Gay Horror Recommendations: Never Sleep Again

When I first started writing about gay horror, I had never seen the second installment in Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy's Revenge), but I read Buzz's hilarious analysis of the gay subtext in the film (in which he calls it the "The Gaypex of Horror Cinema"), and I also read about the film in Benshoff's Monsters in the Closet (which is a book you can find on the gay horror recs page). The gay subtext is so prevalent throughout the film, it becomes like an "after school special" with Freddy Krueger.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the gay subtext in the film, there seemed to be quite a bit of mystery about how this film became so gay. Did the writer or the director do this on purpose? Is the star Mark Patton gay in real life? Was the studio aware of this at the time?

Fortunately, all of these questions are fully explored in the recent documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, which can be found on the gay horror recs page. This is an awesome, entertaining documentary that includes extensive interviews with all of the key players from the film franchise. But for me, the best part is the segment on Nightmare on Elm Street 2 because of its honest and thorough exploration of the gay subtext. The analysis of the gay subtext in the documentary is just as thorough as Buzz's humorous analysis on CampBlood.

I love the interviews with Mark Patton (who is completely wonderful--I have a huge crush), Robert Englund (who has very intelligent things to say), the director Jack Sholder, and the writer David Chaskin (who just might be the origin of this whole thing--his interview is totally wonderful). This segment is really the best gay horror documentary I've ever seen--it really exemplifies how "closet horror" works with coded references and subtext.

Of course, you can't fully appreciate this segment of the documentary without seeing the actual film, so I have the documentary and the film on my gay horror recs page (it's the ultimate gay horror gift package).

I should also take a moment to say that Mark Patton is my favorite gay horror hero and the very first male scream queen!

I also wrote a big long poem-essay about Nightmare on Elm Street 2, which you can find in The Vampire Bridegroom. That's how much I love this movie. Like Buzz from CampBlood says, it's "The Gaypex of Horror Cinema" and the "Gayest Horror Film of All Time."

Purchase the Never Sleep Again documentary and Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge from my Gay Horror Recommendations page.