A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

I'd venture to say that Nightmare on Elm Street: Part 2 is probably the most talked-about of the series.  Its homoerotic subtext has long been debated, and in the documentary Never Sleep Again, screenwriter David Chaskin acknowledged that the gay undertones were intended and even the casting of Mark Patton was on purpose.  Patton was openly out at the time and apparently perfect for the role of Jesse.

NOES 2 starts several years after the original NOES and another family has moved into Nancy's house.  The parents are almost caricatures of Leave it to Beaver types and their son Jesse is an awkward teenager who is plagued by nightmares and often wakes up screaming.  Contrary to initial appearances, Jesse drives a really cute rich redhead to school every day, which sparks rumors of them banging.  However, she seems to sort of get a clue when she comes over to hang out, and is faced with probably the gayest of all horror movie scenes ever.

It's rumored that this scene is often played on TV screens in gay clubs.

Jesse starts to dissect his dreams when he and his somewhat girlfriend Lisa read Nancy's diary and dig deeper.   They (surprise!) discover the truth about Freddy and attempt to fight him.  Easier said than done when Freddy is trying to gain control of Jesse's body, even interrupting a hot makeout sesh with his nasty-ass rotting tongue.   Jesse continues to battle Freddy, trying to save his girlfriend, family, and friends.

This being the "gay Freddy movie" actually has nothing to do with the fact that this really doesn't fit in with NOES franchise.  This movie just has an entirely different tone, and actually doesn't involve Freddy nearly enough.  The scenes that do involve Krueger are sort of half-assed and lame, except for that one where he jumps out of Jesse's body, which is pretty freakin' sweet.

I don't think this is a horrible sequel, but it just doesn't fit in with the general vibe of what we know and love about NOES.  There's a surplus of 80s hair and overacting, but not enough fun Freddy catch phrases or gory death scenes.  Funny to think this lead to #3....probably my favorite NOES!

P.S.  A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 remake coming next year?!  C'mon people!  Lame!

photo source

Random: 30 Day Horror Challenge Day 26

A horror film you loved to watch as a child.

Isn't the term "child" kind of relative?  I kind of wasn't allowed to watch to watch horror movies as a child, but I became obsessed when I was in junior high.  And the movie we would watch over and over was Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.  This is arguably the best sequel of the series.  It has a lot of great acting (for a horror movie), a great story, and some awesome deaths.  That puppet scene still gives me the willies.

This movie brings back great memories of me, my sister, and a couple girlfriends crammed on my the sofabed, throwing popcorn at each other, squealing with laughter and reciting all the great lines of this movie.  Doing the Taryn dream impression was always my favorite.  "I'm bad AND beautiful!"

Random: My "Guilty Pleasure" Horror Movies

Showgirls is my #1 most favorite guilty pleasure movie of all time.  I enjoy watching this cheesetastic piece of crap more than I would like to admit.  They released it on Blu-Ray, so others must like it too, but I'm still slightly embarrassed in my obsession.

The same stands for horror movies.  There's some acclaimed and well-reviewed horror movies that we all love to go on about, analyze, and be proud to love.  And then there's movies that you may not want to admit openly that you like watching.  Maybe other people think they're horrible, maybe they're really cheesy, maybe you've ripped the director/writer/actor's other work(s).  Whatever it is, you know you have guilty pleasure horror movies.  And I'm going to spill mine.  Join me.  You know you want to.

The House of the Dead

I know, I know.  Uwe Boll sucks, this movie is in the bottom 100 on IMDB, I get it.  I still like this nonsense.  The cheesy acting, the splicing of the video game scenes, the lame zombie effects....I love this piece of crap.  I might even watch it and give it a good review on this blog.  So there.

 Maximum Overdrive

Stephen King admits that he was totally "coked out of his mind" during his directorial debut and had zero idea what he was doing.  This does sort of seem like a movie that someone on drugs would make.  I love this movie so much.  The AC/DC soundtrack, that scene where the camera pans back and shows all the trucks lined up on the highway, and of course that awesome green goblin truck.  The corny acting made this even more awesomely bad.  Love it.

Rest Stop: Dead Ahead

I've been ragged on so many times for liking this movie.  I don't care what y'all say...I love it.  Those old rest stops are creepy as hell and it's about time someone made a horror movie about it.  I don't care either that the chick in the closet was fake...that shit was still creepy.  I own this movie, and I will admit it.

 Cabin By The Lake

Made for TV horror movie?  Check.  Ex-Brat Pack star? Check.  A guy that has a garden of dead ladies underwater? Check.  This movie is extra cheesy and doesn't make too much sense, but don't you just love to hate it?

Freddy vs. Jason

The Blu-Ray of this flick is on sale at Best Buy this week.  I will admit that I'm slightly embarassed to stand in line and buy it.  I mean, really. Who likes a horror movie with the chick from Destiny's Child in it?  Every corny cliche pulled from both these franchises are played to death in this movie, but it's fun and gory and I like it.  I am pissed though that they booted Kane Hodder out of this one.

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)

I don't care what people say...I like this movie.  Sure, it gets a little cheestastic with the "freddy joining us in this world" nonsense, but whatever.  I think it's an interesting story and a solid flick.

New Nightmare focuses on Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy in the original Nightmare on Elm Street.  She now has a husband, Chase, who works in special effects, and a son Dylan (played by creeper extraordinaire, Miko Hughes)  Heather has been struggling lately, due to numerous earthquakes in the LA area, nightmares, and a weirdo stalker who keeps calling and sending her letters)  Things get more complicated when Bob Shaye at New Line Cinema pitches her a new Nightmare movie.  Heather is less than interested, but it turns out that Wes Craven has been working on the script like crazy and is insistent that Heather be the star.

Meanwhile, at home, Heather's son Dylan is acting strangely.   After a tragic accident involving her husband, she reaches out to fellow actors Robert Englund and John Saxon for help.  However, they are currently suffering strange events as well.  Poor Julie (Dylan's babysitter, pictured above) is caught up in all of this, trying to help both Heather and Dylan.

Sure, there was a certain amount of corniness to this flick, but I actually really like it.  Miko Hughes is the superstar of creepy kids and the other actors "play themselves" to perfection.  If you're a Nightmare fan, check it out.  Definitely better than some of the other sequels.

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Movie News: "Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy"

I'm super-psyched about this!  From the makers of His Name is Jason, horror fans will be treated to a look back at 25 years of Nightmare on Elm Street movies.  The documentary will star and be narrated by Heather Langenkamp herself! (squeeeeeeee!!!!)  I think some wine and a nice long NOES marathon is in order.

The doc will hit DVD (not Blu-Ray though, booo) on May 4, 2010.

Billy Bob Thorton to play Freddy in upcoming NOES remake

Completely unacceptable.

photo credit: joblo.com

Freddy's Dead - The Final Nightmare (1991)

Oh, early 90s. You brought us NKOTB, slouch socks, walkmans, and Saturday morning cartoons. You also brought us the presumed "death" of Freddy Krueger, which was followed by two sequels where he not surprisingly continued to live.

Wes Craven bailed out on this franchise long before "Freddy's Dead", and this particular installment was directed by Rachel Talalay, the first female to ever direct a NOES film. In "Dead", we're introduced to a young man who is having crazy nightmares (surprise) and then finds himself wandering around a strange town suffering from amnesia. He's picked up by the local police and brought over to the youth shelter. There are some serious characters living in this place, including Breckin Meyer in his first role (as Spencer), Ricky Dean Logan as Carlos, and Lezlie Deane as Tracy. They're all pretty desparate to get out of this hole and are devising an escape plan.

Meanwhile, Maggie, one of the counselors, probes deeper into "John Doe"'s life, and she suspects he's from neighboring Springwood, due to some article he's toting around. She decides to take him for a little stroll around Springwood to see if it jogs any memories -- little does she know that the delinquents from the shelter are stowing away in the back of the van she is driving.

They all arrive in Springwood at some demented carnival where there's no kids and roaches are crawling all over everything. This part of the movie was actually sort of creepy. Then Tom and Roseanne appear -- why?! It seems as if everyone in this childless town is experiencing some sort of mass psychosis. It also appears as if John Doe is the "last child of Elm Street" (I think there's already been three or four of those)

Maggie discovers the stowaways and orders them back to the shelter. Instead they get lost and crash in an old house. They all (of course) fall asleep (dun dun dun) and start getting picked off one by one. By this point in the series, Freddy is more comedian than killer and although the death scenes are good for a few laughs, there's no real scares. Further investigation begets that someone is Freddy's child, and we delve into Freddy's childhood, adult life and how he became the dreammaster.

The final dream showdown of this movie was actually shown at the theaters in 3D. It made my TV screen look a little weird, so I assume if I had 3D glasses, they might work with the DVD. Anyway, 3D was so badass in the 90s. They should bring it back. Anyway, the "Freddy's Dead" portion was actually pretty anticlimatic since he's "died" a whole bunch of times already. This might be worth a watch if you've seen all the others, or if you're looking for some cheesy laughs. For serious scares, look elsewhere.

Grade: D+ (Leprechaun - makes you nostalgic for the fun horror characters of the 80s/early 1990s, but you gotta accept it's really a pretty crappy movie)

The Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

I sure do love the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Sure, there's nothing better than the first one, but all of the sequels are the cinematic equivalent of cheese doodles -- junky, bad for you, and nutritionally devoid...but OH.SO.YUMMY.

Anyway, here we go again. They couldn't get Patricia Arquette from Freddy 3 to come back and play Kristen, so they got Tuesday Knight instead. She sings the opening song, and looks kinda like Patricia Arquette, so it's all good.

In Freddy 4, everyone's out of the mental ward that they were all dying off in during 3. Joey and Kincaid are still hanging around, but everyone else is dead. Kristen's got a hottie boyfriend (Rick) and a best friend (Alice - Rick's sister) There's also hot Dan running around for most of the movie...lots of eye candy in this one.

So of course, Freddy's back. A dog peeing fire brings him out from the hole he was buried in and miraculously fuses together, and IT'S ON. We've got a waterbed scene very reminiscent of the first movie, Freddy as a shark, Freddy wearing some hot Wayfarers, and Freddy sucking face with a nerdy asthmatic chick. There's a body builder chick turning into a bug, human heads on pizza slices, and some funky karate moves. There's all kinds of hot 80s music in this, including the Dramarama hit, "Anything Anything", which I proceeded to download immediately.

As with all the Freddy movies, teenages start dropping off like flies in all kinds of crazy ways. They really must have had a huge special effects budget after the first three, because they're dreaming up every little 80s-style effect that they can. Sadly, Alice is watching all her friends peace out, but somehow she's absorbing all of their skills and personality traits, natch. And of course, the end is kinda lame and in no way final, since we have to leave that opening for 5, Freddy's Dead, New Nightmare, and Freddy vs. Jason!

I like this movie...it's one of the better Freddy sequels, especially those after Wes Craven and New Line had a falling out. And like junk food, it made me crave more and more Freddy, so I'm probably going to be stocking up on some "Nightmare" for a snowy day.

Grade: B (decapitating Mrs. Voorhees in Friday the 13th, kinda fake-ish, but still fucking awesome)