Title: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Year: 1985
Dir.: Jack Sholder
Producer(s): Robert Shaye
Writer(s): David Chaskin
Company: New Line Cinema

Starring: Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Englund, Robert Rusler, Clu Gulager and Hope Lange.

This movie.

This movie.

This fucking movie.

I’ll say this: I’ve grown to like the movie however it is not an immediate favorite out of the series. There are some redeeming qualities about the film, some iconic-ish moments and then moments of unintentional subtext which is probably why I like the film now than I did.

Let’s get the intro out of the way and get to the point of this movie. This is a direct sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street aka the film that built New Line or “the house that Freddy built”. It’s the film that gave the studio the green light to explore more opportunities and get new projects. Out of that comes a sequel that a) Wes Craven was not involved with and b) had a male protagonist and c) the idea of bringing Freddy into the real world aka messing up continuity and the rules established in the first film.

Freddy’s Revenge aka ANOES 2 is about our protagonist, Jesse, living in the former home of Nancy (from A Nightmare on Elm Street) and basically being hunted by Freddy Krueger. The plot seems simple enough, it should have stayed there and based around the house. I would enjoy that actually. However, we are getting a Freddy who underwent a bit of a change, I personally don’t mind the change. He looks more like a witch which I’m into it.

There are some pretty unique looking moments throughout the film which is done very well. I think the special effects are great as well. More physical than anything but nonetheless, still good SPX.

This is where I have a problem with this film. I wish the film was more about Jesse living in the house, perhaps Freddy is tormenting both he AND his sister, Freddy is tied to this house therefore he cannot leave and you’d have Lisa who can come in and try to help and still save the day. There’s so many ways this film could have gone and it didn’t.

And let’s get to the subtext. We all know what the subtext is geared towards, intentional or not but Jesse, surrounded by very masculine figures, and he’d rather hang out with a hot guy than the hot girl (Lisa), there’s a scene where he’s in a BDSM-esque club, his gym teacher finds him there and instead of calling the parents, you make him run laps at the school, pulling out ropes and then attacked by balls. And let’s not forget the coach’s murder scene in the shower, tied up, naked and whipped to death before clawed.

It’s interesting, I remember the subtext more than the actual plot of the movie.

The film feels more 80s which I’m trying to figure out how to express it in words. The sequel is more MTV-ish whereas the original (or first) is taken more seriously.

Then magically 4-6 is more pop culture/MTV driven to top it.

There’s a lot going for this film and there’s a lot working against the film. I didn’t take it as seriously as I do the first one or Dream Warriors or even New Nightmare but it’s not a bad installation into the franchise. It had big shoes to fill, for me, the film didn’t reach the shoes capacity. It also doesn’t help that the director had an ego problem that I never got over and… is he still working? Probably. Maybe. I don’t know!

Do you need to watch ANOES 2? Yes. But it is entertaining as fuck to watch.