For you older horror fanatics (and even if you aren’t a horror fanatic, keep reading anyway… it’ll turn very kinky gay very soon), the 1985 Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is infamous. While a critical flop at the time, this movie has now become a cult classic that nearly all kinky gay men need to know about.
It’s probably not a spoiler alert to know this stared a young man (Mark Patton) who, after moving into a certain house, essentially became possessed by the soul of Freddy, and goes on a killing spree. So why should kinky gay men care? Because it’s argued that this is one of the most (unintentionally?) homoerotic movies made of it’s time.
In this movie, the twink lead dances in his underwear, is frequently shirtless and sweaty, goes to a gay S & M bar, and kills his abusive high school gym coach (who he also sees at the gay S & M bar!) by tying him up in the gym shower, stripping him, and before killing him, whacks his butt and back with towels. There’s an undeniable gay and highly effiminate subtext to everything, despite a tacked on hetero subplot. Many have likened to the film to more of a closeted coming out story, and seen in that light, there’s a lot of open campiness to the film the really has to be seen to be believed.
The scene below (which contains no scares or gore) is when he sneaks into his incredibly hot best friend’s room in the middle of the night to explain his plight, and while both showing off their chests, have a conversation that sounds pretty damn sexual. (Not my vid; sorry for the poor quality.)
The sad part is the movie ended the brief career of the lead actor, Mark Patton, as he was endlessly mocked at the time and largely blamed for the failure of the film. He went into hiding for nearly 30 years, only recently emerging as fans have now embraced this film as arguably the first major gay horror film. A documentary has been made called Scream, Queen!, and I actually wend to see it recently with my husband! It gave some interesting insights to the undertones of the film, and how the queer audience has come around to embrace it. I recommend seeing it for a bit of gay horror history!
