It has been 40 years since the theatrical release of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge”, which now has a brand new 4K version, along with the other films in the series (without the maligned 2010 reboot). It is one film which has been examined, dissected and analyzed so many times, what is there left to say? There are actually some things!
Yes, at this point, we all know and recognize the film’s homosexual themes. What was once an aspect that made this an entry in the series that some fans wanted to ignore, well, it’s now the same reasons why it’s so celebrated.
For those unfamiliar with the plot of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge“: a new family moves into the house once lived in by the hero of the first film, Nancy Thompson. Freddy Krueger, still lurking on Elm Street, sees a vulnerable young man in the form of Jesse, played by Mark Patton. Freddy doesn’t just haunt Jesse’s dreams; instead, Freddy uses Jesse as a conduit to manifest himself (against what might manifest himself). supernatural powers are meant to be).
“Over the years, Jack has distanced himself, a little bit, from the fact that it’s the gay horror movie,” Robert Englundthe man who played Freddy Krueger in seven “A Nightmare on Elm Street” films, told IndieWire during a recent interview. Englund talked about the director of the second installment, Jack Sholder, who took over directorial duties from Wes Craven for the first sequel.
Now, what Englund said was once a correct statement. 2019 documentary “Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street” from co-directors Roman Chimienti and Tyler Jensen chronicles Mark Patton’s relationship with the film: being a gay man in the 1980s, trying to navigate a Hollywood that warned him not to let anyone know he’s gay, and then realizing he’s starring in a gay horror movie that basically ended his career as a leading man.
Sholder appeared in the documentary and seemed more confused by all of this than anything else. In his interviewshe seems just catch up with the fact that not only is the film considered an iconic gay horror film, but it had also undergone a positive reappraisal. (I was unable to find contact information for Mark Patton’s representative. I found an email address I believe belongs to Patton and sent it a note, but it went unanswered.)
“Jack is an editor and he can edit for himself,” Englund said. “But when Jack shot the movie, I think he was preoccupied with budget and directing young actors. So I don’t think Jack, on a day-to-day basis, was involved in enhancing any of the subtext, gay or otherwise. He was just trying to get his day done.”
Chimienti and Jensen’s documentary focused on the 30th anniversary of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge,” just as horror fans were starting to watch it. Now, ten years later, the film is considered a great horror film, with interesting and unique themes to boot. And Sholder seems to agree with this assessment.
“At the time, 10 years ago, people didn’t like the movie,” Sholder said. “It’s the ugly stepchild. It broke the rules. It didn’t fit in with the others. Freddy comes out into the real world.” As for what his relationship with the film used to be, “It wasn’t a deeply personal film for me. ‘Elm Street 2’ was one-third Wes, one-third David Chaskin, who was the writer, and one-third me.”
I asked Sholder if he has now rediscovered the film as well, as so many fans have. Sholder said bluntly, “Yes, I have.” He added, “I’ve been reflecting a lot more. I’ve been thinking a lot more about ‘Elm Street’ than I had.”
Themes aside (for now), the second installment “Elm Street,” as Sholder pointed out, was criticized for breaking the rules of what Freddy Krueger can do. A dream-haunting villain who now only kills people in the real world doesn’t make him much different than a Michael Myers or a Jason Voorhees. But “Elm Street 2” doesn’t get enough credit for what it is did bridge between the first and third films.
For one, bringing back Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. This seems preposterous now, but it wasn’t a given at the time, as Freddy wasn’t considered the star – to the point that his image isn’t even on the poster. And Sholder wanted to update Freddy’s look and voice, which remained throughout the rest of the series.
“People ask if I was nervous to follow in Wes’ footsteps, I said not at all,” Sholder said. “First of all, I didn’t think it was a masterpiece and I thought I could make a better movie. It was my attitude. Whether I did it or not, I don’t know. They said Freddy would be scary. They didn’t like the makeup from the original movie, so I found Kevin Yeager, who was going to art school, as opposed to a kid who’s done every number of ‘Fangori’ that he’s done makeup and Robert for all the other movies and we’ve also messed with his voice in the mix to get that voice.
Sholder also wanted the second film to be more fun, which became a hallmark of the series going forward. “Wes didn’t have a great sense of humor,” he said. “He wasn’t exactly the life of the party. And I have a good sense of humor.” (At one point in the film, a Freddy Krueger-possessed bird explodes in flames, which is both hilarious and awesome.)
As for Sholder’s direction of Englund as Krueger? “I just let him do his thing. So he did his thing.”
“I remember talking to Mark and Jack about a scene when I wanted to play with Mark’s mouth,” Englund said. “And we did it several different ways. I circled his lips. I taunted him. I think I almost kissed him once, like the kiss of death. I think I put one of my blades in his mouth once, which is overtly sexual. I remember asking Mark if it was OK to touch him here and he was like, yeah, go for it. It was like it was really intimate, Jack, but Jack, think about it. The consequences.”
Sholder said the test screening for “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge” came back with a pretty obvious problem: It wasn’t scary. It is type a problem for a horror film.
Sholder said the resolution moved an important death to earlier in the film. Originally, the gruesome death of Coach Schneider (Marshall Bell) after a night out at an S&M bar was supposed to happen at the end of the second act. Putting it at the beginning of the second act raised the stakes for the film, giving the film a more creepy atmosphere, as we have now seen real consequences.
A big reason for this movie Now works so well is the performance of Mark Patton. Yes, as he’s been pretty clear about, he’s gotten a lot of grief for “Freddy’s Revenge” over the years, but this movie doesn’t click without him.
Robert Englund recalled: “I had seen Mark Patton in (Robert Altman’s) ‘Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.’ I saw him on stage and I saw the movie. He was absolutely wonderful. A beautiful young man. He had that wonderful androgynous beauty that James Dean had. So I knew they were playing with that. Jack obviously cast him knowing that. Jack’s no fool.”
“The reason I cast Mark was because he had a vulnerability that none of the other actors had,” Sholder said. “There are rumors, which are completely untrue, that Brad Pitt auditioned for the role. He absolutely did not. But if he had and I cast him? The movie wouldn’t have worked.”
In fact, Sholder credited Patton with the film’s recent rediscovery. “Mark actually championed the movie. He was out there on social media and he got a lot of crap from people,” he said.
So why the face from Sholder on “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge?” Why has he given it much more thought now? Sholder was asked by Warner Bros. to directly participate in its restoration and processing of a brand new 4k scan of the negatives. He finally got the look of the film and the sound mix of the film that he originally envisioned. The film was originally mixed in mono – at the time New Line wasn’t about to spend money on a stereo mix – but international markets received a music and effects track with no dialogue. This was made into a proper modern Dolby Atmos mix.
Sholder said, “That stupid sequence with the bird? “Now it’s like the damn ‘Birds.’ (For the record, and all due respect to Jack Sholder, the scene with the possessed bird exploding isn’t stupid, it rules.)
Spending so much time recently with “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge,” Sholder has had a complete change of heart. “I’m really happy that people are reevaluating it that way. I’ve seen a lot of people for whom this film has a lot of extra meaning and it means a lot to them,” he said.
So, what does the future hold for Freddy Krueger? It’s pretty wild that there hasn’t been a new “Nightmare on Elm Street” movie in 15 years now. Englund thinks he knows why. “There are so many people involved who have a piece of the plot,” he said. “When Wes passed away, he left an awful lot of rights to his estate. He has many, many rights that he worked out between character titles and names and plot and stuff. New Line Cinema obviously has a big hand in that. And a lot of it was handed over to Ted Turner, and then went to Warner Bros. So Warner Bros. has a lot of interest in Michael Bay and I’ve been involved in some of that as well.”
Englund doesn’t necessarily blame the poorly received 2010 reboot. He just thinks it came out a little too early. “I think the remake was premature. I love a lot of the actors in the movie, so I’m not going to say anything bad about it, I just think the timing was off,” he said. Englund went out of his way to praise how great Rooney Mara was in that movie and what a great actor he thinks Jackie Earle Haley is — Englund is a big fan of Haley in “Breaking Away.”
If it were up to Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger himself, how would he feel about the series going forward? As you might expect, he had some thoughts.
“I know eventually they’re going to reboot the franchise. And I think they can do part 2 as a standalone and really get into the subtext of Freddy manipulating Jesse and playing with his subconscious,” Englund said. “My theory would be that you don’t get anywhere near ‘Nightmare 1’ again. You either do a prequel or start with ‘Dream Warriors,’ which is the biggest success of the franchise and a fan favorite. So I’d do 3, 4 and 5. I’d reboot them. And then, to end the franchise, I’d do the prequel.”
Hopefully we’ll all have Freddy Krueger back in our lives (and dreams) very soon.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street” 7-Film 4K UHD Collection is now in stores.
