A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

DIRECTED BY: Jack Sholder

WRITTEN BY: David Chaskin

MUSIC BY: Christopher Young

DISTRIBUTED BY: New Line Cinema

STARRING: Mark Patton; Kim Myers; Robert Rusler; Hope Lange; Marshall Bell; Sydney Walsh; and Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger

RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes

PLOT:

Five years after the original a family has finally moved into Nancy's old house. The boy Jesse Walsh begins to have nightmares just like Nancy did. But instead of killing people in their dreams Freddy can take over Jesse's body while he is asleep and kill people who are awake. At a party that Jesse's girlfriend, Lisa, is having Freddy comes into the real world through Jesse and goes on a rampage. The final showdown takes place in Freddy's broiler room in the old power plant. Encouraged by Lisa, Jesse fights back and takes back over his own body. In the final scene Jesse has another dream about Freddy.

MYTHOS INFORMATION

Takes place 5 years after part 1.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES

Wes Craven decided not to be involved with the sequel to his blockbuster because he did not like the idea of the killer making the hero do bad things. He felt that it violated the basic dramatic rule, have a clear hero and a clear villain. He also wanted to do something diferent than the slasher films that he was becoming famous for.

In this movie Freddy's town is given a name. Director Jack Sholder wanted to call it Springfield but the legal department quickly nixed that idea. They said that since there are so many Springfields there would almost certainly be someone with the name of one of the characters living there, which could open the door for possible lawsuits. Picture a Fred Krueger of Springfield Ohio suing New Line for being portrayed as a psycho killer; or a Coach Schneider of Springfield High School for being portrayed as a pedophille. They used Springwood instead.

Make-up effects artist Kevin Yagher replaced David Miller, who designed the Freddy make-up for the original. Yagher had only a few pictures and what was shot for the original film to refer to, so he redesigned Freddy's look. Yagher studied pictures of burn victims and brought out the facial bones more than Miller had done.

Several people have noticed what they consider homo-erotic content in this movie. Some have even said that it is an allegory about a boy who can't come to terms with the fact that he is gay, which is symbolized by Freddy as the monster inside of him. Director Jack Sholder and writer David Chaskin claim that this was unintentional on their part.

Made $29 million.

DEATHS:

Coach Schneider (Marshall Bell): Slashed across the back by Freddy

Ron Grady (Robert Rusler): Shoved against the door and slashed by Freddy

Several miscellaneous party guests are slashed, boiled in the pool or otherwise maimed/killed

SEX/NUDITY

Jesse(Mark Patton): Butt after Ron (Robert Rusler) pulls down his pants to embarrass him

Coach Schneider (Marshall Bell): Butt as Freddy kills him in the shower

Lisa Webber (Kim Myers): Part of her breasts as she fools around with Jesse (Mark Patton)

Several girls at the party are seen in skimpy bikinis