film were unintentional. What?!?!?! Tying the gym coach up, Jesse's little song and dance number, the gay S&M bar? All of it unintentional? i think not. Another huge problem for me is that Freddy is out in the real world. He's just not as scary when kids twice his size are out there with him. It takes away from the mystic of the series. I guess the only other grip i have is Freddy's claw, or lack there-of. For some reason, the film-makers dcided that, instead of wearing his trademark be-clawed glove, that Freddy should just sprout the blades from his finger tips. *shakes head*. I can't explain it so I'm not even gonna try. Still, this film has it's good points and is worth a watch or 2.

Final Thoughts:

When I first saw this film, I didn't dig it at all. Basically, it annoyed me. This being said, it has grown on me quite a bit since then. It's absolutely not the worst film ever made, heck, it's not even the worst in the "Nightmare" series. Do yourself a favor and check it out, but be prepared to hate your "hero"

3 out of 5 stars