‘A Nightmare On Elm Street 2’ Is The Gayest Horror Movie Ever Made

Thirty years ago saw the release of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, the first of many sequels to Wes Craven’s 1984 horror classic. While it was immediately maligned as a cheap sequel (and one that, in the long narrative of the franchise, deviated from the Freddy Krueger canon), it has achieved cult status for it’s deliciously campy queer subtext — one that is the subject of an upcoming documentary featuring the film’s now-openly gay star. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, we’re re-running our look at the slasher flick’s legacy as a rarity in the horror genre: featuring, of all things, a male scream queen.

In 1984, Wes Craven reinvigorated the slasher film with an inventive film: A Nightmare on Elm Street. Taking on the tropes already found in previous movies of the genre (such as Halloween and Friday the 13th), Craven crafted a morality play based on the sexual promiscuity of teenagers — one in which their sexual escapades leaves them for dead by the final reel. But Craven’s film was a bit more sympathetic to the horny teenager; the monstrous Freddy Krueger (played by Robert Englund) stalks his teenage victims from their dreams, exacting revenge on their parents who murdered him years before. The teenage victims try to speak out, but, like most teenagers, aren’t taken very seriously by their parents.

The first Nightmare was a huge success, so naturally plans for a sequel happened quickly. Craven, however, didn’t return — he had no interest in a multi-film franchise starring his evil creation. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge opened a year after its predecessor, this time with Jack Sholder directing the film, with a script by David Chaskin.

There’s a different premise to this film. Freddy Krueger is back, of course, but rather than murdering his victims in their sleep, he taunts the unsuspecting Jesse Walsh, whose family has moved into that spooky house on Elm Street. It’s through Jesse’s body that Freddy continues his murderous rampage, manipulating him into carrying out his evil deeds. It did not receive nearly as much praise as the original film, but the film is still infamous for one particular reason: it’s gay as hell.

The subtext is pretty heavy with this one: Jesse has an evil inside of him that’s trying to break out, and he does all he can to keep it buried down within him. You might be saying, “Oh, that’s a stretch, don’t you think?” Well, combine this with the fact that he tries to have sex with his girlfriend but can’t because, oh, his tongue turns into a monstrous object and he freaks out and scatters off, leaving her sad and alone. (Creepy gross tongues = homosexuality, naturally.)

Jesse runs from his girlfriend and his hesitation toward having sex with her, and where does he end up? In the bedroom of his best friend, Ron, to whom Jesse screams, “Something is trying to get inside my body!” Ron naturally replies, “Yeah, and she’s female and she’s waiting for you in the cabana and you want to sleep with me.” (Of course he does, Ron!) And while Jesse’s struggle with his sexuality is certainly the subtext of the film, there’s also the text of the film, which is weapons-grade gay.

Take, for example, the fun little dance / sunglass modeling Jesse does when he’s cleaning his room:

Oh, I’m sorry, what was that last bit?

Very spooky stuff! Then, here’s Jesse and Ron just foolin’ around in gym class, as you do.

(Apparently I should have played more baseball as a teen?)

But then here’s the most outrageous — and hilarious — sequence, which takes place after Jesse wakes up from a nightmare and inexplicably wanders into a leather bar. Who does he run into? His sadistic gym teacher, naturally.

Totally normal. Totally heterosexual. Just two men being real masculine together in a completely non-sexual way. And then he brings Jesse back to the gym, late at night, to run laps and shower, which is in no way similar to a single gay porn film I’ve ever seen. Well, it is, until Coach is tied up by a mysterious force and then whipped with towels while Jesse watches. (Also, huh?!)

Again, these GIFs came from A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, not RedTube.

The crazy thing is that this happened at all, but apparently what seems pretty blatant now was conveniently over the heads of those who worked on the film. In Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, a three-hour documentary about the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, screenwriter David Chaskin pretty much admitted that it wasn’t all naiveté — the homosexual subtext was intended. And actor Mark Patton, who starred as Jesse (and who later publicly came out as gay), also confessed that he pretty much figured out what was going on. The director, however, had his head in the clouds the whole damn time. (Who knows if the prop department was in on it. How else do you explain a game on Jesse’s closet called Probe?)

One thing’s for certain: after years of young women being chased and hunted down by hulking murderers in slasher movies, it was pretty bold for the second Nightmare film to introduce an entirely new scream queen. While it broke from the formula of the Nightmare series, it stands on its own as — what else? — a horror camp classic.

[Stream A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge on Netflix]

 

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Photos: Everett Collection