Queer failure in Freddy’s Revenge and Scream, Queen! A documentary’s recuperation of Elm Street’s queer memory

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this queer reading of the 1985 horror sequel Freddy’s Revenge, I use Halberstam’s theory of queer failure to interrogate cultural mechanisms that validate and invalidate a film’s memory. The 2019 documentary Scream, Queen! guides my queer celebration of Freddy’s Revenge. The movies converge to create profound, low theoretical insights into queer desire at the apex of the AIDS pandemic. The essay challenges heteronormative impulses commonly used to frame a media artifact as significant and successful enough to merit investigation.