Jack Sholder’s sequel to the 1984 original is despised by many fans, but the ensuing twenty years have allowed time for reflection and I salute them for going in an entirely different direction.
This time Freddy possesses a male teenager named Jesse who has recently moved into the vacant Elm Street property, and sets about offing his peers in various grisly fashions. This seems quite adequate to me when you see the cast wardrobe.
This film is known to be one of the most homo-erotic horror movies ever to grace the silver screen thanks to Mark Patton’s portrayal of Jesse (a name which only adds fuel to the fire of debate which insists that the writer intended the protagonist’s struggle with his inner demon to be a metaphor for homosexuality).
The film is notable for its bus ride to hell, and slaughter party sequences, but it’s ultimately a little to Freudian for the casual horror fan.
Robert Englund was kind of dark in this outing and the make-up was actually quite disgusting, as chunks of flesh appeared to be falling off.
The score by Christopher Young is a highlight, despite the fact that this is the only film that doesn’t use a variation of Charles Bernstein’s theme tune.
OVERALL SUMMARY
A little too gay for many horror fans liking, but Victor Salva fans will surely rejoice at the sequences involving teenaged boys writhing around in their tighty whiteys.
