In comparison to Wes Craven's groundbreaking original, A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge is pretty uninspired stuff. The characters, and the actors playing them, are bland. Freddy's nasty, perhaps the meanest he'll get to be until Craven himself returned to the franchise, but his presence isn't as keenly felt in this first sequel. Worst of all the dreamscape moments and death scenes are weak, unimaginative and utterly tame in the context of the rest of the franchise. In one sequence a hard nosed gym coach is assaulted by an assortment of sports balls. Boo hoo hoo!
On the plus side, the central concept is different enough to make this follow up worth while; instead of trying to kill the kids of Elm Street in their dreams, Freddy attempts to demonically possess a hapless teen so he can go on a killing spree, while the lad is sleepwalking. The other thing of note is the strong gay subtext that's interwoven throughout the script. The studio, the director and his cast were apparently unaware of the meaning written into this franchise entry, but when alerted to its inclusion, the the theme of homosexuality is hard to ignore. It's about a 'confused' teen who's torn between his female friend and his buff, best pal. Oh, and it has dialogue like, "Fred Krueger! He's inside me, and he wants to take me again!". Nuf said.
Not a bad film, and not a significant entry into the Nightmare film series. But a curious addition indeed.
1 comment:
This is forgettable tosh...but amusing forgettable tosh. The possession angle is intersting and Freddy is pretty darn nasty and hasn't yet descended in to camp one liners. I also like the more demonic Freddy make-up better than the wrinkly pizza face he got later on. But it is the gay subtext that is most entertaining. In fact, it ain't really subtext at all as it is pretty bloody obvious. Oh, and that shitty exploding bird is kinda funny too.
Post a Comment