I've written about A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge several times before. Back in 2015, most of my Halloween themed posts were focused on Wes Craven films. Although the film is certainly not the series best, it is one of the most fascinating to watch, research and read about.
In part of course it's the homoerotic elements. Although not widely discussed at the time of release, (or even acknowledged...) the films gay themes have been written about and discussed in great detail since. In part, it's also because it's really the only Nightmare film with male nudity. Those aren't the only reasons however, that keeps me interested.
I watched actor Mark Patton's Scream Queen documentary twice now. Once when it first came out, and once again last month. I loved hearing about his life during the filming, his fear of being outed, the impact of the harsh reception and the fall out of being blamed for how the film landed, and that was he who was responsible for the gay vibe the film ended up with.
'David would just blame me any time it came up alluding to something along the lines of, ‘Well, he’s a big old fag and he chose to play the part in a big old fag way.'
The 'David' that Patton refers to in the above quote is Freddy's Revenge screenwriter David Chaskin. When after the films release, writers and movie viewers began to discuss and write about the gay subtext, Chaskin claimed ignorance. Instead of admitting his role, which he did much later, he blamed Patton, and the way in which he played the role.
In re-watching the documentary, I was slightly less annoyed with Chastin and more angry at the film's director Jack Sholder. Sholder came off as smug, and like Chastin early on, played ignorant, even mocking the feelings of Patton and viewers of the film. Anyone who knows anything about film making knows that nothing ends up on screen that the director doesn't approve.
Mark's dancing, his voice level and, scream pitch would have all been directed, filmed and ok'd by Sholder. How much of Mark in his tighty whities, how many crotch shots, how much of Mark's ass was shown, again, all in the hands of the director. There are s many scenes in the film that prove this point, one of my favorites, the pantsing of Patton on the ball field.
To be clear, I'm not necessarily critical of the choices Sholder made, I enjoyed the film, my issue is how the films writer and director ran from their obvious choices, leaving the one 'out' gay actor to take the blame for any criticism the film received. Thankfully Patton seems to have come out the other side, making piece with the film, and embracing his fame, at least over the holiday season.
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