A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

With regards to the dialogues and fluidity, it is much better and less stiff, unfortunately, in terms of plot and screenplay, it is almost tragic. The first half is still passable, the protagonist delivers a surprisingly decent performance and his nightmares are impressive. But then the screenwriter makes some unbelievable mistakes, resulting in completely illogical inserts or even entire sequences. In the end, we are left with a gratuitously bloody carnage that is not even remotely impressively shot. A heavy travesty that relies solely on the good name of its predecessor and the irresistibly sleazy villain. (23/11/2006)

Freddy’s Revenge doesn’t have much in common with A Nightmare on Elm Street, apart from its name and the character of the killer. The rules set in the first movie by Wes Craven vanish for the most part, so almost anything can happen, be it in a dream or in reality. The flick opens on a really neat dreamy sequence with a school bus, which belongs to the series’ best horror scenes, but the rest of the film misses all the magic and logic. The latently homosexual hero spends his nights intuitively wandering in gay bars, gradually turning into a killer. Except in this film, Freddy can be defeated by the power of love, so a single clumsily uttered ‘I love you’ is enough to solve everything. Another disappointment of this picture is the way Freddy’s murders are presented: paradoxically, the most memorable ones are those insanely bizarre scenes including skipping rope, naked butt and whipping wet towel. When, towards the end, Freddy arrives at the pool party, you start looking forward to the final carnage, but the scene is interrupted before anything happens. A terribly frustrating sequel and a subpar horror. (19/09/2020)

I have very mixed feelings about this sequel. Freddy is still very cool and the make-up effects look good, but the tension barely works and the story plods along from the start. On top of that, the characters are one more unlikeable than the next and I basically didn’t care who would survive or not. But the biggest crime for me is the lack of murders in dreams, without them the Nightmare can’t be a Nightmare. Two stars and no more than that. (04/08/2008)

A very stupid sequel to the great first film. What was impressive before is different and wrong now, and if it weren't for a couple of really good scenes (Freddy crawling out of a living person) and the line "You've got the body... I've got the brain.", the most frightening thing about it would be the hysterical briefs of the main character. (30/12/2017)