* 'Back Online. Back On DOODIE.' is something new I want to bring to the blog. There's a lot of times where people go back to an older movie they once loved and end up having nostalgia take a big bite out of their ass. But how often does someone go back to a movie they once thought was a steaming pile of crap... and end up falling in love with it? That's what this is about. Each entry will be from a different buddy/buddette blogger. I was originally gonna run this as a week long theme, then I thought it might work better long term. Maybe once a month or even bi-monthly. But rest assured, this won't be the first and last time shit turns out smelling like a rose on the blog. *
Also, thanks to Matthew House from Chuck Norris Ate My Baby for coming up with the genius title for this theme.
Without further ado, here's Maynard Morrissey on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.
For a long time, the
second entry in the "Elm Street" franchise was a big mystery to me.
At my local rental store, it was one of very few movies that got robbed of its
cover, so the store owner just put an empty box on the shelf with a little note
saying that this box includes "Nightmare 2". Sucked big time, because
I had no idea how the cover looked like and I couldn't get a glance on some
funky stills.
Due to my young age, I wasn't
allowed to rent horror films, except in the presence of my parents, but they
weren't fans of Krueger, so they always persuaded me to choose something
different - was ok for me, because it gave me the chance to see loads of badass
Italo flicks =)
I was sure that I would see it on
TV - but for whatever reason, it was never shown on TV during my childhood.
Austrian TV regularly showed the first part, while several German TV stations
frequently showed parts 3-6 - but no-one "dared" to show Part 2.
Sucked even more.
I finally got to see it for the very first time in 2006 when a local electronic
shop sold the 7-DVD Elm Street collection for a pretty cheap price. I bought
it, took it home with me, re-watched the first part for the umpteenth time, and
immediately afterwards - full of excitement - I watched the second part for the
very first time in my life, and...
I hated it.
It might have something to do with
the horrendous German dubbing (back then,
I still watched dubbed versions, until 2008 when I finally decided to give a
shit about dubbing and learn some fucking English), it might have something
to do with seeing it right after the first part, it might have something to do
with the fact that I expected this to be packed with scary dream sequences and
other creepy stuff, as all the other Freddy flicks.
I sat there, staring at the screen in disbelief, wondering if this was really
the sequel to one of the greatest horror films of all time. The tone was so
different, the story seemed to make no sense, Freddy wasn't fun anymore. I was
angry and disappointed. I tried to rewatch it a second time a couple of weeks
later, but lost interest and turned it off half an hour into it.
I was sure that Part 2 is a major
suckfest and decided not to ever see it again.
Then, in 2011 I stumbled about an
article claiming that ANOES 2 is the gayest horror film ever made. I was like:
WTF? Did I miss something? I remembered the opening with the school bus,
Freddy's face coming out of the boy's stomach, the bird, the coach (Marshall Bell, who also appeared in my
favorite film of all time "Stand by Me"), and several other
things - but gay? What??
I decided to check into that and gave it another re-watch. To my surprise,
there really were several scenes and things that could be described as
'homoerotic', but not in a softsex/porno-way (or a David Decoteau way). It
feels bit like "Jeepers Creepers 2": slightly gay, but barely
noticeable and of course not distracting.
Naked sweating man,
naked asses and lines like "There's a man who's trying to get inside
me" - I don't consider things like that as gay per se. And the silly dance
scene - sorry, but these were the 80s. Back then, everyone looked silly. The
only truly gay thing is the Limahl poster
;-D
To my much, much bigger surprise:
I suddenly enjoyed it. It hit me like a hammer! I was like: "Is this really the movie I've seen
back in 2006?" It was, and after some thinking, I figured out why I
didn't like it back then: because it's soooo fucking different from the other
films. Seemed to bother me back then a lot, but now, it doesn't bother me at
all.
It has almost no connection to the other Elm Street films, and feels more like
a stand-alone film, at times even like a fan-film (not as different as
"Halloween III", but close).
The movie's tone is much darker, much
creepier. There are huge amounts of fantastically spooky 80s atmosphere, thanks
to some well-lit, well-staged settings, the beautifully haunting cinematography
by Jacques Haitkin ("The Hidden") and Christopher Tufty ("Savage
Streets"), and the excellent orchestral music by the mighty Christopher
Young ("Sinister"), which is of course radically different from
Charles Bernstein's legendary score, but still very, very good and very
effective.
The cast is nice and almost
everyone delivers a fine performance, especially Mark Patton as young Jesse,
Clu Gulager and Hope Lange as his parents, Kim Myers as his girlfriend, and the
above-mentioned Marshall Bell as super-weird football coach who seems to be a
little into S&M.
The movie's highlight is undoubtedly Robert Englund in his most impressive
portrayal of Freddy Krueger. Back then, I thought that Fred's behavior isn't
entertaining enough - now, I realize that this is exactly what's so cool about
it. There's no amusing lines, no funny transformations - Fred is mean and
creepy and evil and totally bad-to-the-bone. The scene where he slashes his way
through all the kids at the pool party is mindblowing ("You are all my
children now.") and the sequence where he breaks out of Mark Patton's body
is simply awesome (great practical effects).
There's only one scene where Fred
cracks a joke ("You've got the body... I've got the brain.") but even
that one is more frightening than fun.
Ok, there are many things that
are hilariously cheesy: the exploding parekeet (aaargh, so stupid! hated it
back then, and still hate it), Patton's super-silly popgun dance, or the rather
pointless scene in the gay bar. It drags a bit in the middle, and the ending is
kinda meh - but apart from that, it's a super-cool sequel that rocks a lot more
than I actually thought.
Maynard's Horror Movie Diary was one of the first blogs I started reading when I got back to blogging a few years back. The dude is a super nice guy and always straight to the point with his opinion on film. Check his blog out right HERE, and keep an eye out for more 'Back Online. Back On DOODIE.'
