Ask the Flying Monkey (November 26, 2008)

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey!

Q: So you mentioned Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean a few weeks ago, but failed to mention the supposedly gay actor in the movie, Mark Patton, who was also the screamingly gay character in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. What the hell happened to this guy? Many sources connected with Nightmare 2 say that he is gay, and state it as gospel fact. Where are they getting this info anyhow? And why did he totally disappear after that movie? -- Sean

Mark Patton (right) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2

A: Ah, yes, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge — the 1985 sequel to the hit 1984 Wes Craven film A Nightmare on Elm Street and possibly the gayest non-gay movie ever made. It all starts with the original poster, which has Mark stiffly holding a woman in his arms, but staring, terrified, into a mirror at the face of Freddy Krueger with the caption, “The man of your dreams is back.

In other words, while the plot is about Freddy trying to possess the main character — or “get inside my body,” as he puts it — it also seems to be the story of a teenager struggling with the physical embodiment of his own repressed homosexuality. There’s a scene where he happens to meet up with his coach at a gay S&M leather bar (seriously!).

Later, the coach ends up naked in the school showers, tied up with jump-ropes and being whipped by magical towels — all while Mark’s character watches. (WARNING: Clip slightly NSFW!)

There are other clues too: the main character’s discomfort with this girlfriend and wrestling with his best guy friend (in a jock strap, no less), a bizarre scene with a phallic-like microphone, and various dream imagery that includes snakes and elongated tongues.

Was it intentional? The director and screenwriter say it wasn’t. That seems a little hard to believe. Then again, other filmmakers apparently made up The African Queen (1951) as they went along, and improvised much of the famous dialogue of Casablanca (1942) on the set. So clearly the subconscious is an amazing thing.

But what of Patton, the movie’s star? Everything ever written about the movie says that, yes, he’s gay. Then again, there’s this curious little phenomenon on the Internet, where someone writes something that may or may not be true, and suddenly everyone else references it and…viola! It’s a “fact.” It has to be, because all these people say it is!

The Flying Monkey doesn’t work that way. That said, his efforts to track Mark down all came to a dead-end. But at least one of the Monkey’s faithful readers must know the man’s whereabouts. If so, give him the Monkey’s email, and let’s hear the whole Freddy’s Revenge scoop right from the actor’s creepily-tongued mouth!

Next page! The Love Boat goes gay and Boyzone gets "Better!"