A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

Play trailer

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

R

1985

1h 25m

Horror

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

46%

Tomatometer

35 Reviews

33%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) moves with his family into the home of the lone survivor from a series of attacks by dream-stalking monster Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). There, Jesse is bedeviled by nightmares and inexplicably violent impulses. It turns out Freddy needs a host body to carry out his gruesome vendetta against the youth of Springwood, Ohio. While Freddy gains influence, Jesse and his girlfriend, Lisa (Kim Myers), race against the clock trying to figure out what's going on.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

An intriguing subtext of repressed sexuality gives Freddy's Revenge some texture, but the Nightmare loses its edge in a sequel that lacks convincing performances or memorable scares.

Read Critics Reviews

Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

The sequel is clunky, sluggish, poorly cast, not funny, and worst of all, not scary. And it all but dispenses with what made the first film scary to begin with.

May 3, 2016

Full Review

Kim Newman

Empire Magazine

Possibly the lamest of all the sequels, although Five and Six later set the bar particularly low.

Rated: 1/5

Apr 5, 2010

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Episodic treatment is punched up by an imaginative series of special effects.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Carson Timar

ClapperCast

This is such a prime example of what this franchise could have been. Using this character to explore repression is such a strong and moving concept.

Nov 1, 2025

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Faced with every temptation to simply duplicate the original’s formula with a different group of teenage victims, Freddy’s Revenge tries something new. The results may be uneven, but I will always defend uneven and inventive over smooth but conservative.

Rated: 6/10

Sep 29, 2025

Full Review

Bryce Hanson

Horror Movie Talk

This film has a reputation as a huge disappointment to fans of the original, and has a long history of getting [bad reviews]. I don’t see the drop in quality as being that big... The acting ranges from kind of bad to very good.

Rated: 7/10

Sep 23, 2025

Full Review

Read all reviews

jonathan

Favorite elm street movie. Was a total shock to see it was going to be back in theaters

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/16/25

Full Review

Albert A

What an absolutely sorry ass movie. A complete waste of time. I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I loved the first movie. I just wish I could get my three dollars back from part 2.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

12/01/25

Full Review

Oliver C.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2” earns a solid 4.5 stars for twisting Freddy’s menace into a bold, emotionally charged sequel that blends surreal terror with unexpectedly resonant character depth.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/27/25

Full Review

Tom F

I appreciate that some aficionados of this sort of thing enjoy this, but to me it lacks whatever charm Wes Craven brought to the first film.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/21/25

Full Review

John B.

While not quite as refined as the first, this one intrigued me on a whole new level with it’s bi-sexual subtext themes & departing from the first film’s premise by having Freddy possessing a poor innocent teen, using him as a means to escape into the real world is terrifying on it’s own merits! A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 is a guilty pleasure winner in my opinion!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/12/25

Full Review

Andrew R

Honestly this film is Darker than the first one. Part 2 leans into a psychological horror. Freddy is the scariest ever in this film. He’s less about jump scares and more about possessing Jesse, which makes the horror feel more personal. There's not really any jokes or punchlines and he looks more demonic due to the better makeup. It also has a unique and new story line that strays from the original. Instead of just haunting dreams like part 1, the movie mixes dreams with reality in a creative and effective way, making the story feel new, different and unpredictable. And the dream Sequences are just as creepy and effective as the first film. Freddy is genuinely terrify but sadly the rest of the film outside of the dream sequences lacks tension and does drag allot.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/26/25

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Jack Sholder

Director

Mark Patton

Jesse Walsh

Kim Myers

Lisa Webber

Robert Rusler

Ron Grady

Clu Gulager

Ken Walsh

Hope Lange

Cheryl Walsh

A Nightmare on Elm Street

94%

84%

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Watchlist

TRAILER

for A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

32%

31%

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

Watchlist

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

68%

68%

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Watchlist

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

23%

32%

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

Watchlist

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

78%

67%

Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Wes Craven's New Nightmare

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Jesse Walsh (Mark Patton) moves with his family into the home of the lone survivor from a series of attacks by dream-stalking monster Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). There, Jesse is bedeviled by nightmares and inexplicably violent impulses. It turns out Freddy needs a host body to carry out his gruesome vendetta against the youth of Springwood, Ohio. While Freddy gains influence, Jesse and his girlfriend, Lisa (Kim Myers), race against the clock trying to figure out what's going on.

Director: Jack Sholder
Producer: Robert Shaye
Screenwriter: Wes Craven
Distributor: New Line Cinema, Image Entertainment Inc., Media Home Entertainment
Production Co: New Line Cinema
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 1, 1985, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $29.9M
Runtime: 1h 25m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

Most Popular at Home Now