Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (Review)
Scream Queen isn't the Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge Documentary I wanted, but it ended up being the one I needed.
To kick this off I have to come right out and say Nightmare 2 is my favorite Nightmare of them all, with the original falling slightly behind it as unpopular as that might be, despite it's cult following it has developed over the years.
Why might you ask? BECAUSE FREDDY IS DARK! And even darker than the original I might add, most people gush over the infamous "Welcome to prime time bitch" line in Dream Warriors, meanwhile I cringe as I feel the tonal shift inevitably closing in on the Franchise, as I personally gush over Freddy hitting levels we would never see again in the likes of Freddy's Revenge.
Nevertheless though, as much as I wanted to dive into every inch of what made Freddy so bad ass and scary in Freddy's Revenge, the Documentary I got was about the lead (Jesse)
The final guy...no wait, final girl....SCREAM QUEEN of the movie and quite the scream queen he was and I am of course talking about the wonderful Mark Patton! This was so much more than just a tale of Freddy's Revenge, this was the tale of Mark Patton's Revenge (even if he probably wouldn't call it that) Essentially what Mark finally gets to do is let go of some much needed baggage he had been harboring for some time now and that of course my friends, is that Revenge is in fact...THE GAY NIGHTMARE after all and that it was in FACT written that way (as if anybody with a brain thought otherwise)
I myself was someone who fell victim to thinking otherwise, but in my defense I was all of probably about 7 years old when I first laid eyes on the movie and didn't know any better, so that'll be my excuse if you will, but barring you being a child you can see plain as day this movie went WAY beyond Patton's actions as a closeted gay male actor at the time, this script which was claimed to only be consisting of "Gay undertones" by the writer himself (David Chaskin) had quite the opposite really, as gay undertones riddled the script till the point the word undertones became idiotic to even use.
As we delve into all the things Mark endured on the set that made him uncomfortable, the more we understand why he went away to where he did (trying to spoil as little as possible here guys) he was nowhere to be found, not necessarily cause that's how he liked it, but I'm sure it felt like a safe place after the bad taste that Hollywood had left in his mouth.
You might say gay?!?! Why did he have a problem with just coming out? Well that is another thing that this great Documentary dives into, straight or gay there really is something saddening and interesting to peeling back the curtain on something that is just a stones throw away in America's past, we're now pretty well up to speed that it is ok to love who you want to love, outside of your few stubborn/inevitable crazy people, but not long ago being gay wasn't what it is today, to be gay in Hollywood could be the end of everything you ever worked for, your Career gone over that? For you young in's reading...YESSS! potentially so!
Beyond that we delve more into Gay culture as Patton revisits a heartbreaking story I wasn't even remotely aware of, of him and a past lover and just how much that took a toll on Mark only added to the depth of his life that I found out I actually knew so little about, also nice tidbits like how he was very close to a certain celebrity from one of his earlier roles took me back as well.
Of course we do find quite a bit of Freddy in this and neat information other than more of the set base of the Documentary sprinkled in as well, I mean after all, all of this did take place within the film Freddy's Revenge! And if you're a huge Freddy's Revenge fan like me, you'll find solace in seeing the cult following it's developed over the years come to life right before your very eyes!
Yet of course what we all want to see in a Documentary such as this is the reunion, let's see just how aware the fellow cast/crew are of the movie they were making and kind of make our own critiques if certain cast and crew members are just truly that oblivious, or are too stubborn to allow themselves to see the film they were actually working on.
Then of course the final confrontation is there, the mother of them all in the form of Patton talking to the writer who made him feel so torn by not admitting he had in fact made a gay script and lending the idea that the gay tones were more along the lines coming across due to Mark as the lead and how he portrayed the character of Jesse.
But how will it end? Will this confrontation end in rage and will the writer (Chaskin) only double down further on his claims, or will Mark finally have that moment of clarity to finally rejoice in ways he's longed for for quite some time now, sometimes a simple apology can patch the pieces together more than you know, will he get that apology though?
Find out for yourself in one of the best Documentaries I've seen recently, showing off one of the best Scream Queens to ever do it, Patton's Scream Queen is a true delight that puts a smile on your face from beginning to end and gives off a vibe of unity, peace and happiness at a time in the world when we need it the most.
4/5 STARS