Directed by Jack Sholder
Starring Mark Patton, Kim Myers, Robert Rusler, Clu Gulager, Hope Lange and Robert Englund
Longtime readers of the blog (all seven of you, by last count) are well aware of my longtime fascination with the Friday the 13th franchise. Like, to the point of psychosis. While it's hard for anyone to believe who has heard me wax rhapsodically about Jason Voorhees and his many, many sexy exploits over the years, there was a time when I was absolutely obsessed with Nightmare on Elm Street.
Everyone who knew me during my sophomore year of high school is well aware of this, as I escalated into the full-blown sad sack fan fiction phase and concocted various ways that the series could continue in the 1999 world that no longer seemed to give a shit about Freddy Krueger. It all started with New Line re-releasing the movies in DVD and VHS box sets that year; I'd never seen most of the movies before, and I was all over that shit. Like a misguided sheep. On the first day that I had that badass VHS set (with artwork, by the way, that absolutely destroyed the DVD set with all of its fancy-dancy extras and documentaries) I watched the first three movies, highly re-enjoying the first and being utterly blown away by Dream Warriors. In the middle of that...was Freddy's Revenge.
And what a weird movie it is. Still to this day, this is just a fascinating little flick. Released a little over a year after the original, Wes Craven balked at bringing this movie to life himself because he didn't care for the plot involving the hero of the movie to become possessed by Freddy and do his evil deeds for him. It's undoubtedly the black sheep of the series in that regard, although it IS kind of forgivable. At this point, Freddy wasn't a household name yet, and the rules of the series hadn't been firmly established. Even with this caveat, the movie is a zillion times weirder than anyone would ever expect, so let's get to it.
It's been five years since Nancy Thompson bested Freddy in the finale of the original film, and now, a new family is living in the (in)famous Elm Street house. And what a family this is. The dad is played by Clu Gulager of all people, and he gets to give us classic lines like "You know what he used? He used a goddamn cherry bomb." The adorable kid daughter really enjoys cereal toys. And then we meet our main character for the film with the girliest scream this side of Ned Flanders yelling about purple drapes, one Jesse Walsh.
Played by Mark Patton, there has been entire essays written about this character and the supposedly hidden subtexts contained within this movie regarding the character's sexuality. Truth be told, there is quite a bit within this movie to support the idea that it's all some sort of extended metaphor for Jesse trying to come to terms with his gay side. I only mention this because it's mentioned in every other online review you're likely to find out there on the interwebz, but...it's there. Trust me, and there's a hell of a lot to support the theory. At any rate, Jesse is actually a pretty likable main character, a somewhat geeky but overall really nice guy who has quickly become fast friends with local hottie Lisa (Kim Myers, who kind of looks like an '80s teen version of Meryl Streep if you cross your eyes) while also inexplicably befriending school bully Grady (Robert Rusler). And catching the eye of his new school's sexually sadistic gym teacher. Wait, what?
Now, Freddy's Revenge spends a LOT of time with these characters. This was back in the day when the goal of horror wasn't specifically to make audiences dislike every character and cheer for their demise; they wanted you to care about the characters, and no matter how unsuccessful the attempt was, it was there. They REALLY tried with this movie, and that's both a plus and a minus. A plus because the kill scenes do carry some weight, but a minus because there ain't much Freddy Krueger in this movie. You've probably noticed by now that his name hasn't popped up yet, and that's no accident.
See, Freddy is popping up in Jesse's dreams every so often making vague allusions about the "special work" that they have in store for Elm Street...and the entire town of Springwood at large, I guess. They escalate more and more, the idea being that Freddy is gaining more control over Jesse's actions by the minute. The climax of this plot development? A scene where the aforementioned gym teacher is stripped naked and whipped to death by towels. Yup. The scene is there. I promise.
That's where this flick really suffers. It's not scary in the least bit. The first movie, despite its faults, has this almost kind of dingy, flat ability to disturb you with its low-budget grittiness. The third has such a powerful story that losing a character feels like losing a family member. This one has Jesse, but everyone else is milquetoast, so they're all pretty disposable. And the actual death scenes are lame to the nth degree. Example: Before said gym teacher bites it, there's this extended sequence where he's terrified by flying basketballs (ah!). Another example: the endless scene where the Walsh family runs in terror from the pet parakeet run amok, just before said parakeet explodes into flames (the horror!). Methinks that screenwriter David Chaskin had other things on his mind when writing this screenplay than attempting to horrify audiences with his horror screenplay.
Now, the movie DOES pick up traction in a big way when the finale hits, a pool party where Freddy fully assumes control of Jesse's body and murders everyone left and right. We eventually wind up at an abandoned building where Freddy supposedly worked, and all of this truly bizarre Lovecraftian shit that Lisa overcomes as she tries to save her new boyfriend from a fate far worse than death. I guess. This is one of those movies where Freddy is never given any sort of exploitable weakness, so when his death comes, it comes in such a weird, unexpected way that it doesn't have much impact. And then we get a post-climactic denounment for the ages that tops the first movie in its "WTF?" quotient.
So...yeah. Upon giving this movie another watch many years after my original obsession phase, it's a really interesting movie that unfortunately has LONG spells of boredom. It's got a fascinating little yin-yang juxtaposition between Jesse and Freddy, and both Mark Patton and Robert Englund were more than up to the task of making these parts work. As a horror flick, though, Freddy's Revenge doesn't amount to much. There's a reason why the hardcore ANOES fans never show this one to people first to try and convert new fans, because it's so different from the rest of the series, and it's also not bad in the "so bad it's good" way.
** out of ****. It's definitely worth a watch if you're remotely interested in the Nightmare franchise. Avoid otherwise, because the fun factor just isn't here when compared to the rest of the franchise.
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