Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s…gay?! | 25YL

Contents:

• THE NIGHTMARE BEHD THE GAYT HORROR FILM EVER MA
• NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY’S…GAY?!
• WALSH: NO, GOD DO NOT MAKE PEOPLE GAY
• JOHN WALSH REBUTS GAY/PEDOPHILE MEME

THE NIGHTMARE BEHD THE GAYT HORROR FILM EVER MA

" Director Jack Sholr and wrer David Chask both nied the film's subtext, and Mark Patton (who was the closet at the time), worried that the suatns of the film beg overtly gay would lead to him beg typest, as he wasn't the typil Hollywood leadg male. Some of the clu a scene where Jse enunters his ach at a gay bar, a scene where said ach is whipped to ath by towels while naked the showers, a scene wh Jse and his bt iend Grady (Rler) where Jse approach him bed, and a scene where Jse attempts to make out wh his girliend at a party before fleeg panic.

But the role is almost exclively given to female Walsh, the male “scream queen” and sole survivor of the send stallment of the Nightmare on Elm Street anchise broke that Walsh was as gay as a character uld be whout actually beg openly gay, which helped him bee an in the LGBT+ muny. Portrayed by Mark Patton, who was gay himself but closeted at the time, the role would stroy his actg reer at a time when Hollywood was pecially you’ve ever seen a horror movie, you know an excellent slasher is equipped wh creative kills, a homicidal maniac, and a leadg character whose shrill screams n afen Lee Curtis broke the sound barrier  Halloween. He fac Coach Schneir, strips him of his clothg, ti him up, and whips his naked body to ath as blood pours out through the bathroom the scene ends, the mera pans to a ightened Jse, who quickly realiz he is wearg the Kger knife bla glove and is the one behd his teacher’s Jse dreams this entire scenar, viewers began to dissect the film’s homoerotic them, wh many spectg Kger was merely a symbol of Jse’s reprsed the end, Coach Schneir got what he served: gay in feels a leral prence si of him, torturg him his dreams, forcg him to lash out and impose tense vlent acts upon proment male figur his life, first his murro act agast his gym teacher, and later when he kills his iend Ron his also stggl wh beg timate wh his love tert, Lisa, placg a stra on their relatnship.

It was not long after the film’s release that the movie was brand “the gayt horror film ever, ” even though both the director, Jack Sholr, and lead wrer, David Chask, nied the queer Patton was ncerned about his reer and reputatn, fdg fewer opportuni after the movie’s premiere, and eventually walkg away om the spotlight years, Patton kept a hidn profile, openg and managg a retail store Mexi, leavg his dreams of Hollywood far behd him.

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY’S…GAY?!

After seeg A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, some felt that the stggle Jse Walsh go through as he fights to prevent Freddy Keger (Robert Englund) om posssg him is a lot like the stggle of gay people tryg to keep their homosexualy hidn. The rult is a movie that’s both a study of a cultural moment and an timate rerd of one man’s path through fame and out the other si… then back aga, on his own terms, to a genre that still stggl wh s homophobia. Documents the creatn, receptn, fallout, and rurrectn of Nightmare 2… but simultaneoly documents the experience of beg a gay man Hollywood the 80s, as iends and lovers and lleagu died paful aths while the world sat judgement.

WALSH: NO, GOD DO NOT MAKE PEOPLE GAY

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. 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. 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.

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. “This is all kd of hdsight, but may be that the fact Mark was a closeted gay at that pot, or at least as far as the film bs went, that that was part of what was g through there, ” Sholr suggted of why Freddy’s Revenge read as queer. “Homophobia was skyrocketg and I began to thk about our re dience — adolcent boys — and how all of this stuff might be tricklg down to their psych at an age when ragg hormon often produce dreams and urg that make them (if only unnscly) beg to qutn their own sexualy, ” Chask wrote.

JOHN WALSH REBUTS GAY/PEDOPHILE MEME

It was through nventns and the horror muny at large that Patton realized the posive effect Freddy’s Revenge had on so many fans, particularly queer people who so rarely see themselv reprented sce Patton had purposely extrited himself om Hollywood — and distanced himself om any discsn of Freddy’s Revenge — he was surprised to learn that the movie had transned om disappotg failure the ey of Nightmare fans to a cult gay classic.

September 17, 1985: Print Ronald Reagan addrs the HIV/AIDS epimic publicly for the first time, tryg and, ultimately, failg to ward off allegatns that his admistratn is dog ltle to protect the homosexual muny om the plague fterg wh . In an act of great tenacy, New Le Cema, Jack Sholr, David Chask and Mark Patton not only released one of the only mastream horror film to foc on the existential fears of a gay protagonist, but did so as Reagan’s admistratn promoted a llective fear of the gay muny amongst most of the Amerin middle-class. Tom Hanks's unparalleled performance as Andrew Beckett, a man who is fightg for his digny and his life, nvc small-time (and homophobic) lawyer Joe Miller, played by Denzel Washgton, to reprent him a wrongful-termatn su.