Nightmare on Elm Street 2

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, dir. Jack Sholder, 1985, USA, 87 min. ⚠
Saturday, June 22, midnight @ Castro

“He’s inside me!!”

I generally make a point of avoiding all horror films, and especially all slasher films. However, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is quite possibly the gayest (in a good way) horror film ever. To begin with, the #1 “scream queen” isn’t a girl, it’s our boy Jesse (Mark Patton). At the high school, Jesse and a friend are talking about the P.E. coach’s predilection for cute boys and gay leather bars, foreshadowing the coach’s demise with unseen hands stripping him naked and whipping him red and raw before Freddy Krueger’s famous razor claws finally do him in. Jesse also does a little dance in his bedroom, the entire point apparently being to show off his cute little butt for a lovely close-up. Mercifully, the actual murders are much less graphic than you might expect, leaving room to enjoy the rampant homoeroticism and mid-80’s hairstyles, not to mention shorts that are actually shorter than knee length.

The Frameline37 screening was hosted by Peaches Christ, remade as Peaches Krueger for the occasion, with the fabulous Mark Patton in attendance for a live on-stage dance homage and chat before the film. Of course, that meant that the film didn’t actually roll until about 1 a.m., making for a rather late night, especially for those of us who were in the theater at 11 a.m. for “Fun in Boys’ Shorts.” Still, Mark Patton and DoP Chris Tufty gave some of the inside scoop on the gay subtexts of the movie, making it worth staying up past midnight to watch something I otherwise wouldn’t watch with a hockey mask and a zombie chainsaw. Good fun, less graphically violent than you’d expect; Recommended, especially if you get a chance to see it in a theater with Mark “Jesse’s a homo!” Patton.

• Mark Patton’s official website • Peaches Christ • Special promo trailer for the Frameline screening