At the time of release, The Advocate dubbed 1985’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge the gayest horror film ever made. For the film’s closeted young star, Mark Patton, such a tag was a stark reminder about the homophobia rampant in Hollywood at the time—and the painful experience he had making the high-profile film and living through the polarizing critical aftermath.

This new documentary highlights Patton’s time in the horror spotlight, and Patton—who co-produced the film with Roman Chimienti, a NYC-based sound engineer—sets the record straight about the controversial sequel, which ended his acting career just as it was about to begin.

SCREAM, QUEEN! MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET follows Patton as he travels to horror conventions across the U.S. Each new city unwraps a chapter from his life that is met with equal parts joyful and bittersweet detail, as he attempts to make peace with his past and embrace his legacy as cinema’s first male “scream queen.”

SCREAM, QUEEN! also finds Patton confronting the Freddy’s Revenge cast and crew for the first time, including co-stars Robert Rusler, Kim Myers and Clu Gulager, as well as Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund. The film also discusses Freddy’s Revenge’s status as an LGBTQ cult classic, and illustrates how the career turbulence experienced by Patton—whose résumé includes stints on Broadway and a regarded role in the 1982 film Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean—wasn’t out of the ordinary for the time. “There were plenty of gay actors like me,” says Patton. “They starred in one movie and just disappeared. A whole generation just vanished.”

Saturday, November 23
Doors 6:30 pm | Movie 7:00 pm
Advance tickets $13 | $13 at the door

*Must be 19+ w/ID for entry and bar service.
**Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

SCREAM, QUEEN! MY NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (Roman Chimienti & Tyler Jensen, 2019 / 100 mins) Scream, Queen! examines the infamous homoerotic subtext and the special place the film holds in the Nightmare franchise as well as the gay film canon. Partly in thanks to evolving social mores, Nightmare on Elm Street 2 – which was considered controversial at the time of its release – is now being looked back upon with a new appreciation and fondness by horror aficionados and fans of the series.