As we mentioned in a recent Halloween Highlights post, we enjoy the subversive charms of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. All subtext considered, it’s not a gay-positive movie, but we’re fascinated by the fact that screenwriter David Chaskin was able to sneak a ‘gay panic’ allegory into a highly publicized blockbuster horror sequel – back in Ronald Reagan’s 1985, no less. While the making of the film has been covered in DVD special features and the heralded A Nightmare on Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again, there’s a new documentary coming that examines not only the making of the film, but the aftermath – and we can’t wait to see it!

 

A feature-length documentary focusing on the gay experience in Hollywood horror, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare On Elm Street explores how that experience has changed in the three decades since actor Mark Patton‘s controversial portrayal of Jesse Walsh, the object of Freddy Krueger’s latent desire in the film. Scream,Queen! examines the infamous homoerotic subtext and the special place the film holds in the Nightmare franchise as well as the gay film canon. Partly in thanks to evolving social mores, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 – which was considered controversial at the time of its release – is now being looked back upon with a new appreciation and fondness by horror aficionados and fans of the series.

 

More than thirty years after it first graced film screens, this doc joins Mark as he asks what all the fuss was about when teenager Jesse Walsh danced just a little too freely and screamed a little too loudly while running from everybody’s favorite crispy, wise-cracking villain. Scream, Queen! features interviews with celebrities, film historians and fans to bring a deeper understanding of the social and political climate back when the film was released in 1985, as well as the positive and negative reactions it received – and how those reactions compare to the reactions of today’s audiences.

 

We weren’t able to find an official release date listed for Scream, Queen! but we’ll be keeping an eye out for it. In the meantime, we have the trailer below to obsess over!

 

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