Saturday Sequel Presents: Nightmare on Elm 2: Freddy’s Revenge

By Paul Anthony

Often to to not this is the film that the general public has forgotten about. Sure in the time since it was released it does have a cult following and of course I am talking about Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The film was released just one year later from the first film which had been a hit in the slasher film genre and it was clear that Freddy could be a big name player in the genre but this sequel was very important for that statement to become true. By it’s release date we had so many players in the game now that the genre was losing its popularity, Sure we had Jason on his fifth film, we had Halloween on its third film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Sleepaway Camp and Prom Night and Amityville Horror and so many more that Freddy had to fight for his share in a market that at this point might have been dying. The film made money because of its small budget which was 3 million and grossed nearly 30 million. These numbers were down and up from the first film. The First film had a budget of 1.8 million and grossed 57 million. Critics gave mixed reviews and with fatigue kicking in, it made sense to why this film made less then the first but we also have the plot to focus on as well.

The Film picks up 5 years after the events of the first film. And we told about the events of the first film that Nancy went crazy after see her boyfriend get killed next door and so forth, though we know it was all Freddy. Here we meet Jesse who now has moved into the same house with his family and right off the bat he begins to have nightmares with Freddy in them which always causes him to wake up screaming, which annoys his sister but concerns his parents. Through the first half of the film we see Jesse in school and with his friends and girlfriend Lisa. Soon after that we start to see Jesse personality changes because now Freddy is using his body as a vessel to begin his killings again. Though for the most part we don’t see Freddy doing it just Jesse until the end when the Freddy fully emerges and taunts the teens at Lisa’s Pool party, though Freddy can’t hurt Lisa because of the love Jesse has for Lisa, she realizes this and uses that to defeat Freddy and Jesse is saved but the movie ends with Freddy’s return taking Jesse and Lisa and other school teens on one hell of a ride leaving the door open for a third film that would save the series for years to come.

Some of the knocks I think was going against this film was one it came out a year later, so everything from the story to the graphics felt rushed which hurt the quality of the film. The story seemed rushed from the start. We know Jesse’s family just moved in but there was no build up to Freddy’s return, the movie started and we had Freddy’s return. That’s the the next knock as well, very little amount of Freddy in this story and with no real build it up, It did hurt the film. This movie basically seemed like this would be a direct to Video type of movie and not a movie that would be released on the big screen. In the end I am giving this movie a D for a rating but we all know it made enough money to get us to Part 3.

 

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