A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

a nightmare on elm street part 2: freddy's revenge (1985) movie

Genre              |   Horror

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   87 minutes

Released         |   1 November 1985

cast

Robert Englund ... Fred Krueger
Mark Patton ... Jesse Walsh
Kim Myers ... Lisa Webber
Robert Rusler ... Ron Grady
Marshall Bell ... Coach Schneider
Clu Gulager ... Mr. Walsh
​Hope Lange ... Mrs. Walsh

director

Jack Sholder

writer

​David Chaskin ... (written by)
 
Wes Craven ... (characters)

cinematographer

​Jacques Haitkin
Christopher Tufty

music

Christopher Young ​

film editor

​Bob Brady
Arline Garson

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​29,999,213

Australia                 $​​​​​ not available

North America       $​​​​​​​​29,999,213

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movie minutiae

​New Line Cinema originally refused to give Robert Englund a pay raise, and an extra was cast as Freddy at the start of production. After two weeks of filming, Robert Shaye realized this was a terrible lapse in judgment, and met Englund's demands.

Wes Craven refused to work on this film because he never wanted or intended to have A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) become an ongoing franchise (and even wanted the first film to have a happy ending). He also didn't like the idea of Freddy manipulating the protagonist into committing the murders.

​The sequence where Freddy terrorizes the pool party was viewed by the cast, crew, and many fans as the most nonsensical scene in the movie. It was believed that it broke the rules set forth by Wes Craven in the first film, namely because Freddy was attacking people while they were awake.

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related movies

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS (1987)

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985) MOVIE IMAGES

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A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) moves with his family into the home of the lone survivor from a series of attacks by dream-stalking monster Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). There, Jesse is bedeviled by nightmares and inexplicably violent impulses. It turns out Freddy needs a host body to carry out his gruesome vendetta against the youth of Springwood, Ohio. While Freddy gains influence, Jesse and his girlfriend, Lisa (Kim Myers), race against the clock trying to figure out what's going on.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 1 November 2017

​​Pop Movee Rating

Jesse hasn’t been himself lately. Every night, he’s been haunted by dark, overpowering visions of an evil presence trying to possess his body. And it isn’t just a case of bad dreams. It’s a nightmare come true.

For Jesse has just moved to Elm Street—into the house where Freddy Krueger “lives.” A monstrous, local child-murderer, Freddy was burned to death long ago by an avenging vigilante mob. But his evil is still very much alive in Jesse’s house. And Freddy is very much alive in Jesse. Once Freddy’s hell-spawned soul takes complete possession of Jesse’s body, he can return from the dead to do what he so desperately longs to do.
​
He can kill again. And again. And again.

So read the original promotional copy for the second ELM STREET movie...

​A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE is many things; a good film is not one of them.

The fundamental problem with the second ELM STREET movie is the absence of Wes Craven, the creator of the original story about phantasmic boogeyman Freddy Krueger.

In order to get his 1984 film made, Craven had to sell the rights to New Line Cinema, who financed and distributed A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Signing over the rights meant that Craven lost control of ELM STREET and was well and truly shut out of the sequel’s development. Despite a larger budget and many key production personnel from the first film returning, without the intellect, care and genuine humanity of Wes Craven, the second trip down Elm Street felt like a second-rate exercise designed to strike while the iron was hot. 

FREDDY'S REVENGE was written by Dave Chaskin, who had no feature film writing experience, but was an employee at New Line and was entrusted by boss Robert Shaye to deliver a script for the follow-up to the film company’s first genuine box office hit. Chaskin did a fifteen page treatment over the course of three days and, on the basis of what he presented back to Shaye, was given eight weeks to turn in a shooting script. FREDDY'S REVENGE was directed by Jack Sholder, a relative unknown but another in-house promotion, having made his feature film debut with the 1982 thriller ALONE IN THE DARK for New Line. It impressed enough for Sholder to be handed directing duties on FREDDY'S REVENGE. Post his ELM STREET adventure, Sholder went on to direct the underrated 1987 Sci-Fi Actioner THE HIDDEN starring Kyle MacLachlan.

Where did it go so wrong?

Success and speed were the main culprits to blame for the letdown of FREDDY'S REVENGE...

The success of the original film during its cinematic run, and the subsequent explosion of popularity it found when released onto the home entertainment market, demanded a follow-up Freddy Krueger story. Sensing the urgency to capitalize on emerging Freddy mania, Robert Shaye fast-tracked FREDDY'S REVENGE into production.

With an inexperienced writer and a director with a single feature film to his credit, matching Craven’s storytelling skill and his flair for on-the-set invention was a big ask. Perhaps with more development the film could have been better, but the speed issue also played into the casting. Mark Patton was cast a Jesse Walsh, the film’s central character. In the one and only time a male has been cast in an ELM STREET lead role, Patton’s take on Jesse has become the subject of a lot of commentary about the homoerotic subtext that permeates the film. There’s no doubt there’s a lot of “gayness” in FREDDY'S REVENGE, but the fact of the matter is, Patton’s acting just wasn’t up to scratch. Given he’s had three credited on-screen roles between 1985 and 2016 pretty much says it all.

Among the more unusual aspects of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2 was Mark Patton's scream. It's not what you'd call a "Man" scream; like "Get to the Chopper" or "Hanszzzz". It sounds more like a "Girl" scream trapped inside a young man's body. Mark Patton has to scream a couple of times during the movie and each time it sounds ridiculous. It's uncertain whether it was dubbed or recorded live on-set, but the sound Jesse makes when he wakes up from his Freddy nightmare at the movie's beginning really sets the tone!

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE (1985) USEFUL LINKS

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - Wikipedia
​A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy's Revenge (1985) - IMDb
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_nightmare_on_elm_street_2_freddys_revenge

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