Nightmare Nights II

This wasn't a strong viewing of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" (1985). I do want to say I was crushing on Kim Myers something fierce. If Jesse wasn't gay, her Lisa would have been a major A+ for the guy. And she was loyal and dedicated to him. Big upside for a guy who she falls for. There's a scene where Jesse returns from the murder of Grady, a so-called friend--I never was quite sure they really were since they so often bicker and fight--with blood all over him, especially his hands, and Lisa doesn't shriek but remains right there willing to help him. And despite being a tragic mess in her cabana, Jesse not sleeping and definitely not recovered from the death of his S&M high school coach, Lisa still is willing to give her virginity to him. And she's laying there on the cabana floor letting him go down on her, and every time he rejects her kindness she seems that much more determined to save him. That's a girl worth her salt. Too bad it's all towards a guy sexually unavailable. Poor Grady...the guy never had a chance. Fred wanted to have some fun, Grady was there in his room, and Jesse was such a weak vessel.

I don't know what the point was with Marshall Bell's S&M coach and the film stripping him bare, hurling basketballs, baseballs, and gym equipment at him, and the steam filling up the showers to the point that Jesse is gone and Fred emerges ready to put those gloves blades to work...never does he let that glove go to waste in a Nightmare movie.

For some reason Fred wants to be among the mortals instead of playfully killings teens in their sleep. And there are plenty of them. Instead he wants to blow up birds, heat up swimming pool water, slice and dice teens outside the playful confines of nightmares, set aflame a toaster, keep the air conditioning from working in the Thompson house, dick around the Thompson house and torture Jesse by showing him his brain (okay, I fucking love that moment), and fail miserably to even hurt Lisa very much despite every opportunity.

Speaking through Freddy's form, Jesse might have succumbed to some sort of possession but his love for Lisa holds back the glove knives. This angle about using Jesse to cause mayhem is in line with Freddy's fucked up sense of humor. Now his coming out of Jesse like some form of nightmare man diarrhea, the kid acts just like that...he's coming and I can't stop him. Patton even acts like that's the case when Fred decides to emerge from Jesse to kill again. Man, it's always worth repeating...Patton can fucking scream with the best of queens. The guy, bless him, is tasked with spending 95% of the running time sweating it out. And it has to be said that Clu Gulagher, as his dad, is just an ornery dick.

The bus ride to hell at the beginning, I reiterate here again, is one of two of my favorites of the entire series. I just feel transplanted to 1985. God, I hated riding the bus. Never has a bus ride been so accurately depicted. But nonetheless Fred sliding those blades up seats, as the pretty mean girls freak out and Jesse, dorked up, hoping to escape somehow, is neat. 

And Fred leaving Jesse's body... seemingly literally. That is a great gimmick even if this whole possession angle just works against Craven's own flawed but successful nightmare mythology.

I agree with some of the series' critics that the Nightmare films are quite dated, and feel quite confined to the decade of the 80s. Admittedly, I'm one of those who doesn't mind that. I just embrace the nostalgia, recall the time I watched them for the first time and some subsequent viewings afterward, and timewarp for a bit. It was Ray's Rent-A-Movie, the first time. I remember that video tape cover. Probably 1989, I'd say. What was I in for? Well, it has its highlights and Freddy is probably his most scariest. So even if Sholder's film plays loose with the already flimsy rules Craven set up, the sequel has its moments for sure. Heck Jesse's dance moves alone assure the sequel isn't soon to be forgotten.

This was the actual VHS cover of the film I rented the first time