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In this article:
- The scream queen is horror’s star victim (and usually its sole survivor). But the role is almost exclusively given to female characters.
- Jesse Walsh, the male “scream queen” and sole survivor of the second installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise broke that tradition.
- Jesse Walsh was as gay as a character could be without actually being openly gay, which helped him become an icon in the LGBT+ community.
- Portrayed by Mark Patton, who was gay himself but closeted at the time, the role would destroy his acting career at a time when Hollywood was especially intolerant.
If you’ve ever seen a horror movie, you know an excellent slasher is equipped with creative kills, a homicidal maniac, and a leading character whose shrill screams can deafen dogs.
Jamie Lee Curtis broke the sound barrier in Halloween. Ashley Laurence could kill a cenobite with her piercing cries in Hellraiser. And you can’t overlook Jennifer Love Hewitt’s dramatic bit in I Know What You Did Last Summer, as I believe her script was comprised of more screams than dialogue.
The 1980s birthed a phenomenon: the rise of the scream queen. Frequently portrayed by the “Final Girl” the scream queen is often the heroine and sole survivor of the film’s killer. She’s resourceful, resilient, and can grab the viewer’s attention with just one blood-curdling yell.
Wes Craven released one of his most famous films in 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street, introducing Nancy Thompson, the protagonist, and survivor of Freddy Kruger’s brutal rage.
Thompson displays all the traditional traits of a Final Girl as she watches her friends get brutally murdered, struggles with her mother’s alcoholism, and faces off with her villain, triumphantly winning the battle against Kruger.
The film ends with Thompson reunited with her friends and mother yet are captured again by the villainous Kruger, with Craven setting the stage for an anticipated sequel.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge premiered in 1985, shifting its protagonist from the quintessential Final Girl to Jesse Walsh, a high school male adolescent who recently moved into Nancy Thompson’s former home.
Jesse becomes plagued with similar nightmares Nancy witnessed in the first film, dreaming about a man with razor-sharp knives and a demonic presence, abruptly jolting Jesse from his slumber with penetrating wails.
Kruger was back, and a new Scream Queen was born.
By the way!
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How Jesse Walsh Became a Gay Icon
Mark Patton’s portrayal of Jesse Walsh is a decided departure from the conventional leading man. Rather than depicting a macho, buff, aggressive persona, like the many action movie types represented in the 1980s, Patton gave viewers a sensitive and emotional male protagonist.
A breath of fresh air, Jesse was a realistic delineation of the movie’s underdog hero. He possessed real challenges and emitted physical fear when confronted with Freddy Kruger.
Jesse’s heart-rending screams and intimate encounters with Kruger set a queer tone for the film, as did Jesse’s tense interactions with his gym teacher and flirtatious interplay with high school buddy Ron Grady.
In one scene, Jesse dreams of walking through a crowded S&M bar, packed with sweaty patrons and all the leather chaps you can envision. As Jesse runs into his cruel gym teacher, he is led back to his high school and forced to run laps in the middle of the night as punishment.
Hell breaks loose when Jesse enters the locker room shower and Kruger emerges through the steamy fog. He faces Coach Schneider, strips him of his clothing, ties him up, and whips his naked body to death as blood pours out through the bathroom drains.
As the scene ends, the camera pans to a frightened Jesse, who quickly realizes he is wearing the Kruger knife blade glove and is the one behind his teacher’s slaying.
As Jesse dreams this entire scenario, viewers began to dissect the film’s homoerotic themes, with many suspecting Kruger was merely a symbol of Jesse’s repressed homosexuality.
He feels a literal presence inside of him, torturing him in his dreams, forcing him to lash out and impose intense violent acts upon prominent male figures in his life, first in his murderous act against his gym teacher, and later when he kills his friend Ron in his bedroom.
Jesse also struggles with becoming intimate with his love interest, Lisa, placing a strain on their relationship.
How the Role of Jesse Walsh Destroyed a Young Actor’s Career
On the surface, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was about to walk in the successful footsteps of its predecessor, reaching 30 million in revenue and with hopes of ricocheting Mark Patton, the film’s leading man, into stardom.
Patton had recently starred in a Broadway rendition of Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, alongside Cher, and had a few other steady supporting roles. He was ready for the silver screen, and with the booming success of the horror genre, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was set to pave the way for Patton’s budding career.
Instead, it dismantled it.
It was not long after the film’s release that the movie was branded “the gayest horror film ever,” even though both the director, Jack Sholder, and lead writer, David Chaskin, denied the queer subtext.
Mark Patton was concerned about his career and reputation, finding fewer opportunities after the movie’s premiere, and eventually walking away from the spotlight altogether.
For years, Patton kept a hidden profile, opening and managing a retail store in Mexico, leaving his dreams of Hollywood far behind him. It wasn’t until two documentary filmmakers sought the former actor out to tell his story, detailing the rise and fall of Hollywood’s biggest missed opportunity.
A New Documentary Revives Jesse Walsh’s Legacy
Roman Chimienti and Tyler Jensen directed Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street. The documentary looked into how the sequel became one of the first queer-centric films for the LGBTQ+ community, intentional or not.
It also examines the life of Patton, both before and after the movie robbed the actor of his livelihood.
For years, Patton had assumed that when he left the spotlight, his legacy left with him. Instead, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street proves just the opposite.
With countless footage from horror cons throughout the country, the documentary obtains authentic commentary from attendees who named A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 as one of the first movies that recognized the struggles of being queer in the 1980s.
The film also investigates the motive behind its queer undertones, with David Chaskin, writer for the film, stating in a 2007 interview that the movie was “intended to play homophobic, rather than homoerotic.”
From combatting the AIDS epidemic to a face-to-face conversation between Patton and Chaskin, Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street gives Patton the long-awaited closure he’s been searching for his entire life and reinforces his presence as an activist for the LGBT+ community.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge faced tremendous backlash upon its release, but today, it’s celebrated as a heroic tale of freedom, taking away the power from whatever is holding us back from becoming our authentic true selves.
Mark Patton wasn’t miscast, nor did he play the role of Jesse Walsh “incorrectly” he was merely ahead of his time, and for the horror queer community, myself included, he will always be our favorite Scream Queen.
Stream Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street exclusively on Shudder.
