Growing up, whenever I chatted about Elm Street with other horror loving folks, Freddy’s Revenge was always something we skipped over during a marathon. If you’re too naïve to notice the gay tone, there isn’t shit going on in this one. A majority of it is duller than reading the fine print on a bottle of Hypnocil. By the time things pick up, you just wanna tell this film it’s too little too late like Jojo.
Now with the homoerotic influence front and center, Freddy’s Revenge has a pinch of redemption to it. It’s like suddenly detecting a spice in a bland recipe.
The evil glare of monsters: Dracula (1931), Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985), Creepshow (1982). I can Film Twitter too.
Freddy’s Revenge follows Jesse moving into Nancy’s old place 5 years after her friends became shish kebab on Krueger’s claw. While his family sits around sweating because Clu Gulager refuses to be cucked by another man checking his AC unit, Freddy possesses Jesse’s body to carve up more Springwood citizens. Eventually he finds a way to leave Jesse’s body and pile up corpses himself in the real world.
If you’re wondering if this horror film is gay trust me, it gets the James Whale stamp of authenticity. We’re barely into it when Ron pulls down Jesse’s shorts before these two wrestle around for all to see, including this film’s kinky S&M coach.
Credit where credit’s due, NOES 2 gave the gay community some great spank bank material when that shit was hard to come by. On top of this erotic rough housing moment, the first kill is a stimulating set piece with a man’s bare ass being towel whipped until his cheeks bleed. Instead of having to rent Rebel Without A Cause and imagining what James Dean and Sal Mineo would do if that fucking beard Natalie Wood wasn’t in the way, the gay community circa 1985 had some great visuals to polish the bishop to.
This seems like a great time to mention the fact that Springwood apparently has a gay S&M bar?!? It’s mentioned early on when Ron brings up how the coach has allegedly been seen there and later on Jesse visits this underground joint. I wonder if this place really exists in this fictional town or not. Springwood is such a small town and this side of the movie is reminiscent of Stephen King’s It when they’re talking about a gay bar in town where a leather stud walks around with his arm lubed up to his elbow that turns out to be bullshit.
Outside of the ahead of its time gay tone, boy this one drags ass. The NOES franchise is all about making your mind explode with weird visuals and compared to most entries, this one is the least impressive. So much of this one is Jesse’s family sitting around the house complaining how it’s hotter than a nun’s loins during the Easter production. At one point the big set piece is a pissed off parakeet terrorizing a family before exploding into a fireball. Pretty fucking dull compared to what you usually see in this franchise.
It isn’t until the last 20-30 minutes when this film really picks up with Freddy terrorizing a teen pool party and crazy visuals like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers dogs and a rat being devoured by an even bigger rat.
The way Freddy’s killed in this one might be the fucking worst while oddly enough also being cool?
This is the one where Freddy’s killed with love and a kiss. In the dumbest moment you can witness outside of Freddy’s Dead, Krueger is on his knees in pain from Lisa the beard publicly announcing her love for Jesse. He’s defeated as his warehouse goes up in flames when Lisa kisses pizza face on his charcoal lips. There have been many attempts to defeat Freddy, this is possibly the most embarrassing.
But, going back to being ahead of its time, this ridiculous moment is somewhat redeeming when you see it’s Jesse being the damsel in distress and the girl being the one who rescues him.
On the surface NOES 2: Freddy’s Revenge is one of the most boring sequels to have ever been made. The follow up to a visually creative and gore soaked film like NOES had a lot to live up to. Having little to no surreal visuals and only one corpse during the first hour is disappointing. This film redeems itself when you take in how it’s unapologetically gay at a time when AIDS was still referred to as GRIDS and most Americans joined Ronald and Nancy by turning their backs on this community.
Even with the redeeming politics, the first hour’s an uphill climb and the last 20-30 minutes barely makes up for it. It’s an acceptable viewing experience to maybe revisit every 5-10 years.
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