A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: Freddy's Revenge The healthy box-office response to the original A Nightmare On Elm Street prompted the creation of a year-later sequel to capitalize on a good thing. And ticket-sales-wise, it rang the cherries. On the please-the-fans side, there were a few bumps. But on the whole, A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a fairly entertaining affair, a stand-alone Freddy romp which has little to do with his predecessor and even less to do with its sequel. The idea is that five years have elapsed since Nancy Thompson and her family faced the fabled Freddy Krueger in their Elm Street homestead. A new family has moved into the house, and it's not long before teenaged son Jesse (Mark Patton) begins having weird dreams. It seems that the restless spirit of Freddy wishes to be reborn through Jesse himself. Echoing the first film, our protagonist is surrounded by veteran players as his parents (Hope Lange and Clu Gulager), and unlike ensuing sequels, this film could easily exist as a story unto itself. The trouble is that it already has a strong one-shot predecessor film in its dust, plus a string of go-together-well sequels waiting in the wings. So Freddy's Dead is rather easy to lose in the shuffle. But it needn't be. It's pluses carry some weight, particularly Patton's emotionally-wrought turn as Jesse, with his spot-on take on 80's angst. His run-in with a closet-gay coach is rather chilling (at least until Freddy's intervention), and there's a showstopping pool party sequence in which Mr. K makes a fashionable appearance. Taking over from David Miller, Kevin Yagher creates the updated make-up design for Freddy. While decidedly more sinister, it's a bit burlesque, and it was a relief when Mr. Miller was allowed to resume his duties on the fifth film. Director Jack Sholder bookends his film with dream sequences which involve a runaway school bus that seems to be driven by Freddy. Those scenes are the highlights of Freddy's Revenge. The rest of the film constitute an incongruous terror tale that manages to entertain in spite of itself. << Previous Review | Next Review >> Cast: Mark Patton .... Jesse Walsh Kim Myers .... Lisa Poletti Robert Rusler .... Ron Grady Clu Gulager .... Mr. Walsh Hope Lange .... Mrs. Walsh Marshall Bell .... Coach Schneider Melinda O. Fee .... Mrs. Poletti Tom McFadden .... Mr. Poletti Sydney Walsh .... Kerry Robert Englund .... Freddy Krueger Edward Blackoff .... Biology Teacher Christie Clark .... Angela Lyman Ward .... Mr. Grady Donna Bruce .... Mrs. Grady Hart Sprager .... Teacher Allison Barron .... Girl on Bus JoAnn Willette .... Girl on Bus Steve Eastin .... Policeman Brian Wimmer .... Do-Gooder Robert Chaskin .... Bar-B-Que Boy Kerry Remsen .... Girlfriend Kimberly Lynn .... Patty Steven Smith (I) .... Victim Jonathan Hart .... Spike << Back