'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)
• 'A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2' AT 35: ROBERT ENGLUND ADDRS HOMOEROTIC SUBTEXT OF 'THE GAYT HORROR MOVIE EVER MA'
• THE NIGHTMARE BEHD THE GAYT HORROR FILM EVER MA
• THAT ONE TIME FREDDY WAS GAY
• WHO KNEW NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 WAS THE GAYT FILM OF THE 80S?
• WAS THE SEND NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET ABOUT GAY RIGHTS?

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

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

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

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.

One publitn went as far as to dub A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 "the gayt horror film ever. " 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. Beyond that, the film's release 1985 was at the height of the AIDS epimic the Uned Stat, which ed a lot of stigma surroundg gay men and subsequent gay panic was on the rise.

THE NIGHTMARE BEHD THE GAYT HORROR FILM EVER MA

Chask reportedly mented that Patton and his performance were to blame, as there was no tentnal gay ntent the film. This ed animosy between Chask and Patton over the years, as Patton went on rerd sayg that Chask lled his performance "too gay. Chask has sce said the subtext was always tentnal and he had wrten the script to ment on the AIDS crisis, gay panic, and the angst young men experience if they stggled wh their sexualy.

As far as famoly homoerotic sequenc seemgly “straight” ’80s movi go, nothg will ever top the sweaty and shirtls fighter pilots bouncg around the sand to Kenny Loggs’s “Playg Wh the Boys” Top Gun’s unfettable beach volleyball as Robert Englund — the man who donned Freddy Keger’s murro razor-claw glove to torment teens for eight stallments of Nightmare on Elm Street — remds , the anchise’s first sequel, Freddy’s Revenge (1985), belongs the same nversatn. Jsie also dreams he’s at a gay bar one scene, and watch his male teacher get murred while stripped down the shower.

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.

THAT ONE TIME FREDDY WAS GAY

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. Patton and Sholr ce the Village Voice, while Chask believ was actually the gay publitn The Advote.

WHO KNEW NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2 WAS THE GAYT FILM OF THE 80S?

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.

WAS THE SEND NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET ABOUT GAY RIGHTS?

“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.