Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street

Now Playing

1h 39m

Documentary

LGBTQ+

List

100%

Tomatometer

45 Reviews

88%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

Actor Mark Patton shares his story of being a closeted gay man while starring in "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge," a film that he began to suspect had homoerotic subtext.

Read More

Read Less

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

In Theaters

Fandango at Home

Prime Video

Rent Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

Critics Consensus

Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street compassionately draws on an actor's personal journey to offer a compelling and illuminating reexamination of the franchise's first sequel.

Read Critics Reviews

Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

Fascinating film... Very, very interesting stuff.

Feb 29, 2020

Full Review

Michael Ordoña

Los Angeles Times

Perhaps the slickly made documentary overstates the cultural impact of a little-seen and widely disliked film. However, it earns points for scraping at the surface of something rarely discussed in film fandom - homosexuality in horror.

Feb 27, 2020

Full Review

Dan Callahan

TheWrap

There are interviews with academics and drag queens and fans of the horror genre, and this gives the movie a wide-ranging perspective that helps us better understand the moving personal story at its core.

Feb 26, 2020

Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

As for the documentary itself, it’s probably more instructive for those who haven’t read a zillion thinkpieces about "Nightmare 2" as “the first gay horror film” ("Nosferatu" begs to differ).

Rated: B

Aug 24, 2022

Full Review

Jason Shawhan

Nashville Scene

This is a different and essential kind of documentary.

Sep 10, 2021

Full Review

C.H. Newell

Father Son Holy Gore

The doc expertly examines the initially negative reception to the first Elm Street sequel's queerness, plus how that affected Mark Patton as a gay man and an actor.

Rated: 5/5

Jul 7, 2021

Full Review

Read all reviews

Jay H

Heartbreaking and moving.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/06/24

Full Review

Alexander T

An eye-opening, touching, and perfectly produced documentary that not only focuses on an underrated film in a wildly popular franchise, but an underrated actor named Mark Patton that was bullied out of the spotlight too soon. It's time to give Mark his spotlight back.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

martin f

I was surprised by the lack of Nightmare on Elm Street content which were also the best parts of the movie, that and the guests sharing how horror influenced their life as queers. The documentary feels time to time very close to turn into a vanity project but it balances it by being also genuine. It takes the important role to talk about the HIV tragedy that touched the gay community during the 80's but, despite some links with the 80's horror genre, it feels a little derivative maybe because it took too much time making you feel like you are watching a completely different documentary.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Brad P

Mark Patton Sets the Record Straight in ‘Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street'

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

the 1980's was a huge boom for the horror genre in Hollywood, so many horror movies would rock the cinemas giving fans something to talk about and enjoy with their friends whether it be monsters, killers, toys, aliens etc. plus it gave way for fresh talent to grace on the screens solidifying their careers for days to come the slew of scary movies acted as a defiance against Regan conservatism pretty much the most infamous slasher villain of them all was Freddy Kruger from 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' created by Wes Craven and New Line Cinema an original idea of having someone stalk you in your dreams and killing you for real, so naturally a sequel was in the works after Nightmare 1 made a huge bundle at the box office as well as leading to several more follow-ups now it's officially been 35 years since it's follow-up 'Freddy's Revenge' was released the main lead Mark Patton was the first male lead rather than a typical female scream queen who'd usually be the final girl when the movie came out though it was met with less-than-enthusiastic results for many reasons; one was that Mark Patton was a gay man that grew up in a Catholic family, his parents got divorced, and there was history of mental illness in his family tree and the movie had a plethora of underlying homoerotic tones that people couldn't ignore, another was that the 1980's was the era of the AIDS epidemic where many homosexuals were unfairly stigmatized and marginalized from the general population, the movie itself was met with less love from fans and critics whom adored the original movie, even Wes Craven after reading the second movie's script found it to be atrocious in how it broke the rules of Freddy being in the real world and not staying in the dream world Patton's career was obliterated by his starring role, he started doing Mexican theater then disappeared from the spotlight for so long the 'Never Sleep Again' documentary which chronicled all the movies had Mark attempting to tell his side of the story but the constant backlash on social media didn't help matters much now with this documentary it's a chance for him to set the record straight of what happened in Nightmare 2, how it impacted his lifestyle for so long, and what the original intent was For me I saw that the movie acted as an allegory for supressing homsexuality with Freddy being the hidden part of the main character which I found to be a bold move for sure, obviously we didn't want to see the same thing again from movie 1 and the switched the roles whereas Kim Myers as Lisa was the hero instead of Mark as Jesse was new It was good Robert Englund came back too as the titular villain; the rest of the film had a more dramatic score by Christopher Young, more grisly special effects, the opening scene with the bus set the tone for what was to come, and I won't lie that Freddy coming out of Jesse's body horrified me as a kid There were still problems though as mentioned before with people complaining that Jesse came off with an effeminate energy, the acting is hammier from before and the mythos is very unorthodox, and the movie didn't carry the same magic as Craven's original masterpiece Overall Nightmare 2 wasn't the worst thing ever made but it was hard to not notice the homoerotic themes sprinkled throughout consideirng it was directed by a straight man and written by a gay man starring a gay man that couldn't come out because he was afraid of being persecuted For the longest time Nightmare 2 was labeled as the gayest horror film ever made as well as the black sheep of the franchise But the movie also not only managed to gain much further appreciation over the years by fans but also by members of the LGBTQ community serving as a golden standard in the horror genre, it's one of the rare scary flicks featuring a homosexual lead So despite all the backlash he's gotten since day 1 Patton still makes appearances today at horror conventions to appeal to longtime fans and newcomers of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise not letting the film's original release weigh him down, he also acts an active activist for gay rights this is a refreshing documentary that delves deep into the life of an actor heavily affected by the industry and the public's opinion of his sexual identity I like that the pop culture angle is dissected from Nightmare 2's impact both good and bad It's true that many people around the world and not just in the U.S. are homphobic and AIDS-phobic and for actors like Mark Patton it proved to be an obstacle 'Scream Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street' is essential viewing for any fan of the Nightmare movies as well as LGBTQ members looking for a more deeper understanding of the movie's staying power very challenging ,real, and a big eye-opener for being so truthful This is Mark Patton's journey and he will continue to make it worthwhile

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

michael d

What a great lil doc.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Roman Chimienti

Director

Tyler Jensen

Director

Cecil Baldwin

Narrator

Mark Patton

Self

Robert Englund

Self

Roman Chimienti

Producer

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

100%

67%

Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

TRAILER

for Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life

82%

47%

Do I Sound Gay?

92%

86%

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

TRAILER

for The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

97%

%

Wojnarowicz

TRAILER

for Wojnarowicz

91%

68%

The Dog

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

What Happened to Cinema’s Virginal Final Girl?

View more photos

Synopsis

Actor Mark Patton shares his story of being a closeted gay man while starring in "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge," a film that he began to suspect had homoerotic subtext.

Director: Roman Chimienti, Tyler Jensen
Producer: Matthew Chojnacki
Production Co: The End Productions
Genre: Documentary, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 27, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 3, 2020
Runtime: 1h 39m

Most Popular at Home Now