Nightmare on Elm Street 2: A Sequel Full of Pride!

by Jimmy O'Hara

 “Freddy’s here and he’s…queer?”

The year is 1985, and Freddy Krueger’s deadly streak has returned to the satanic-panicked homes of Elm Street.

This time, he’s back with a vengeance that’s gnarlier, more imaginative, and more gay?!

Yeah, more gay than he, or any slasher masked villain icon, has ever been before on the silver screen.

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Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) is widely regarded as the lackluster follow up to the pop culture and blockbuster monolith that was its predecessor and subsequent franchise creator. But to its gay star, gay screenwriter, and gay fans, it's a sexy sequel full of fabulous pride! Scream, Queens! Freddy is back to SLAY!

The queer imagery explodes off the screen from the moment the credits begin to roll. The allegorical bullying on the yellow school bus ends with an absurdist nightmare death sequence with Freddy that propels our lead, Mark Patton’s Jesse, into a sexy cold sweat in his even sexier tighty-whities. A Kate Bush poster on the wall above his bed, a “no chicks allowed” sign on the bedroom door, and a baseball shaped lamp that quite literally looks like a cock! Could it get any GAYER!?
Yes! A quick cut to Jesse in gym class with sweaty thirty three year old models playing high school extras in jockstraps, short shorts, and certified 80s midriffs. Jesse’s new to Elm and this school, and his new frenemy Ron teases him about their teacher hanging out at “BDSM clubs and liking pretty boys like you”.

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Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer / Imgflip

Luckily, Jesse has a straight, popular girl crush, Lisa, to help him navigate it all. So why is Jesse struggling to commit to her for…unexplainable reason?! Even more unexplainable, Jesse’s dreams have become increasingly violent. As the nightmares get more vivid, so does the homosexual subtext! 

The most overtly queer sequence is without a doubt Jesse’s first DEADLY nightmare. Jesse dreams he finds himself barefoot, shirt unbuttoned, hot and sweaty (he spends much of the film like this) at a leather gay bar where he runs into his Gym Teacher, just as Ron had chided earlier. His teacher takes him back to the school gym to run barefoot laps as punishment (wink, wink), and  he watches him from the sideline in his leather daddy vest, assless chaps, and matching leather wrist cuffs.

As Jesse hits the showers, his teacher  removes a jump rope from his utility cabinet and places it in the seat in front of his desk - presumably to engage in B in BDSM with his student! Questionable 80s morality even for Freddy I guess, as it is at this moment that our infamous nightmare creature sinks his claws into the first victim, Daddy Gym Teacher, by binding him with the jump rope in the showers and whipping him to death. Jesse is terrified. Did he have a kinky sex dream about his gym teacher or did he kill his gym teacher!? As the lines between dream and reality blur throughout the film, so do Jesse’s sexual desires.  

The homosexual yearning peaks again when Jesse helplessly climbs through Ron’s window (emulating Glen and Nancy in the first film, wink, wink) in search of someone to…sleep with! He doesn’t go to his family or Lisa, but his homeorotic frenemy! Ron lies on leather pillows and sheets, decorates his room with female punk rock bands, and sports a “no turkeys” sign taped to his bedroom door. “No turkeys” can be rephrased for a modern audience as “no posers” or “come as you are” (WINK! WINK!).

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Source: Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Official Trailer

It is too late for Ron though, as Freddy quite literally COMES OUT of Jesse and kills his forbidden lover. It is also too late for Jesse, sadly. He has fallen victim to years of crushing repression as result of a life confined to stifling conservative suburbia. It IS a horror movie, after all! A true nightmare on Elm Street that rings far too true for many queer horror fans. Sure, it lacks the structure of the first film, but Freddy’s Revenge is full of queer imagery, subtext, and pride. Perfect for repeat viewing throughout this very special month! 

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Jimmy O'Hara

is a queer writer, screenwriter, actor, and horror buff  from Chicago, Illinois.