A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge takes place five years after the original. A new family has moved into the house once kept by Nancy Thompson and their son is having nightmares. However, these nightmares eventually turn more severe. Freddy is trying to posses Jesse (the son mentioned) into killing for him. This is a radical change in philosophy from the first film and it’s one reason why I don’t think this one works as well as Craven’s 84 original. The film itself is hampered mostly by an extremely poor script which is in my opinion the worst script of the Elm Street Franchise, and an overt gay subtext which comes off as a bit odd in the film.

It would probably be unfair itself to just mention everything wrong with the film without first saying a couple of positive aspects of the film first. Robert Englund who is always reliable as Freddy Kruger returns to the role and remains the most consistent part in this shaky sequel. Englund plays the role with the same sardonic wit and black humor as in the first one but his role is a little more sparse in this film. The film itself is competently shot by director Jack Sholder who often tries a lot of interesting camera positions and movements to keep the film itself interesting from a cinematic point of view. The film is well lit and the effects like in all Elm Street films come off with a sense of cheese that is joyous to watch. However, I’m sad to say this is the end of my positives for the film.

First of all Nightmare 2 is a mess of a film. I commend the screenwriter and director for trying something completely different but I don’t think this should have been done so early off the success of the first film. The film itself doesn’t really explore the dream world that Freddy inhabits as much as the film explores the psychological aspects of our lead character Jesse. The film itself almost doesn’t even work as an Elm Street product, because Freddy’s role is sparse compared to Jesse who is overly used in this film. In future Elm Street sequels they realized the appeal of Kruger and they made him the main character. No one remembers Jesse everyone remembers Freddy Kruger. The rest of the characters in the film often come off as stereotypical and unfunny. The lead female character played by Kim Meyers shows she can act in the film. Often holding her own with Englund and outshining Mark Patton (Jesse) in every scene. Other characters like parents and friends are too boring to even mention.

Nightmare 2 also doesn’t quite work in the overall death sequences with only one real memorable death that isn’t even a death. Freddy popping out of Jesse is probably the most memorable sequence of the film. Using some very good special effects and it’s just creepy looking. Other deaths in the film either come off as dull (like the S&M gym teacher, or Grady who is simply slashed). The biggest problem though with Nightmare 2 is that I didn’t care about the survival of the lead character. In the first installment of the series Nancy was a character you could really attach yourself to. Jesse isn’t. He’s a whiny kid that often times you just wanted Freddy to kill him to get on with the film. I just didn’t care about the survival of these characters and that stems from the script and the performances, both of which are poor.

Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is a big step-down from the first. I can admire the fact that they tried to do something different with the film but overall it’s a failure. In horror you can often have a bad film that becomes watchable because it’s endearing to a certain extent or campy enough to enjoy but this film doesn’t quite work. Nightmare 2 will leave you unsatisfied for the most part, if you are just getting into the series.

Nightmare Series ranked so far

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street- 9.5/10
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge- 4/10
   

The Next entry will be A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

~ by resdog55 on May 2, 2010.