Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street
posted October 29, 2019 #
Until this year, I had never seen a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. I'm not a huge fan of horror movies and thanks to a somewhat traumatic memory of seeing a literal bloodbath scene from the original film while dining inside of a Mr. Gatti's Pizza, I always kept my distance. But I'm 40 now, so I figured I can handle it.
To be honest, I was mostly interested in watching the second film in the series because I had heard that it was a subversive take on the hardships of homosexuality. If a Freddy movie could be a social commentary, I was intrigued.
The documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street documents that notion very literally. Lead actor Mark Patton (Jesse) had his career tank after the movie and there's plenty of lingering animosity towards the writer and director because of it. Was the homophobic world of 1985 to blame or was it an intentional setup? Has the film flourished into a cult classic because of intentional undertones or accidental ones?
It's a pretty fascinating juxtaposition worth exploring and I hope Patton finds some resolution; some 30 years later.
To be honest, I was mostly interested in watching the second film in the series because I had heard that it was a subversive take on the hardships of homosexuality. If a Freddy movie could be a social commentary, I was intrigued.
The documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street documents that notion very literally. Lead actor Mark Patton (Jesse) had his career tank after the movie and there's plenty of lingering animosity towards the writer and director because of it. Was the homophobic world of 1985 to blame or was it an intentional setup? Has the film flourished into a cult classic because of intentional undertones or accidental ones?
It's a pretty fascinating juxtaposition worth exploring and I hope Patton finds some resolution; some 30 years later.