Monthly Archives: October 2015

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A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

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A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge

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Today’s feature is arguably the black sheep of the A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise: A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.

While Wes Craven was given a character credit on the movie, the screenplay for A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 was provided by one David Chaskin, who also wrote The Curse and I, Madman.

The director for Freddy’s Revenge was Jack Sholder, who was also behind the movies Beeper, The Hidden, and Wishmaster 2.

The film had two credited cinematographers: Jacques Haitkin, of A Nightmare On Elm Street, Wishmaster, Evolver, Maniac Cop 3, The Ambulance, and Shocker, and Christopher Tufty, who worked as a camera operator on films like Piranha, The Beastmaster, Critters, and Best Seller.

elmstreettwo2A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 likewise had two credited editors: Bob Brady, who is best known for cutting Super Fly, and Arline Garson (House of Dark Shadows, The Swap, Alone In The Dark).

The team of producers for Freddy’s Revenge included Stephen Diener (The Hidden, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), Stanley Dudelson (A Nightmare On Elm Street), Michael Murphey (Dredd, Trick or Treat, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), Sara Risher (Critters, Surf Ninjas), Robert Shaye (Xtro, Freddy vs. Jason), and Joel Soisson (Maniac Cop 3, The Prophecy).

The musical score for the film was composed by Christopher Young, who also provided music for the films Trick or Treat, Hellraiser, Species, The Core, and Drag Me To Hell.

The makeup and special effects for A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 were provided by a team that included Wendy Hogan (3rd Rock From The Sun, Roseanne), Daniel Marc (House II), Bart Mixon (Double Dragon, Hellboy), Kevin Yagher (The Dentist, 976-EVIL), Richard Albain (Bloodtide, The Giant Spider Invasion), Paul Boyington (Invaders From Mars), Rick Lazzarini (Dead Heat, Evilspeak, Aliens), Ron Nary (Malcolm In The Middle), and Mark Shostrum (DeepStar Six, From Beyond).

elmstreettwo6The visual effects crew for the film was made up of Paul Boyington (Ed Wood, Iron Eagle III), Loring Doyle (Sin City, Willow, Twister), Paul Huston (Labyrinth, Cocoon, Congo), Ian Kincaid (Cujo, Casino), and Wes Takahashi (S. Darko, The Core).

The cast for Freddy’s Revenge was composed of Robert Englund (The Mangler, A Nightmare On Elm Street), Mark Patton (Come Back To The 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean), Kim Myers (Hellraiser: Bloodline), Robert Rusler (Weird Science), Clu Gulager (Return of the Living Dead), Hope Lange (Blue Velvet), Marshall Bell (Total Recall), Sydney Walsh (Point Break), and Christie Clark (Days of our Lives).

Wes Craven apparently declined to be involved with this specific A Nightmare On Elm Street sequel because of some issues with the screenplay and its portrayal of Kruger. He also reportedly had little to no desire to turn the film into a franchise from the beginning.

Recently, David Chaskin has claimed that the homoerotic subtext was written into the screenplay intentionally, but that the cast and crew were totally unaware of it during filming. It is now somewhat of a cult classic because of this, and regarded specifically as “the gay one” among fans of the franchise. Coincidentally, the cast lead of the movie (Mark Patton) was an openly gay actor, and considers himself the first male scream queen due to his specifically vocal role in the film.

elmstreettwo5Reportedly, John Stamos, Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, and Michael J. Fox all either auditioned or were seriously considered for the lead role in the movie.

Robert Englund was not initially brought back to play Freddy Kruger in the film, and the role was instead filled in by an extra. The production eventually gave Englund the raise he initially asked for (and was denied) and brought him on board the film, because the extra was reportedly terrible in screen tests.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 was made on a budget of $3 million, on which it grossed roughly $30 million in North America alone. Its financial success paved the way for the franchise to continue, in spite of a poor reception with critics and fans. Currently, the movie holds a rating of 5.3 on IMDb, along with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 42% (critics) and 33% (audience), and most fans regard it as the weakest entry in the franchise.

One of the most entertaining moments in A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 is the infamous dance sequence, which was apparently included based on the success of the dancing sequence in Risky Business at the behest of the film’s producers.

Another infamous sequence in Freddy’s Revenge is the shower scene, which contains sexual subtext that is about as close to straight up text as subtext gets. Check out the whole thing below (included with a number of other highlights), in which a naked gym teacher is bound with jump ropes and repeatedly whipped with a towel:

Mark Patton, the lead in Freddy’s Revenge, has an impressive high-pitched scream that he gets plenty of mileage out of in this movie. It is hard to describe just how unreal it is, as it sounds almost like it was coming out of a young boy, and doesn’t fit Patton’s appearance or standard voice at all.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 is interestingly the only film in the franchise with a male in the center of the story being tortured by Freddy Kruger, with a woman in the more traditional “hero” role trying to save them. The film has gained some acclaim for this gender role reversal, and it has almost certainly helped contribute to its cult appeal.

Personally, I think this film is an interesting and fresh take that moves the story from the original movie in a new direction, which is what a sequel should ideally do. The idea of Freddy possessing people is interesting to me, as he otherwise shouldn’t be able to impact the physical world. I feel similar about this movie as I do about Halloween III: it is a different direction for a franchise that is original and inventive, but people ultimately just wanted more of the same. Both movies are certainly flawed, but they are both fun horror flicks that tried to change the mold of their respective franchises.

elmstreettwo4Overall, A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 isn’t totally awful, but it certainly isn’t good. It has a lot of entertaining moments, but they come in bursts, and are separated by some slow pacing and plenty of down time. That said, it is worth watching through at least once, and appreciating it as the Top Gun of horror movies. Horror fans and bad movie fans alike need to mark this one down as a necessary watch.

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Brainscan

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Brainscan

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Today’s feature is Brainscan, a 1994 horror film about a killer video game.

Brainscan was written by the combination of Brian Owens (Happy Hell Night) and Andrew Kevin Walker, who is best known for the notable films Sleepy Hollow, 8MM, and Se7en.

The director on Brainscan was John Flynn, who was also behind the movies Best Seller, Out For Justice, and Lock Up, among others.

The cinematographer for the film was Francois Protat, who most famously shot the sci-fi film Johnny Mnemonic and the morbid comedy Weekend at Bernie’s,

Brainscan had two credited editors: Jay Cassidy, known for cutting films like Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Foxcatcher, and Fright Night Part 2, and Phillip Linson Deadfall, who worked on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and Tombstone.

The team of producers on the film included Bob Hayward (Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets), Joe Nicolo (Shade, Tooth and Nail), Michel Roy (Loaded Weapon I), and Jeffrey Sudzin (Idle Hands, Fright Night Part 2, Hamburger: The Motion Picture).

The musical score for Brainscan was composed by George S. Clinton, who also provided music for such films as The Love Guru, Austin Powers, Mortal Kombat, Beverly Hills Ninja, American Ninja 2, and American Ninja 3.

The special effects team for the film included Evan Brainard (Mortal Kombat, Space Truckers), Gary Coates (Trailer Park Boys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ryal Cosgrove (Scanners II), Jacques Godbout (Scanners, Vigilante), and Steve Wright (Eastern Promises, The World’s End).

The makeup effects were provided by a unit that was made up by Steve Johnson (Dead Heat, Species, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Videodrome, Humanoids From The Deep, Suburban Commando, Leviathan), Adrien Morot (Death Race, Battlefield Earth), Joel Harlow (Battlefield Earth, Suburban Commando, The Langoliers), Loren Gitthens (Darkman, Fright Night Part 2), Joe Fordham (Evolver, Species II), Norman Cabrera (Wolf, Spawn, The Cell), and Mike Smithson (Dollman, Dead Heat, Teen Wolf Too).

The visual effects on Brainscan were done in part by Art Durinski (TRON), Lisa Foster (Wolf, Virtuosity), Aristomenis Tsirbas (Titanic, Star Trek: Enterprise), Teddy Yang (Shark Tale, Mission To Mars), Cosmas Bolger Jr. (Swordfish, Red Planet, The Core, Club Dread), Chris Casady (Tank Girl, Children of the Corn II), Lisa Adamson (Wolf), Michael Rivero (Stargate, Coneheads), Karen Skouras (From Dusk Till Dawn, Tank Girl), and Steve Wright (Superman III, Blade: Trinity).

The cast of Brainscan was made up of Edward Furlong (American History X, Terminator 2), Frank Langella (Masters of the Universe, Small Soldiers, The Ninth Gate, The Twelve Chairs), T. Ryder Smith (The Venture Brothers), Amy Hargreaves (Homeland), and Jamie Marsh (Evolver).

brainscan4Reportedly, Edward Furlong and director John Flynn didn’t get along throughout the production of the film. Furlong was apparently in the midst of his teenage rebellious phase, and was under-performing his role on top of that (in the opinion of Flynn).

Brainscan managed to pull in a $4.3 million gross in its total theatrical run, but I wasn’t able to dig up any budget information. My guess is that it was profitable on what was likely a low budget, but not enough so to justify a sequel.

The reception to the movie was mixed. Critics landed on the negative end of the spectrum from what I have seen, giving it a metascore of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, on the other hand, have been a good deal kinder, earning it a 6.1 on IMDb and a 61% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.

Furlong’s lead character is introduced to the audience as a voyeur, spying on the girl who lives across the street from him with an advanced camera and computer system. This doesn’t seem to be played by the film as intentionally creepy, and comes off more as a way to establish that he is a socially inept geek. That really started me off on the wrong foot with both the character and the movie in general, because that kind of behavior is pretty blatantly creepy and wrong, and doesn’t inspire any positive feelings from me.

The background of the movie features a lot of pseudo-advanced technology, like a voice-activated personal computer and what seems to be a form of online telephone system. While these are very much real things now, they were pretty far off in 1994. I’m not sure if these are more examples of a cheesy misunderstanding of contemporaneous technology on the part of the production or surprisingly successful futurism by the writing, but either way they are pretty entertaining to see.

brainscan3Brainscan has a pretty serious case of tone confusion if you ask me. The first few minutes build up a surreal and uneasy-feeling setting, which are followed by some impressive gore effects and menacing sequences. However, it turns a bit jokey and lighthearted at times, thanks to the excessively flamboyant villain (which I assume was designed with Freddy Kruger in mind) and some mostly unnecessary gags. What comes out isn’t quite a dark comedy, as much as it is a straight horror movie with poorly integrated humor that mixes like oil and water.

That said, the makeup effects are effectively bizarre, and not just in terms of gore. The Trickster, the Freddy-esque villian, has some of the most ridiculous hair I have ever seen outside of a 1980s music video, and is heavily made up to look vaguely inhuman. The computer generated visual effects, however, have aged very poorly, making the climax sequence almost laugh-out-loud hilariously dated.

brainscan2Overall, Brainscan isn’t an awful horror movie, and does showcase some interesting ideas here and there. However, the execution leaves a bit to be desired, like the idea wasn’t quite percolated on long enough. The practical effects generally do look good though, making it easy enough to watch, but the writing and acting aren’t quite on par. For horror fans, I think it is worth checking out. As a bad movie watch, it has enough cheesy moments, bad acting, and weird plot bits to make it worth digging up, though it definitely isn’t a top-tier choice for me. That said, the tail end of the movie showcases some memorably terrible visual effects that are bound to stick with you.