A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

Rating

Director

Jack Sholder

Screenplay

David Chaskin

Length

87 min.

Starring

Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler, Clu Gulager, Hope Lange, Marshall Bell, Melinda O. Fee, Thom McFadden, Sydney Walsh, Robert Englund, Christie Clark, Jonathan Hart

MPAA Rating

R

Review

When I was a more impressionable child, most horror series were considered to have at least one thoroughly pointless and out of place sequel. Halloween diverted from Michael Myers for its third version and A Nightmare on Elm Street launched Freddy’s Revenge.

Looking back at the film with fresh eyes more than fifteen years after first seeing it, I’m impressed with how much better it has aged than Halloween III. At the time, Elm Street 5 was about to make its way to the cineplex, so we had two films that directly followed the same storyline to appreciate and color our opinion of the stepchild of the series.

Freddy’s Revenge was a departure from the first film in a number of ways. Gone were all the remnants of the original. Even the house on Elm Street had been repainted. A new family had moved into 1428 Elm and they weren’t even related to the families who torched child murderer Fred Krueger. It was the house that acted as a conduit for Freddy’s reemergence through young Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton).

The story goes that Freddy, unable to find a way into the minds of the teenagers who now resided on that street, he needed someone pliable to manipulate. Unlike his original version, Freddy was able to control those who fell asleep and use them to kill for him. The entire concept was abandoned in future films, but managed to form the foundation for the second film.

Once again, the teenagers slowly learn who this monster is and what they are up against. The film doesn’t make much for originality in the murders, as most of the deaths are part-and-parcel for the genre. Krueger doesn’t achieve true originality until the third pic.

Director Jack Sholder had one tantalizing credit to his name at the time he directed Freddy’s Revenge. The Jack Palance/Donald Pleasance/Martin Landau film Alone in the Dark seemed like an interesting concept, but when looking at Freddy’s Revenge and Sholder’s later credits, it’s hard to imagine a less interesting director.

It was also evident that David Chaskin didn’t have a reverential love for the series when he penned his debut script. The film is a carbon copy of horror sequels and never really strikes out on its own, though it does establish Krueger as the wise-cracking killer he later became.

These kinds of films hardly have performances worth watching and most of the cast deliver their lines with all the emotion of a newspaper but Patton was at least interesting to watch. His slow descent into madness as he realizes Freddy’s intentions is effective and he delivers a far more sure-footed performance than any of his contemporaries.

The film’s high body count distinguishes it from the other films in the franchise. In all of the other flicks, the deaths were far more devious and tied to the characters themselves. Freddy’s slashing razors are mechanical and impersonal like the film itself.

That A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge survives better on later viewings doesn’t mean that it’s much of an improvement. The film still manages to veer off the formula in ways that grate on the nerves of series fans, but its very existence isn’t as puzzling as it was once believed to be.

Review Written

September 5, 2007