Freddy comes back more intimidating than ever! This movie moves along pretty slowly but still has some major fan service. In fact, Freddy's body count reaches double digits in this film. However, the main school plot is terribly dull, Freddy's possession of main character, Jesse doesn't make sense, and Freddy gets killed off in a very underwhelming fashion. In addition, this movie has a whole lot of homoerotic subtext that is very blatant and sometimes even distracting. Overall, great for horror fans but not so great for everyone else.

Well, Freddy most certainly did get his revenge with this film. Sadly, none of the cast members from the original film returned for Freddy to give his revenge to. In all, the second film in this iconic franchise isn't anything new besides a few scares and Freddy doing Freddy things. But even to that point, it's not always Freddy wearing the glove and committing the crimes, and it diminishes the effect when it's not him.The one thing this film does do is build the mythology around Freddy Krueger's history on Elm Street. Of course he would come back and haunt the same house that Nancy Thompson lived in, now inhabited by the Walsh family. His main target, a timid and constantly nervous, Jesse Walsh. Freddy has a different relationship with Jesse than he did with Nancy, and it just doesn't have the same emotional impact as it did the first time around.It's the same old high school drama, bullying, and sexual tension that plagues the teens in this sequel, and those things nearly outweigh Freddy's screen time. Like any good horror villain, he spends his time working in the shadows, but that only works when the horror is amplified at the important times of the film. That's not the case here.The one incredible moment from this film is Freddy's re-birth sequence. Terrifying and visually impressive, that scene is easily one of the most powerful moments of the series. Overall, this is simply one of those horror films you'll watch on cable, and nothing you need to spend valuable time on.3.4/10

After the late Wes Craven's 1984 horror masterpiece, A Nightmare on Elm Street, was a box-office success, the studio New Line Cinema wanted a make a sequel quickly. Craven was asked back, but refused, a good part of it being due to financial differences with the studio. So the directing job went went to Jack Sholder, who had previously worked on Alone in the Dark (1982). Sholder admitted that he disliked the original film, despite respecting it. A lot of that disdain is clear throughout the movie, which is probably the biggest disappointment of the series. The Dream Child and Freddy's Dead are worse, but they did not have that much riding on them as this film did.The story opens with the only scary scene in the movie, where a bus dropping off high school children suddenly goes crazy and drives out into the desert. The ground falls around it until it is in a see-saw-like position. The driver reveals himself as Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), who proceeds to go after the kids. Just before he strikes with his razor-blade glove, it cuts to a normal family having breakfast and we hear the main protagonist, Jesse (Mark Patton) waking up from a nightmare and screaming like a little girl. The rest of what follows is some typical high school jazz, except when Freddy Krueger appears, which is hardly at all, and everything in Jesse's house (owned by Nancy Thompson's (Heather Langenkamp) family from the original) heats up like crazy. And yet, Jesse's father says that everything is fine, even when a parakeet goes crazy. The opening is only a warm-up for the viewer to get to know one of the weakest protagonists I've seen not just in a horror film, but a film in general.Jesse is what one would think of when it comes to awkward high school boys, but what makes him so weak is how he reacts to what happens to him in the film. Freddy wants to take control of Jesse so that he can eventually kill people in the real world, where he will have unlimited power. Even after Freddy starts coming to him, he does nothing to figure out what's happening. Even after his gym coach, Schneider (Marshall Bell), gets killed by a possessed Jesse, Jesse does not drink coffee or take pills to keep himself awake right away, or let his girlfriend, Lisa (Kim Myers) help him out. It's almost like he's eager to let Freddy take control of his body without even realizing it.The reason Jesse looks so awkward in this movie is that Mark Patton cannot act for peanuts here. Apparently, the director's or somebody's idea for Jesse acting scared or intimidated was to have his body shake a lot, always look like he wants to be somewhere else, and do it badly. Myers does a better job, but at the end of the film when she has to face off against Freddy, who finally does take full control of Jesse, she gets all unnecessarily weepy to the point of extreme annoyance and takes away from how horrific Freddy looks when he melts. It's all part of a confusing finale where Freddy is somehow defeated with the power of love when Lisa kisses him. It does not have the same logic to it as how Freddy is defeated in the first film. Listen to me, talking about logic in movies about dreams. It's also part of the film's attempt to be even more serious and scary than the original, like Lisa and Jesse's relationship was a love story that couldn't be topped. Appreciate the effort, Jack Sholder, but no thanks.The film has very few scares other than the opening scene. The one that comes closest is when Jesse stays at his friend Ron Grady's (Robert Rusler, who also struggles to act) place for the night and Freddy bursts out of his body (a great effect) to kill him. What ruins it is Ron screaming for his dad to open the door to his room (he's grounded), and his dad screaming the same thing. Which side has the lock? A couple of failed jump scares include a boa constrictor wrapping around Jesse as he sleeps and a mouse jumping out of an old locker in a factory that Jesse and Lisa visit (where Freddy used to take his child victims in his past life).In most film series, the first sequel is the best and the third is either a disappointment or just not as good. This time, it's the opposite. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is a perfect example of how a new series can lose track of itself so quickly. Having a weak protagonist especially hurts the film, partly because it's jarring to go from such an intelligent and sturdy character like Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) from the original to a weakling who can't solve a serious problem like this himself. It does not make him more relatable.

Jesse Walsh moves with his family into the home of the lone survivor from a series of attacks by dream-stalking psychopath, sadistic dream demon, Freddy Krueger. Jesse experiences nightmares every single night, all feature the same man who continues to harass Jesse, telling him to "Kill for me." This is a sequel which isn't as bad as some may say it is. It's not horrible, it's great. And it's great that we have characters we root for instead of wanting them to get slaughtered. Some of the practical effects look good but that's about it. I want to talk about this one scene in the movie I enjoyed a lot, Freddy raids Lisa's party and slaughters nearly everyone there. It's great! A very good film and sequel and is worth watching, 9/10