Monster Crap Inductee: A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

Monster Crap Inductee: A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

Freddy Kruger Brings Us Into A World Of Confusion…In More Ways Than One

1985

It’s another Summer Of Bob and this time, he has actually given me a theme where there will be two films with our old pal, Freddy Krueger (the other one will be at the end) and a bunch of other films in the middle.

Kind Of Like A Cheeseburger

And we start with a film that is the first sequel in the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise with A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. The year is 1984 and the whole slasher craze is becoming buck wild at this point and all of them with the same objective to create a new franchise like the Friday The 13^th franchise, which is funny as Friday the 13^th had actually planned this year to be the last movie to have Jason Voorhees with the Final Chapter (as we all know, money said otherwise). So there might need to be a new replacement for Jason and New Line Cinema and Wes Craven would scratch that itch with Freddy Krueger and A Nightmare On Elm Street.

This Is Still An Awesome Poster By The Way

And because that was a hit and because Friday The 13^th also loved rushing a sequel the next year (the year they said it would be the Final Chapter, they then announced the series would continue with New Blood), so New Line Cinema felt the same so they wanted to rush out a Nightmare On Elm Street 2. And immediately they had issues as the first draft of the script they had was going to focus on pregnancy as a plot device, but one of the New Line Cinema executives was pregnant at the time and this whole thing very much upset her so that idea got the kibosh.

They Would Return To That Idea In The 5^th Installment Called The Dream Child

So a new script was written by David Chaskin (we’ll get to that script later) and when they offered Wes Craven to write the sequel, he took one look at the script and said no. So they then offered it to the director of Alone In The Dark (not the terrible Uwe Boll film) in Jack Sholder and he was also going to turn him down when he realized that maybe this whole directing a sequel could put him on the map so he said yes.

Of course, ultimately Robert Englund would return as Freddy Krueger (I’ll explain why I said ultimately later because before the whole controversy of Jackie Earle Haley replacing Robert Englund, New Line Cinema had an even worse idea that thankfully smarter heads prevailed on). But they needed new kids because Craven wanted the first film to be self-contained and New Line kind of agreed there. The main character would be named Jesse and it was actually down to two people and they eventually chose Mark Patton, who played a pre-transition transgender woman in “Come Back At The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”. But don’t feel bad for the guy who didn’t get the role, turns out he has a hell of a career because the guy that they passed on was Brad freaking Pitt.

Somewhere In An Alternate Universe, Him Being In A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge And I Would Love To Take A Quick Glance At That Universe To See What Happened There.

The next person they hired was Robert Russler and just the same year (a few months before this movie was released), he, along with Robert Downey Jr., were asshole boyfriends of the girls our protagonists want to get with in a cult film Weird Science.

They then needed a female lead (who would be named Lisa and would get more time on the movie because once again, Wes Craven was able to convince someone with it being the writer this time as he thought that Lisa should be more of a focus in the film than originally written and the writer agreed). After an audition that both Mark Patton and co-star Robert Russler were allowed to sit in on, Kim Myers was chosen because according to Jack Sholder, she looked a young Meryl Streep.

Time for people who were in previous Monster Crap inductions. We of course start off with Robert Englund himself as he was the director of a little film called 976-EVIL.

He also acted in a terrible Tobe Hooper film that I inducted called The Mangler.

He Was The Evil Boss Named Bill Gartley

Kim Myers has also been in a previous Monster Crap induction Hellraiser: Bloodline

She Was The Wife Of The 1990s Ancestor Of Our Main Character

Clu Gulager is also in this film and you may know him from the Monster Crap induction From A Whisper To A Scream

This Time It Will Not Be Implied That He Has Sex With A Corpse

Kerry Remsen was Nicole in Ghoulies 2.

Tom McFaddon is in three Monster Crap inductions in Uncle Sam, 976-EVIL, and Prophecy.

Now before I get into the induction, I have to explain this because this legit might explain why this film is a confusing mess. Pre-Production of this film began in April of 1985, Principal Photography commenced in June of 1985, and the movie was released in November of 1985. So yes, this movie was completely rushed into existence.

Now onto the induction.

We begin with a school dropping off kids to their houses.

We then get the opening title sequence. 

We also see a certain actor is the bus driver.

Hi, Robert England, Who Also Is Freddy Krueger

This was actually one of the scenes Wes Craven hated, which was why he didn’t direct this film. I personally think it is a clever nod considering what is coming up. We then meet our main character in Jesse Walsh.

Who Never Looks Like An Emo Geek Through The Rest Of The Movie.

More kids get left off the bus and all that is left is Jesse and two girls.

The girls find Jesse weird, but nevermind that noise as the bus misses the next bus stop and starts speeding up and going off road. The bus stops in the middle of nowhere and the ground starts sinking around them.

It continues sinking until it is clear that the bus on two rock pillars.

We then find out that Freddy Krueger is now the bus driver.

Freddy stalks them and the teens have to be careful as if they go too far back, the bus will fall into the pit of hell. Freddy is about to slash them, but this is all just a dream as we go to the house of the Walsh family and they hear Jesse scream like a girl.

Hi Clu Gulager. And Yes, That Is A Fake Cereal That Likes The Fu Manchu Movies, Which Are Definitely Racist As Hell.

We see Jesse in a sweat and he comes down for breakfast. Jesse’s father wants Jesse to clean up his room and have everything out of his boxes by tonight, which obviously says they just recently moved to this house. Jesse complains about how hot it is upstairs and Jesse’s mom wants the father to get the AC fixed, but the dad thinks nothing is wrong with the AC (meaning his dad is a cheap ass). Oh and the daughter got the Fu Manchu Fingers that looks like Freddy Kruger’s claw and freaks Jesse out.

Also The Mom Was Paul Kersey’s Wife Who Got Killed In Death Wish (The Charles Bronson One)

The doorbell rings and it is Lisa, Jesse’s neighbor and who goes with him in Jesse’s car to school.  She also obviously is attracted to him.

He never takes the key out of his car and laughs when Lisa is concerned someone may steal it because the car is definitely a piece of junk that I’m surprised Lisa is okay going to school in it. At gym class, we see the boys playing baseball as the girls are doing archery and we meet Ron Grady.

He Is Jesse’s Sort Of Friend, Although They Fight With Each Other Quite A Bit

Jesse looks at Lisa and misses the ball hit by Ron that hits him in the head.

That’s An Error That Belongs In The Blooper Reel

Coach Schneider casually asks if he is okay and when he says yes, tells him to pay attention next time.

Jesse eventually gets Ron out on the next play and Ron responds by pulling his pants down (which I am not showing). They get into a scuffle, which Schneider breaks up and forces them to do pushups as punishment.

As they are doing pushups, we find out that coach may get his rocks off watching them do pushups as we are told he hangs out at S&M joints at night. Schneider eventually tells the two to hit the showers and in the locker room, we find out that the family moved to the house that was Nancy’s house in the original film and apparently Nancy went crazy. Ron is saying all this and Jesse doesn’t believe a word of it.

That night, Jesse has another bad dream where he thinks someone has broken in and of course, it is our old pal Freddy Krueger.

Freddy then says probably the most memorable thing in this whole movie, besides the movie having a homoerotic subtext.

Freddy: I need you, Jesse. We got special work to do here, you and me. You’ve got the body and I’ve got the brains.

Freddy takes off his hat and rips some skin to show his brain.

Jesse wakes up yelling from his nightmare and his parents show up to comfort him. Jesse’s mom is worried and wants to call the doctor, but Jesse says he is fine and it was just a bad dream. The next day in biology class, Jesse falls asleep and a snake slithering onto his neck and shoulders.

He screams thinking it is another dream, but it isn’t as the snake is legit there and the biology teacher scolds him, saying that if he wants to play with animals, then he should join the circus.

He flips off Ron, who is laughing about the whole thing. We then go to Lisa’s house where she is swimming in her pool and she gets told by her mom that Jesse is on the phone. Jesse plans on going to her pool, but his dad stops him and tells him to finish setting up his room. Jesse goes upstairs to do this and puts on “Touch Me (All Night Long)” by Fonda Rae and starts dancing.

I Think People In The 80s Were Very Weirded Out By Our Main Character

Of course, he gets embarrassed as Mrs. Walsh and Lisa walk in on him dancing. Lisa is here because she decided she wanted to hang out with him, even if it meant helping him set up his room. As they are setting everything up, they find a diary that belonged to Nancy. In it, Nancy first talks about Glenn (Johnny Depp’s character who got killed) and then talks about Freddy Kruger. This freaks Jesse out because he knows of Freddy Kruger from his dreams and also remembers what Ron said earlier so what Ron said wasn’t BS.

That night, Jesse wakes up from bed and see things melting, including a record.

Wonder If We Are Going To End Up In A Salvador Dali Painting, But With A Record Instead Of A Clock

Jesse goes to the basement and sees that in the furnace is Freddy’s glove.

Of course, Freddy shows up laughing and then tells Jesse to try on the glove to see if it fits him. Jesse throws the glove down and Freddy wants Jesse to kill for him. Jesse runs and falls into some barrels. When he turns around, Freddy is gone, but the glove is still there.  

The next day, Lisa guesses that Jesse may have premonitions, but Jesse said he never had anything happen like this before and does not think it is a premonition. Lisa asks for the diary and Jesse gives it to her. Kerry shows up and we find out there will be a pool party at Lisa’s house this weekend. Lisa kisses Jesse on the cheek and leaves with Kerry.

Please Don’t Turn Into A Deranged Maniac While I’m Gone

Jesse and Ron talk in the locker room and they talk about how Schneider has a stick up his ass today and of course, Schneider just so happens to be right there. So get your ass back to doing the pushups, boys.

When Jesse gets home, Mrs. Walsh puts a sheet over the parakeets so the birds can sleep and complains about the air conditioning again. Mr. Walsh checks the thermostat and finds that it is 97 degrees in this room, but will he get someone to fix the air conditioning? The answer is of course not, he’s a cheap ass. There then starts to be some rumbling from the bird cage and when they open it, one parakeet has killed the other parakeet.

The other parakeet then escapes the cage and starts flying around until it explodes.

For God Sakes, Mr. Walsh…..Get Someone To Fix The Fucking Air Conditioning. And Also Just Because They Are Cheaper, Stop Buying Parakeets That Can Spontaneously Combust.

Actually, this was the scene Wes Craven most hated when he read the script and decided that he was not directing this film. My opinion is yeah, this scene should not have happened as it makes no sense whatsoever. You can’t even say Freddy did it as the whole family saw this one and they can’t even explain it. Mr. Walsh also somehow blames Jesse for this where you get the first hints (although never confirmed) that Mr. Walsh might actually be Jesse’s stepdad as Jesse says Mr. Walsh has no right to talk to him like that.

That night, Jesse gets up and goes into the kitchen where somehow lightning goes inside and hits the plates.

Huh?

Even stranger is Jesse decides it is a perfect time to go out in the rain while wearing his PJs and go to the local S&M club.

He then goes to the bar and asks for a beer.

That’s Producer Bob Shaye As The Bartender. He Originally Wanted To Get The Role Of Mr. Grady (Ron’s Dad), But Director Jack Sholder Says He Already Has Someone Else For That Role And The Best He Can Give This Producer Is The Role Of Bartender At An S&M Club.

But before Jesse can enjoy some underage drinking, you can guess from earlier who shows up.

Hi Coach Schneider, Can You Tell Me What The Safe Word Is?

Coach Schneider takes Jesse to the school gym (which you think would be closed at night) and makes him jog around the gym for a bit. Coach tells Jesse to hit the showers and goes into his office. Then even more strange stuff happens as Schneider’s office and balls start attacking him.

You Say This Movie Is Gay? I Don’t Believe You.

Schneider then gets his hands bound in jump rope by an unseen force.

It drags the coach to the showers and it binds coach to the shower heads. He then is disrobed and smacked on the ass by floating towels.

Harder!!!

Jesse then disappears in the smoke and in comes Freddy Krueger.

Yeah, There Is A Very Good Reason You Don’t See Freddy That Well.

You see, in a very cocky move, New Line Cinema thought that anyone could play Freddy Krueger (like Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees) so in a cost cutting move, they originally hired an unnamed extra to play Freddy. This was actually one of the first scenes they shot and they found out pretty quickly that Robert England was such a physical actor in the first movie, that this guy playing Freddy just looked like he was shambling around like Frankenstein’s Monster. It just did not work so they immediately paid Robert England what he wanted (which wasn’t too much at the time) and the only idea of the extra playing Freddy is this scene because of the smoke being able to hide him.

Freddy Krueger slashes Schneider in the back and Coach is dead.

Jesse sees this, screams, and runs off after seeing the glove is on his hand.

Ah Shit…..I Better Run

A knock at the Walsh’s door and the cops come by with Jesse, saying that they found him walking in the rain.

Yeah, Folks….I Know This Is Awkward, But We Found Your Son Walking The Streets Naked While It Is Raining. He’s Lucky He Hasn’t Caught A Cold Yet. If This Happens Again, We Are Going To Have To Arrest Him For Public Indecency.

Mr. Walsh thinks Jesse is on some drugs and Jesse walks away in disgust. The next morning, Mr. Walsh is reinforcing the bars on the windows to Jesse’s room, since this was Nancy’s house in the first movie. Both parents are concerned by Jesse’s behavior, but Jesse says he is fine as he takes Lisa to school. Mrs. Walsh once again thinks Jesse needs professional help and Mr. Walsh still refuses to hire a shrink.

Jesse and Lisa arrive at the school and find out that Coach Schneider got killed in the showers last night, which makes Jesse realize that last night was not a dream whatsoever. We then go to night again where Jesse looks in his bed and finds the Freddy Krueger glove moving.

We also hear Freddy’s voice saying that Jesse should kill for him. Jesse goes to a random room and sees a girl doing jump rope while singing the “1, 2, Freddy’s Coming For You” rhyme.

That girl is of course Jesse’s younger sister. We then go to daytime and Jesse confronts his dad about the house being Nancy’s house from the first movie. The younger sister is scared and Mr. Walsh tells his wife that there was a reason they got a great deal on this house. Mr. Walsh doesn’t want to hear anymore about this house as there is nothing wrong with this place, although the freaking place having a bad air conditioner and birds just spontaneously exploding should say otherwise. Just then, the toaster catches on fire.

And Even Better, The Damn Toaster Wasn’t Even Plugged In.

In the car, Lisa tells Jesse that he cannot blame himself for what happened to Schneider as just because he dreamt it, doesn’t mean he did it. Lisa has Jesse driver her to an abandoned factory.

Lisa says it is an old power plant and Freddy Krueger worked in the boiler room of the place. She then shows Jesse the articles she found about Freddy Krueger being the Springwood Slasher and how Freddy was freed on a technicality, but parents rose up and burned Freddy’s ass to death. They walk around and Jesse feels nothing, until he is drawn to an old locker. He opens it up and there is a rat inside.

Hey, Leave Me Alone Before I Call My Friends And We Go "Rats: Nights Of Terror On Your Ass.

We go to night and the furnace has turned on and we go to Angela (who is Jesse’s younger sister) and Freddy is standing over her asking her to wake up. Her eyes are still closed and she asks what time it is, then we see Jesse telling her to go back to sleep.

Indication Being That Freddy Is Starting To Possess Jesse, But Doesnt Have Enough Strength To Fully Possess Him For Long Periods Of Time.

Jesse then starts taking the drug Sta-Up with a can of Coca-Cola.

Yeah, Sta-Up Is Not A Real Drug, But As You Know, Coca-Cola Is A Real Soday And For Some Strange Reason During The 80s, Coca-Cola Was Very Relaxed With Movies And Shows Showing Their Product, No Matter What Type Of Movie It Was.

Even Something As Dumb As Rock N' Roll Nightmare Was Allowed To Have Coca-Cola Product Placement.

Meanwhile we go to morning,

Hey Paper Boy, That Shit Didn't Hit My Door And Door Mat! I'm Unsubscribing From Your Paper!

Jesse’s parents are so unknowing that they think Jesse is looking better even though we know that boy didn’t get any sleep last night after having another nightmare. But Lisa knows he had another nightmare, Jesse explains that his dad thinks he is on drug, his mom thinks he needs help, and at this point, he doesn’t know if he doesn’t agree with them. So at the cafeteria, all of the teens that have been named are noticing that Jesse isn’t doing alright. Ron keeps talking with food in his mouth and Jesse tells him to shut up so Ron leaves as he is upset.

We then go to a pool party that was teased earlier as people are just hanging out and eating hot dogs and burgers cooked by Lisa’s dad. Both of Lisa’s parents decide to leave the kids alone for the night with someone else taking over grill duties and Jesse is sitting on his own, not in a good mood. Jesse goes inside and Lisa follows him, wondering what is wrong. Jesse is about to leave, but is stopped when the two start making out.

And Let's Just Say You Can Definitely Tell That One Of Them Is Played By An Actor Who Eventually Came Out As Gay

Outside, the kids wait for the parents to turn off the lights so they can bring in beer and play funky music. Lisa’s dad knows that is what is going on, but Lisa’s mom just tells him to let them be kids. Back at the make out scene, it doesn’t go to far as Jesse sprouts a monster tongue.

Gene Simmons Would Approve

This stops Jesse who runs off and where does Jesse go when he has to leave his girlfriend? Why he goes to hang with shirtless Ron of course.

I Forgot To Mention Earlier That Ron Was Grounded Because He Accidentally Tripped His Grandmother Down The Stairs. We Never Find Out If Granny Is Okay.

Jesse wants to sleep in Ron’s room because he is worried about something is trying to get inside his body. Ron reluctantly agrees after Jesse convinces him that he is all messed up. Back at the party, Kerry tells Lisa to fuck the party and go find Jesse. Back at Ron’s room. Jesse goes to sleep and Ron thinks everything is fine, but suddenly Jesse wakes up and screams that something is coming out of him. And we see claws coming out of his fingers.

Fucking Ouch...

Ron tries to leave and can’t because his door won’t open. He screams for his parents to wake up. We then see Freddy’s eye through Jesse’s mouth.

Freddy then literally comes out of Jesse’s body as Ron is still banging the door and calling for his parents.

Ron’s dad hears the noise and tries to open the door, but it won’t open on his side either. Sadly for Ron, all his screams of terror in calling for help are in vain as he is killed by Freddy Krueger.

Freddy then smiles in the mirror as we see Jesse is the one holding the glove.

Jesse is mad at Freddy for killing him and as we hear sirens, Jesse escapes through the window. Jesse goes to Lisa covered in Ron’s blood and tells her that he killed Ron and Schneider. He says that Freddy is inside him and Lisa is trying to figure out what is going on. Back at the pool party, the water starts getting hot and smoky so people start getting out. The grille turns on and hot dogs start popping because they are too hot.

Then beer cans start opening and spraying.

Aw Man, All That Good Beer With The Name.....Beer

Lisa wants Jesse to listen to more entries in the diary, basically hoping that Jesse can stop Freddy from being in their world. Unfortunately, the outside gate magically locks, Lisa’s parents are locked in their room, the fish tank starts heating up and Jesse turns to Freddy again.

Freddy says that Jesse can’t fight him and tries to attack Lisa. Lisa runs as Freddy catches her and bites her leg.

Lisa tries to escape while fellow partyers are trying to get in, but Freddy goes up to Lisa and demands she kill him, knowing that she would be killing Jesse. Lisa can’t and Freddy is about to kill her, but the Jesse part is sort of fighting him so Freddy then decides to go outside to the pool party and disappears for a sec before bursting from the floor.

Booyaka, Booyaka...326. Booyaka, Booyaka...Freddy Krueger

This is where this movie definitely loses me because if we know the Nightmare rules, Freddy can do all his strange shit in dream world, but he really cannot do magical shit in the real world. But yet, all of the random shit like stuff getting hot, the parakeet scene, and all that will happen is happening in the real world. Freddy then somehow is able to heating the gates so if anyone tries for the gate, they get a burn

Freddy then starts killing people.

With people cornered, one guy tries to calm Freddy down and says he is here to help Freddy. Freddy tells him to help himself, slashes him, and throws him over to the side.

Fire comes out of the pool and Freddy tells the scared crowd this.

Freddy: You Are All My Children Now.

Lisa’s dad comes in with a rifle and shoots at Freddy. Lisa stops him because she knows that is Jesse and Jesse is still fighting him so Freddy just walks away.

Oh Yeah, Freddy Can Walk Through Fences With Greenery Via Fire.

Lisa’s dad doesn’t know where Freddy went, but Lisa does and she runs off. And where did he run off to, you may ask?

Why, The Factory That Freddy Used To Work At.

But before she goes inside, she has to cover that bite wound.

Don't Want To Get That Wound Infected

She goes inside and there are apparently guard dogs with human faces.

Because Of Course There Is....This Movie Hasn't Had Any Rules Before So Why Start Now.

The human faced guard dogs let her through and she heads to the boiler room. As she goes in, she feels something in her bite wound and apparently bugs have come to feast on that wound.

Didn't Do Enough To Take Care Of That Wound, Did Ya?

Oh and then the bugs just disappear and her leg is still wrapped up. She continues her search for Jesse and when she climbs up the ladder, she gets a ratty surprise.

Aw Nuts....The Killer Weasels Have Shown Up

A cat kills the mouse and it turns into a monster as well while eating the monster rat.

What World Am I In?

Lisa runs from this shit and she finds Freddy who tries to slash her, but she runs away.

She runs into a dead end and sees Freddy who wants her to come to him. Lisa tries to plead with Jesse to fight Freddy and Freddy keeps saying that Jesse isn’t here anymore. He is about to try and kill Lisa when Jesse’s disembodied voice comes through and Freddy stops. Lisa says that she loves Jesse and Freddy starts to bleed. Lisa is about to run, but she stops and says that she is not afraid of Freddy and knows that Jesse is in there. Freddy weakens as Jesse is obviously fighting him and Lisa is keeping with the encouragement. Freddy says that Jesse will die with him and Lisa doesn’t believe a bit of that as she kisses him.

Yep....Lisa Is Kissing Freddy

The boiler room starts to catch on fire as Freddy screams because he is losing.

And then he starts to melt.

Oh No...He's Becoming The Incredible Melting Man. Lisa, You Need To Get Away From Him.

Freddy burns and Jesse has returned from Freddy’s charred body.

The two embrace

And then we go to the next day with Jesse and Lisa on the bus as a couple.

Gee....I'm Sure Glad Everyone Forgave Me And No Charges Are Being Filed On Me For Going On That Murder Spree. I Guess Saying Freddy Controlled Me To Murder Those People Is An A-OK Defense In Springwood.

Jesse can’t believe it is all over, but unfortunately for them, the bus starts doing what it did in the beginning of the movie and Jesse starts thinking his dream from the beginning is happening again, but it is a false alarm as the bus stops to pick people up.

The Bus Driver Even Gives Him The Look Like "What The Hell, Man?"

But what isn’t a false alarm is Freddy’s arm coming out of Kerry.

Everyone screams as the bus goes off the road like the beginning and we hear Freddy’s laugh signifying that this nightmare is not over. However, the movie sure is over as we cut to credits with Bing Crosby’s “Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?”

Box office results are kind of weird on this one as some say it finished second behind Death Wish 3 and some say it finished 3^rd behind Death Wish 3 and To Live And Die In LA. It made 10 times its budget as they got $30 million with a $3 million budget, but it definitely didn’t do as good as the first one. Critics absolutely trashed it, but in the 80s, you really couldn’t trust the critics as for some reason, almost every gory horror movie in the 80s was getting trashed. But then again, they also trashed a lot of John Hughes’ films back then so odds are your childhood viewing had better tastes than most critics.

But then people looked more into the film and started to say “Um….this movie has a strong gay subtext to it”. This was the 80s and homophobia was running rampant so not a lot of people appreciated that this movie was very much having the talk about issues facing homosexual men.

Ron DeSantis Would Have Probably Pushed For This Movie To Be Banned From Cinemas As Well As Most Of The GOP.

In fact, a lot of the cast and crew was not happy with the whole gay subtext of the film and kept trying to say that it was completely unintentional. Most of the blame went to script writer David Chaskin and he claimed innocence for a long time. That was until 2010 and in the documentary about the whole Nightmare On Elm Street series called Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, David Chaskin finally came out and said basically that he intentionally wrote the movie to have the gay subtext to it.

His argument was homophobia was huge and it might be getting into the psyche of our core audience so having the gay subtext would add an extra level of horror for them. David has however yet to get forgiveness from star Mark Patton from the film, which is understandable because for a while, David had used the excuse that it was Mark’s fault as he played it too gay. This and the fact that Mark was actually gay in real life caused Mark Patton a lot of emotional stress that eventually led him to quitting the acting business shortly and going into a career in interior design. Mark has in 2019 made a documentary called “Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street” that talks about his struggles after this film. So yeah, Mark can take all the time he needs before he can forgive David for putting that on him.

As far as the rest of the cast and crew,  very few were actually hurt by this film. Robert Englund (who played Freddy) was easily able to have a fine career considering Freddy kept getting movies and he created a good cult following for his films. Jack Sholder (the director) actually did another film about people having something inside them that makes them different from who you believe they are as his next directorial film would be The Hidden, a science fiction film where there were good and bad aliens hiding in human beings, and that definitely got great reviews as it is a good film so he was fine (Sholder would retire from directing in 2004 after making the docudrama 12 Days Of Terror, which is about the 12 days in New Jersey where they were dealing with a killer shark (an incident that is the reason Jaws exists)). Kim Myers (who played Lisa) would be mostly relegated to TV roles like Studio 5-B, Key West, and The Pretender. Like I said, the same year this movie came out, Robert Russler (who played Ron) also had Weird Science come out and also was in other genre films like Vamp, Sometimes They Come Back, Amityville: A New Generation, and was in the 90s Babylon 5 series. Clu Gulager (who played Mr. Walsh) would also be in other movies, but he was mostly an acting teacher. Hope Lange (who played Mrs. Walsh) would in the next year be Mrs. Williams in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and also be in movies like Clear And Present Danger and Just Cause. Christie Clark (who played the little sister Angela) would go on to be in 1,619 episodes of Days Of Our Lives as Carrie Brady Reed.

Damn...She Definitely Grew Up To Be Good Looking

Lyman Ward (who played Ron’s dad) would in the next year go on to be Ferris Buehler’s dad in Ferris Buehler’s day off. Allison Barron (one of the girls on the bus) would go on to be Helen in Night of the Demons. JoAnn Willette (who was the other girl on that bus) would actually work with Heather Langenkamp from the original Nightmare On Elm Street as they did 47 episodes as sisters in Just The Ten Of Us. Steve Eastin (who played one of the policeman who brought Jesse home) was Guard Falzon in Con Air and pitcher Eddie Cicotte in Field Of Dreams. Kerry Remsen (who played a girlfriend of someone’s) would be the doomed Maggie in Pumpkinhead.

Actually, the most successful besides Robert Englund is Marshall Bell (who played Coach Schneider). This was actually his second ever role. He would actually do so well that on IMDB, there are four films he is more known for than this one (those being as General Owen (the general who lost his mind and thinks they are all going to die before getting punched by Michael Ironside) in Starship Troopers, George and the twin brother living in his abdomen Kuato in Total Recall, Lt. Atwater in Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead, and a year after this film, he would be Mr. Lachance (Gordie’s dad) in Stand By Me. You might also know him as Bill in Cherry 2000, Webster in Twins, Ford Plasko in the TV series Good vs. Evil, and Warden Marshall Krutch in Capote.

Unfortunately as with most Monster Crap inductions, there are people who have since passed away. Hope Lange (who played Mrs. Walsh) passed away in 2003 at the age of 70 from ischemic colitis infection (an intestinal infection). Hart Sprager (who played a different teacher) passed away in 2010 at the age of 75. Melinda O. Fee (who played Lisa’s mom) left this mortal coil in 2020 at the age of 77 after suffering a stroke. Clu Gulager (who played Mr. Walsh) died in 2022 at the age of 93 from natural causes. Edward Blackoff (who played the biology teacher when the snake incident happened) died in 2023.

Time for my final thoughts and if you haven’t guessed from my entire review of this film, I did not particularly like this film. You have already established that Freddy can only do his magic in the dream world and yet in this film, he can do magical powers whenever he wanted to, even when he was really Jesse. The parakeets going crazy is never explained and neither are the human faced dogs and the monster rat and cat. And you may notice that none of those had to do with the gay subtext as I really don’t give a shit about that. Hey, it was an interesting idea to be progressive, but as the late Roger Corman (still can’t believe he is no longer with us) would tell you, you should worry more about the movie being good or entertaining before you worry about the subtextual message. Everything else is fine, but the only way this movie even makes sense is if the whole movie is just a dream, but you do need to say that. Thankfully, Part 3 would be my favorite and Part 4 would be okay, but then it would get bad and we will eventually get back to Freddy Krueger where he is at his worst.

Not Counting That Terrible Remake.

But it is time to move on and our next choice from Bob is a film that I knew was coming and it was why I was not completely mad when Five Nights At Freddy’s won the GINO. Oh we are doing another 2023 film and it is the film that a lot of people were wanting me to do and it was the worst film I saw last year. Yes, it is the film that only exists because something entered the public domain.

Time For Some Blood And Honey.