A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - Do you like ‘short shorts?'

Well, if you ever have a small appreciation for short shorts, then you’ll get an added bonus out of Part II of the long-standing horror franchise. Because, believe it or not, the film was written with a ‘homosexual subtext’ and, if you look closely, you may just spot it.

I don’t know whether that’s the main reason why people think that Part II is probably the most inferior of all the sequels, but there’s many an Elm Street fan who skips this one over the rest. However, I can’t really get the hate.

We join Freddy in his seemingly never ending quest to do away with the children of America by invading their dreams. Here though, he needs a helping hand from an unwitting teenage boy called Jessie, who the spiky-fingered one regularly takes over (or ‘has’ as Jessie desperately puts it) when he wants the boy to do his murderous bidding. Part II was made before Freddy became such a figure of fun. In the later movies there’s far more tongue in cheek moments. Here, it’s pure horror. Perhaps people don’t like this one because Freddy doesn’t invade so many dreams, choosing to inhabit a mortal boy instead and make him do the killing (technically).

It does have a different ‘feel’ to it among the rest of the franchise. The series’ creator, Wes Craven, came back on board for Part III to ‘steer it back to its original direction.’ But, if you’re a fan (and you don’t mind seeing plenty of teenage boys in short shorts) then you might want to overlook the hate and check it out to see whether you agree. There are some pretty horrific moments included where the (non CGI) special effects really are quite good.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that