I figured after my girlfriend bought the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" DVD boxed set, I'd give this movie a second chance to see if maybe it got better with age. I was so wrong.

The first thing I noticed was that not much was beefed up for the DVD version. I know it's from 1985, and it's a bit dated, but even my DVD of "The Leprechaun" looks and sounds a thousand times better than the VHS version. So we're already starting off on a bad foot.

Secondly, I wish the DVD documentary that comes along with the boxed set was a bit easier to follow and not so boring. I'd really like to know about the principles behind making this sequel. I checked the box credits, and this is the only one that doesn't have Wes Craven's name anywhere on it. Robert Englund also doesn't seem too into it either, and he really wasn't even in the movie much. Maybe they were forced to make the sequel? I don't know: maybe I'm just trying to think up excuses for this horrible horrible sequel.

There's this kid Jesse, and he moves into the Elm Street house. Then it's really hot in his room. Then Freddy's in his dreams, but he doesn't really care. Then he goes to school one day, and his friend tells him how the girl (Nancy) who used to live in the house went nuts because her boyfriend got murdered across the street. Still, Jesse doesn't really care.

Well, you get the point of that. Anyway, in something that doesn't really go along with the whole concept of Freddy haunting your dreams, it seems like Freddy is doing bad things in the house while everyone is awake. Like making a bird explode. How's this make sense? Freddy can't do things when everyone is awake!

Jesse also has a girlfriend who finds Nancy's diary, and it says all this stuff about Freddy and she says maybe Jesse has psychic energy. (??)

Freddy wants to use Jesse's body so he can kill people. Jesse starts killing people, which totally makes no sense. Why can't Freddy do it himself?

There's a slew of other plot twists and mistakes that just don't make any sense, like the people-faced dogs, and why it was so important to know Freddy worked at some kind of power plant.

I don't really know what they were thinking when they made this movie. It just really seems like they got about ten different writers, nine of which never saw the first "Nightmare On Elm Street," and told them to all write a script for a sequel. Then the director just spliced scenes from every writer's script and made one big horrible, stupid collage of crapola. The end result is while you're watching this movie you feel like someone is kicking you in the head over and over again.

But, if for some reason you also bought the boxed set and you want to get your money's worth, I will say this: Nightmare 2 was probably when Freddy's makeup was at its scariest. Also, the pool scene is still one of the most senseless killing scenes in the history of bad movies. If you're into that.