A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (stylized onscreen as A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge) is a 1985 slasher film directed by Jack Sholder and written by David Chaskin. It stars Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger, and Robert Rusler. It is the second installment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series.
Plot[]
A teenage boy is haunted in his dreams by deceased child murderer Freddy Krueger, who is out to possess him in order to continue his reign of terror in the real world.
Why It's Great[]
- Robert Englund makes a welcomed return as Freddy Krueger, while the rest of the cast does decent performances.
- It still keeps Freddy as an intimidating and creepy force, since the later sequels suffered from making Freddy too comedic to take seriously.
- While the other films have Freddy portrayed as a standalone killer, this entry has him in a more psychological aspect in that he has to possess a person to continue his evil spree, thus creating a more haunting tale than all the others.
- Impressive gore effects.
- It has a nice allegory of opening up to your sexuality.
- Christopher Young's score is one of the eeriest themes in the Elm Street franchise.
- Well-done moments of shock and dark humor.
- Lisa Webber stands out as a likeable and tough character who defeats Freddy.
- The scene where Freddy kills a dozen teenagers at the pool party is one of the franchise's most memorable moments.
- The initial scene of the bus is one of the most creative and visually beautiful nightmares in the franchise.
- Ron's death scene is one of the best kills in the entire franchise.
- "You are all my children now."
Bad Qualities[]
- Nancy Thompson never appears in the film, with the characters just citing that she lost her sanity after witnessing the deaths of Glen and her mother. Jesse and Lisa never consider looking for her to ask for help in defeating Freddy, something she would certainly do. It is even more bizarre when the script throws a diary out of nowhere with Nancy's information about Freddy, although we never saw Nancy writing a diary in the first film.
- Somewhat misleading title.
- Freddy returns, but he isn't getting revenge on anyone.
- Nancy, the only survivor of the original film is not in this one, and she didn't even beat him then, prompting no actual revenge.
- There is also no hint that the kids' parents in this film were responsible for killing Freddy; Jesse's parents in particular only recently moved into the neighborhood.
- The climatic party massacre, while awesome and terrifying, feels more like something from a Halloween or Friday the 13th film.
- Jesse's high-pitched girly screams can be annoying.
Reception[]
The film currently holds a 41% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 29 reviews.
Box Office[]
Freddy's Revenge grossed $30 million at the domestic box office on a budget of $3 million.