‘Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street’ Review

You'd be forgiven for not knowing the name Mark Patton, but you've most assuredly heard of his work: Patton was the star of 1985's A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, the sequel to the 1984 horror classic starring Johnny Depp, Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund—the movie that brought us Freddy Kruger.

Patton was Jesse, a super-hot teen whose body is being taken over by Freddy who hopes to escape the dream world. Audiences balked at screenwriter David Chaskin's possession tale, however, causing Patton to quit acting and move into obscurity in Mexico.

Nobody heard from him for more than 20 years. But then something interesting happened. Nightmare 2 achieved a sort of cult status over the following decades, but it wasn't for its cheesiness or the iconic Freddy…Nightmare 2, it turns out, is a super-gay movie.

I say this without a hint of homophobia—its gayness is actually a well-documented thing based in the movie's subtext, male nudity, S&M bar scene and Patton's acting choices (including an infamous dance scene and a rather feminine scream). But while the hot-headed homophobes and yokels of the era were busy hating out of fear and insecurity and the shameful handling of the 1980s AIDS crisis, an entire generation of closeted young gay men found a hero and some representation, even if it wasn't intended.

In the Patton-produced Scream, Queen, we follow him on the 2015 horror convention circuit as he unpacks what being in the film wrought for his life and career. Through interviews with Patton, horror fans and now-grownup gay men who love the movie, a picture emerges of Hollywood cruelty and the terrible homophobia of lowered expectations; Patton is on a mission to get an apology from the person he believes ruined his life, but he's doling out hopeful tidbits about growing up gay in a time when it was entirely more terrifying to do so.

He's a challenging hero, a seeming egomaniac and broken never-was who holds grudges for decades. Cast and crew from Nightmare 2 make appearances, but they're mainly inconsequential outside of a showdown with writer Chaskin who, by the way, might just be a huge piece of shit. But almost none of that matters as much as the convention-goers and horror flick fans who tell us what it meant to have a handsome young man take on the de facto "last girl" horror trope. We realize Patton is right to hold that grudge.

Is it ego-maniacal to want redemption or understanding or even just a simple apology? It's more courageous, really, and a means for an accidental queer icon—who turned his later fame into activism—to show others it's alright to stand up and hold their truths. Thus, the doc becomes powerful and at times fascinating, even if it's not the most well-crafted piece of journalism we've ever seen.

8
+Explores one of the most unintentionally glorious things ever
-Patton's personality hard at first; longer than necessary

Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street
Directed by Roman Chimienti and Tyler Jensen
Amazon, NR, 99 min.