A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a 1985 American supernatural slasher film directed by Jack Sholder and written by David Chaskin. It stars Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Robert Rusler. It is a sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and the second installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film follows Jesse Walsh, a teenager who begins having recurring nightmares about Freddy Krueger after moving into the former home of Nancy Thompson from the first film.
Freddy's Revenge was released on November 1, 1985, and grossed $30 million at the domestic box office on a budget of $3 million. It received mixed reviews from critics upon release, with many comparing it unfavorably to its predecessor. However, it has enjoyed later success as a cult classic, with critics having reassessed the film's homoerotic themes and subject material. It was distributed by New Line Cinema. The film was followed by A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987).
Plot Five years after Freddy Krueger's apparent defeat, the Walsh family has moved into Nancy Thompson's former home. Their teenage son, Jesse, has a nightmare about Freddy. Jesse and his friend Lisa Webber discover Nancy's diary in his room, detailing her nightmares, which are strikingly similar to his. Small fires occur around the house, culminating in the spontaneous combustion of the Walshes' pet birds.
Jesse has another nightmare where Krueger tells him to kill for him. The dreams grow more intense, and he unsuccessfully attempts different measures to keep himself awake. He eventually begins wandering the streets at night. One night, he is caught by his gym teacher, Coach Schneider, in a gay bar and is made to run laps at school as punishment. In the gym showers, Freddy emerges and kills Schneider. Afterward, Jesse is horrified to see the glove on his hand. He is escorted home by the police after being found wandering the streets naked. Lisa takes Jesse to the abandoned factory where Freddy worked, but they find nothing there.
The following night, Jesse attends Lisa's pool party and kisses her, but his body begins to change, and he leaves in a panic. He goes to his friend Ron Grady's house, confesses to killing Schneider, and instructs Grady to watch him as he sleeps. When Grady falls asleep, Freddy emerges from Jesse's body and kills Grady. Freddy then changes back to Jesse, who flees to Lisa's house. Lisa realizes that Jesse's terror is giving Freddy his strength, but he cannot stop fearing him and transforms again. Freddy attacks Lisa but realizes he cannot harm her due to Jesse's influence. He goes outside instead, where he slaughters the partygoers before escaping.
Lisa drives to the abandoned factory, having to control her fear before confronting Freddy. She pleads with Jesse to fight Freddy, confesses her love for him, and kisses Freddy. After this, Jesse begins to fight back. Freddy combusts and turns to ash, from which Jesse emerges.
Later, as Jesse, Lisa, and Lisa's friend Kerry are taking the bus to school, Jesse notices similarities to his original nightmare and panics. Kerry insists it is all over before Freddy's clawed arm bursts through her chest. Freddy laughs as the bus drives into the field, just as in Jesse's first nightmare.
Cast
Mark Patton as Jesse Walsh Kim Myers as Lisa Webber Robert Rusler as Ron Grady Clu Gulager as Ken Walsh Hope Lange as Cheryl Walsh Marshall Bell as Coach Schneider Melinda O. Fee as Mrs. Webber Tom McFadden as Mr. Webber Sydney Walsh as Kerry Hellman Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger Edward Blackoff as Biology Teacher Christie Clark as Angela Walsh Lyman Ward as Mr. Grady JoAnn Willette as Girl on Bus Steve Eastin as Policeman Brian Wimmer as Do-Gooder Kerry Remsen as Girlfriend Robert Shaye as Bartender
Production
Development Pre-production for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 began in April 1985. Screenwriter Leslie Bohem pitched the producers with his idea of using pregnancy and possession as a plot device for the second film: "My concept was a homage to Rosemary's Baby. I came up with a plot that had a new family move into the house, a teenage boy, his pregnant mother and a stepfather the boy didn't get along with. It was a real bloody, scary idea, much more physical and realistic because the dream reality stuff was less central to these movies then. My story was more of a possession scenario with Freddy getting inside the mother's womb, controlling the fetus. But New Line passed on it because [executive] Sara Risher was pregnant at the time, and I understand the idea upset her. So they went with David Chaskin's concept instead."
Though both films ended up using the spirit possession concept, the pregnancy idea would eventually be used in the sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, for which Bohem would write the script.
Robert Shaye offered Wes Craven the chance to direct again after helming A Nightmare on Elm Street, but he turned down the offer since he had many problems with the script, such as the "possessed parakeet" that seemed very ridiculous to him, and of Freddy Krueger merging with the main character and manifesting in real life at the pool party to kill scores of teenagers of which many are bigger than him, which Craven thought would diminish Freddy's scare factor as Robert Englund is not very tall in stature.
Jack Sholder, who had previously written and directed Alone in the Dark for New Line was offered to direct. In a 2020 interview he explained that he had "no interest in making horror films" and that his initial feeling was to turn Robert Shaye down. After realizing that A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge could put him on the map as a director, he said yes.
The intro scene with Jesse Walsh's nightmare of Freddy driving the bus was carried over from the previous film; Craven was vehemently against Freddy appearing in person as the driver of the car in the epilogue scene, as he felt the storyline for Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss), Rod Lane (Nick Corri) and Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) should be self-contained in the first film. The compromise between him and Shaye was therefore to use the idea of Freddy driving the vehicle for the sequel, but not for any characters from Craven's film. The character of Lisa Webber was named Lisa Poletti in the script. On Wes Craven's suggestions, Chaskin put more emphasis on Lisa in the film than he originally intended; he explains that Craven "suggested that we shift the focus from Jesse the male lead. In the script the focus was on Jesse for 90% of the film, then suddenly it shifted to Lisa, his girlfriend. I pretty much added some focus on Lisa, and now it's like 50–50."
Casting New Line Cinema originally thought to save money by not hiring Robert Englund to reprise his role as Freddy and instead simply use an unnamed extra in a rubber mask to play the part - as had been the case for masked, mute, impersonal killers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers - but reconsidered when they realized that the man had the gait and posture of "a dimestore monster" or "Frankenstein's monster" as opposed to Englund's classically trained physical acting. Footage of the extra as Freddy does appear in the film, during Coach Schneider (Marshall Bell)'s death scene in the shower, though obscured by excessive water steam. Realizing their mistake, the producers quickly brought back Englund for the rest of the film and series. Robert Shaye, head of New Line Cinema, wanted to play the role of Ron Grady's father (played in the film by Lyman Ward) but was denied by director Jack Sholder who gave him the non-speaking role of the bartender at the S&M bar that Jesse visits. Shaye would later recall in Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy that his leather outfit was purchased from Los Angeles store The Pleasure Chest.
The 2010 documentary Never Sleep Again covered the casting of the other leads- the main contenders for the role of Jesse were Mark Patton and Brad Pitt; Pitt lost the role as he was deemed 'too nice' by the producers. Mark Patton had recently received positive critical attention for his role in Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Both Patton and co-star Robert Rusler (who played Ron Grady) were allowed to sit in on the casting of Lisa. Kim Myers was chosen because, according to director Sholder, she looked like a young Meryl Streep.
Filming Principal photography commenced in June 1985. Director Jack Sholder said in an interview he "had very little time to prepare" and that the movie contained "a lot of special effects, none of which I knew how to do". The film's special effects were headed by Kevin Yagher, who handled Freddy's design, and Mark Shostrom, who was responsible for the transformation effects wherein Freddy comes out of Jesse's body. David B. Miller, who created the makeup for the original film, was busy working on Cocoon and My Science Project. In a later interview, Yagher expressed disappointment and confusion regarding the ending of the film.
Music
The film's score was composed by Christopher Young. The song "Have You Ever Seen a Dream Walking" performed by Bing Crosby plays over the film's end credits. The songs "Touch Me (All Night Long)" by Fonda Rae, "Whisper to a Scream" by Bobby Orlando, "On the Air Tonight" by Willy Finlayson, "Move It in the Night" by Skagarack, "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" by Autograph and "Terror in My Heart" by the Reds are also featured in the film.
Reception Box office The film opened on 522 screens in the New York, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Texas areas. Varying figures have been reported for its opening weekend. Daily Variety reported it opening with $3,865,475 placing it second for the weekend behind Death Wish 3. An advert in the following day's Weekly Variety claimed it had grossed $3,220,348 placing it third behind To Live and Die in L.A. and contemporary websites such as Box Office Mojo report it grossing exactly $1 million less than the initial Daily Variety figure, with only $2.9 million, coming in fourth place. Whichever figure is used, the per screen total was higher than the other films in the top 10. The following weekend, it grossed $1,819,203 for a 10-day total of $5,569,334 (which New Line also reported in an advertisement), which indicates that the initial figure reported by Daily Variety was overstated. In the US, the film eventually made $30 million on a budget of $3 million.
Critical response
Critical reaction of the film was mixed upon release, with some criticism in comparison to its predecessor. Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film, saying that it has "clever special effects, a good leading performance and a villain so chatty he practically makes this a human-interest story". The review also gave the lead performances positive reviews, noting, "Mr. Patton and Miss Myers make likable teen-age heroes, and Mr. Englund actually turns Freddy into a welcome presence. Clu Gulager and Hope Lange have some good moments as Jesse's parents, and Marshall Bell scowls ferociously as the coach who calls his charges dirtballs and who is eventually attacked by a demonic towel." Variety gave the film a positive review saying, "Episodic treatment is punched up by an imaginative series of special effects. The standout is a grisly chest-burster setpiece." In a negative review, People called the film a "tedious, humorless mess".
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 49% based on 37 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "An intriguing subtext of repressed sexuality gives Freddy's Revenge some texture, but the Nightmare loses its edge in a sequel that lacks convincing performances or memorable scares." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100 based on six critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Homoerotic subtext