'A Nightmare on Elm Street 2': Robert Englund talks sequel's gay subtext

Contents:

• HOW A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 BEME AN INIC GAY HORROR FILM (AFTER YEARS OF BEG HATED)
• THE NIGHTMARE BEHD THE GAYT HORROR FILM EVER MA
• 'A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2' AT 35: ROBERT ENGLUND ADDRS HOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT OF 'THE GAYT HORROR MOVIE EVER MA'
• “HE’S SI ME, AND HE WANTS TO TAKE ME AGA!” HOMOSEXUALY AND GAY FANDOM A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: FREDDY’S REVENGE
• WAS THE SEND NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET ABOUT GAY RIGHTS?
• [HORROR QUEERS] SCREAM, QUEENS, IT’S ‘NIGHTMARE 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE’ AKA THE GAYT HORROR MOVIE EVER MA!

HOW A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 BEME AN INIC GAY HORROR FILM (AFTER YEARS OF BEG HATED)

EXCLUSIVE: A documentary about the problematic legacy of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge told through the perspective of s then-closeted gay star Mark Patton has been acquired by Virgil Films & Entertament. My Nightmare on Elm Street reunts Patton’s difficulti makg the 1985 horror sequel, which put him through a range of salac on-screen orals signed to whet the homophobic appet (nsc or otherwise) of 1980s dienc.

The Advote has scribed as “the gayt horror film ever ma. Patton’s actg résumé clus Broadway rol and the 1982 Robert Altman film, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, another part that he says led to him beg typest before he had e out as gay.

In addn to takg a new narrative directn, Freddy’s Revenge is also chock-full of homoerotic subtext.

THE NIGHTMARE BEHD THE GAYT HORROR FILM EVER MA

If the homoeroticism isn’t subtextual, the movie be more tertg. There was a Cracked article that named Freddy’s Revenge the most untentnally gay horror movie ever ma.

And then there was the Never Sleep Aga documentary which wrer David Chask fally admted— a somewhat awkward way, when put on the spot—that the homoerotic unr/overton had been tentnal after took A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 thirty-one years to e out of the closet, but fally has and serv your support.

The homosexual ntext of Freddy’s Revenge went over my head on the first viewg as a kid.

'A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2' AT 35: ROBERT ENGLUND ADDRS HOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT OF 'THE GAYT HORROR MOVIE EVER MA'

Lookg back, I believe I was ignorant of the homosexual tone of Freddy’s Revenge bee I didn’t want to see at the time. It felt as if Freddy found another way to renew his hold over me by projectg my fear of beg gay onto Jse whout sayg exactly.

In fact for a dntg mute durg my self-hatred perd of g to terms wh beg gay, I equated Freddy wantg to take over Jse’s body as a physil maniftatn of homosexualy tryg to claim Jse’s soul. Whenever the gay tone of Freddy’s Revenge was mentned was ually associated wh negative nnotatns. While Belle om Fright Night Part II was the spark of my te inty, Freddy’s Revenge took that spark and igned my soul to slowly but surely beg fortable my sk as a proud Black gay man.

“HE’S SI ME, AND HE WANTS TO TAKE ME AGA!” HOMOSEXUALY AND GAY FANDOM A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: FREDDY’S REVENGE

Freddy and Jse were timate — they seemed to share a secret — and the subtext of that relatnship gave Freddy’s Revenge a homoerotic unrcurrent that eventually ma a cult classic. ”However much Englund held back, the damage was done: That scene helps tablish the lible imprsn of Freddy’s Revenge as the gayt slasher film ever ma. Screenwrer David Chask spent years refg to acknowledge any tentnal subtext his script — a posn he has sce reversed — and director Jack Sholr claimed not to have noticed the movie’s gayns durg filmg.

Watchg Freddy’s Revenge now, ’s hard to prehend that there was ever a bate over the film’s subtext, which be jt pla text the more blatantly homoerotic scen. His sexual ambiguy ma him the perfect choice for Jse, but gave the homophobic tractors of Freddy’s Revenge somethg to latch on to. And even though Patton has embraced his “scream queen” stat — he had jt e om signg tographs and panel appearanc at San Diego Comic-Con this July afternoon — he remas driven by a need to set the rerd straight about the film that has hnted him for the past 30 Patton, whose only major film role before he played Jse was as a gay teenager later revealed to be a trans woman (played by Karen Black) Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, the persistent cricism of Freddy’s Revenge was s own kd of nightmare: His sexual inty was exriated for g the film — and wh , his reer.

As the actor tells , he beme pigeonholed as gay long before beg an out leadg man was a possibily. At the same time, even as the AIDS crisis cimated the gay muny, Patton was forced to stay the closet, rtricted by a bs he eventually chose to leave the stigmatizatn of queer reprentatn over the last 30 years, perceptn of Freddy’s Revenge has shifted: The heavily d queerns that was once a mark agast has bee a charmgly dated relic of another time, and a sellg pot for cult nnoissrs. Inial reviews, though largely negative, did not pot out the film’s homoerotic slant, although Variety lled Patton’s Jse “strange enough to nstute an outsir prence, ” a scriptor that certaly signifi is some bate over where the first direct mentn of the film’s gay subtext appeared.

WAS THE SEND NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET ABOUT GAY RIGHTS?

Patton and Sholr ce the Village Voice, while Chask believ was actually the gay publitn The Advote. The article qutn lled Freddy’s Revenge, by Sholr’s rellectn, “the gayt horror film ever ma. While there’s no doubtg the opprsive homophobia of 1980s Hollywood, the specific circumstanc surroundg the film are often a matter of "he said, he said.

”By ntrast, Patton sists that Chask, stead of merely stayg quiet, repeatedly placed the blame for the queer terpretatn of the film on Patton’s “too gay” performance, rather than on the script. “I don’t rell any terview where I would have ed the words ‘too gay’ but if I implied somethg like that and/or said anythg to e Mark grief, I certaly apologize, ” he wrote. Deliberately or otherwise, Patton’s associatn wh what me to be known as the “gayt horror film ever ma” — while he was beg told to keep his sexualy a secret — left lastg srs.

[HORROR QUEERS] SCREAM, QUEENS, IT’S ‘NIGHTMARE 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE’ AKA THE GAYT HORROR MOVIE EVER MA!

Growg up Kansas Cy the 1960s, he stood out and soon realized he was gay. ”“She gave me two pi of After Dark, which was a gay theater magaze om New York, ” he relled.

It had always been a fe le to walk: While gog to gay bars wasn’t somethg you had to hi 1970s New York, “you didn’t go to an dn and talk to the stg director about beg gay, ” he Patton ma his 1982 Broadway but Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean — playg the same queer character he would play the film adaptatn later that year — The Advote requted an terview wh him. "Beg gay was a fe negative, and was a fe al breaker. “At the time, beg gay was a fe negative, and was a fe al breaker.

And more and more gay. The gayer Freddy’s Revenge got, the more anxiety he felt.