Template:Infobox Film A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a 1985 slasher film, and the second film in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. It is the sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street. The film was directed by Jack Sholder and stars Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger. Despite the film's title, Freddy Krueger's screen time in the movie is just 13 minutes. Released by New Line cinema, the movie received negative to mixed reviews, mainly due to the departure from the theme of the first film.
Plot
Jesse Walsh is riding home on the school bus. Most of the students get off the bus, leaving Jesse on the bus with two girls. The bus driver skips one of the girl's stop and, ignoring her protests, drives the bus off the road where it eventually ends up suspended above a chasm. As the bus teeters, the driver gets up, revealing himself to be Freddy Krueger. As he advances on the teenagers, Jesse wakes up screaming.
Five years after the events of the first film, Jesse Walsh and his family move into Nancy Thompson's old house. Jesse wakes up screaming, causing concern to his family. He is picked up by Lisa to go to school.
At school, Jesse is having a difficult time. He gets into a scuffle with a student named Grady and they are both punished severely by the gym teacher. Grady mentions that the teacher, Schneider hangs out at gay S&M bars. When Jesse mentions what house he lives in, Grady tells him how Nancy Thompson went crazy and watched her boyfriend (Glen Lantz) get butchered across the street.
That night, Jesse has another dream. Wandering outside, he looks into the basement window and sees Freddy Krueger taking his glove out of the furnace. Upon re entering the house, Freddy confronts Jesse. He tells Jesse that they have special work to do since Jesse has the body and Freddy has the brains. Jesse wakes up screaming.
The following day, Jesse falls asleep in class. A snake slithers over his body, but it was placed there by the other students.
On his way out to hang out with Lisa, Jesse's father forces him to unpack his room. After an embarrassing incident where Lisa and Jesse's mom walk in on him dancing, Lisa helps Jesse unpack. They stumble upon a diary written by Nancy Thompson which mentions her experiences with Freddy Krueger. Jesse recognizes some of Nancy's descriptions of Freddy.
Later that night, Jesse wakes up to find his belongings melting in his room. He gets up and goes into the basement. Finding the glove in the furnace, Freddy appears and coaxes Jesse into trying it on. He then tells Jesse to kill for him until Jesse wakes up.
The following day, Jesse learns that Lisa is having a party and he loans her the diary.
That evening, the Walsh family are burning up in their house which is 97 degrees in temperature. Their pet parakeet gets loose and flies around the house until it explodes. Jesse's dad eventually accuses Jesse of using a cherry bomb to kill the bird. In a fit of anger, Jesse leaves.
Jesse goes outside and walks to a bar, where he runs into his coach, Schneider, who is always punishing him. Schneider takes him to the gym to run laps. In the shower, Freddy uses his power from within Jesse to tie him to a wall with jump ropes as Freddy takes over Jesse's body, transforming Jesse into him (minus the clawed glove, which Freddy is usually seen with, instead Freddy actually has knives coming out of his fingers). To Jesse, it seems that someone else is committing the murder. Freddy slashes Schneider in the back a few times, killing him. Afterward, he turns back into Jesse, with the clawed glove.
The police bring Jesse home, having come across him wandering naked after the murder. His father accuses him of doing drugs before his mom takes him to bed.
Jesse thinks the whole thing to be a dream until he and his friend Lisa Webber arrive at school the next day to find out that it really happened.
The following morning Jesse reveals to his family that his dad knew about Nancy's experience in the house. Afterwards the toaster catches on fire without being plugged in.
Jesse confides in Lisa about Schneider but she insists that it was a dream. Lisa does some research on Freddy and shows Jesse the boiler room where he took his victims. She hopes Jesse will get a psychic vision by being there. That night, Freddy nearly makes Jesse kill his younger sister.
At school, Grady and Lisa try to help Jesse. Grady reveals that he has to miss the pool party because he's grounded. Lisa pleads with Jesse to talk to her.
While Lisa is having the pool party, Jesse originally attends and almost has sex with Lisa. Freddy, however, begins to take over. Scared and to Lisa's chagrin, Jesse leaves and goes over to his friend Ron Grady's house, where Grady has been grounded for throwing his grandmother down a flight of stairs, and tells him to watch over him while he is sleeping. After Jesse falls asleep, Freddy takes control of Jesse again and impales Grady.
Jesse returns to Lisa's house where Freddy takes control of him again and attacks Lisa and kills six guests (boiling some in the pool and burning some to death, while stabbing others). Lisa's father tries to shoot Freddy, but she stops him and follows Freddy to the boiler room. She tells Jesse to fight Freddy, and eventually he does. Freddy begins losing control (an injury he suffered earlier, to which he was previously immune, opens up and starts bleeding). After Lisa kisses Freddy, Jesse is able to use his power from within and start a fire, which burns Freddy to a crisp, leaving Jesse unharmed.
Next day, Jesse gets on the bus with Lisa and Kerry. Jesse thinks the bus is moving too fast, but it stops to pick up a passenger. When all seems well, Freddy's claw stabs through Kerry, and the bus drives into the desert. Whether or not this was a dream remains a mystery as Jesse doesn't get mentioned again.
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
- Thom McFadden as Eddie Webber
- Sydney Walsh as Kerry
- Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger and Joe the Bus Driver
- Edward Blackoff as Mr. Able (Biology Teacher)
- Christie Clark as Angela Walsh
- Lyman Ward as Mr. Grady
- Donna Bruce as Mrs. Grady
- Hart Sprager as Teacher
- Allison Barron as Girl on Bus #1
- Joann Willette as Girl on Bus #2
- Steve Eastin as Policeman
- Brian Wimmer as Do-Gooder
- Robert Chaskin as Rocky (Bar-B-Que Boy)
- Kerry Remsen as Girlfriend
- Kimberly Lynn as Patty
- Steven Smith as Victim
- Jonathan Hart as Spike
Sequels
This film is followed by Dream Warriors. It, however, gives no details as to explain the ending of this film, as Freddy returns to his old ways in Dream Warriors.
Box Office
The film opened in just 614 theaters, and making $3.3 million in its opening weekend. Domestically, the film has made over $29.9 million, making it another huge success on a budget of only $3.0 million. It is also the sixth highest grossing film of the whole series.
Reception
The film has generally received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Much of the negative criticism of Freddy's Revenge, from both film critics and fans, was aimed at the fact that the film, while continuing the storyline of its predecessor, takes on a completely different direction. Rather than just stalk the teenagers and kill them in their dreams, Freddy would commit random acts of violence (which he did only briefly in the first film) in the real world. Also, very little was seen of Freddy in this film.
Trivia
- With 10 total victims, this film has Freddy Krueger's highest kill count of any Nightmare on Elm Street film.
- This is the only A Nightmare on Elm Street film with a male main protagonist.
- Freddy Krueger only appears in 13 minutes of the film.
- Whenever Freddy is on-screen, whalesong has been added to the background music. This only adds to the eerie dream feeling.
- Due to Mark Patton's mannerisms, this movie has been considered one of the homoerotic horror movies.
- Mark Patton is openly gay in real life, causing his acting and appearance in the film for people to consider this.
- This movie makes no mention of the Elm Street vendetta.
External Links
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge at Wikipedia
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge at the Internet Movie Database
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