Wes Cravens 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street was a ground-breaking piece of horror cinema, paving the way for countless homages, parodies, and rip-offs and spawning eight sequels and a TV show of it’s own. The franchise also created one of the most sinister and iconic Horror villains in Freddy Kreuger.
Developing a sequel
The original Elm Street was one of the first film’s produced by New Line Cinema, who by that point mostly distributed films, and it led to the company becoming a successful mini-major studio. “The House that Freddy Built”. With that film making $57.1 million worldwide on a budget of only $1.8 million, it’s needless to say that the studio – and the world – were hungry for more Freddy.
Pre-production on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 began in April 1985. Screenwriter, Leslie Bohem, pitched the producers an idea involving pregnancy and possession as a plot. However, it was turned down in favour of David Chaskin’s concept instead.
Though both films ended up using spirit possession, the pregnancy idea would eventually be used in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989).
Wes Craven was offered the chance to direct again, but he turned the offer down, since he had many issues with the screenplay, such as the “possessed parakeet” that seemed silly to him, and of Freddy merging with the main character and manifesting in real life to kill dozens of teenagers at a pool party, which he thought would diminish the scare factor of Freddy as Robert Englund is not very tall.
Jack Sholder, who had previously written Alone in the Dark for New Line was offered to direct. But he initially had the feeling to turn it down, claiming he had “no interest in making horror films” But after realising the potential the film could have on his directorial career, he accepted the offer.
Brad Pitt was originally a contender of the main role of Jesse but he was deemed “too nice” by the producers, and the role went to closeted gay actor Mark Patton.
The Queer Nightmare
In the documentary, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, those who worked on the film claimed they were unaware of any gay subtext when making it. Mark Patton, however, stated that, “If you’re being called the ‘Homo Nightmare on Elm Street’ by a million pre-pubescent boys on the net, then a bunch of grown men had to of known what they were doing.”.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is so full of queer themes and coding, it’s not even subtext, it’s just text.
The plot of the film sees Jesse have an evil inside of him that’s trying to break out, and he does everything in his power to prevent it from doing so.
One of the film’s most overtly queer-coded scenes comes in the lead-up to the final act. Jesse tries to have sex with his girlfriend, Lisa, but can’t because his tongue turns into a monstrous object and freaking out, he runs to “best friend” Ron Grady’s place.
In Grady’s bedroom, Jesse exclaims, “Something is trying to get inside my body!”, to which Grady replies, “Yeah, and she’s female and she’s waiting for you in the cabana and you want to sleep with me.”
Later in Ron’s room, in a moment of true Cronenbergian body horror, “The Monster” (Freddy) emerges from Jesse’s body, as he cries in pain. Freddy then kills Grady. The Monster awakens when Jesse is inside Ron’s room, perhaps implying his inner desire for Ron.
Some have criticised the film for outdated 80s homophobia, while others have praised it for being ahead of it’s time. Some interpret the film’s ending as Jesse rejecting his homosexuality for a hetero lifestyle. But in the last minute of the film, just when the problem seems like it’s “all over” as Jesse says, the bus they are on diverges from it’s path as Freddy’s laughter shrieks over the image. Suggesting that while Jesse think’s he is free of the burden being closeted brings a gay man, that ‘feeling’ is always there even if you do everything to hide that part of yourself.
The film’s most explicitly queer content is a surreal nightmare scene where Jesse enters a gay nightclub and finds his coach there dressed in leather straps. Not long later, the coach is killed by being bound and whipped by Freddy (or is it Jesse?).
There’s also this dance scene, which has no heterosexual explanation…
The making of the film really affected lead Mark Patton who was closeted at the time and he discusses it in his documentary, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street.
Whether the filmmakers intended or not, Freddy’s Revenge is a cult classic of queer horror cinema.
Featured Image Credit: New Line Cinema
He/Him
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