Thanks for the thoughtful reply and perspective. I’ll pass this along to the author of the story as well.

The intentionality of the gay overtones is shown starting from the casting. They clearly cast someone who is obviously more feminine than the typical male lead of the time. Let’s remember he was selected from many that wanted the role after the first one made Johnny Depp famous. They might not have known Patton was gay, but they did think he looked gay or was more feminine than the norm–as the actor has stated, they made fun of him on set for it. Once in the movie, they make him scream like the cliche of a girl would. It would be naive to think this was accidental, especially for a movie from the 80s. I don’t know if that was clearly stated on the script, but even if it was, the director made sure to make it seem he screamed “like a girl”–a homophobic prejudice, especially for the time. When he screams after being “healed” from Freddy, you can’t really tell if he’s screaming the same way as he he screams next other girls.

Still, the “gayness” shown in the movie is obviously not representation, it rather reinforces the notion that homosexuality is an evil. Notice how they make sure that Freddy only comes out truly violently in homoerotic scenes. First, a gay coach in kinky leather in the showers with all that steam; later, alone in a room sleeping next to Grady, the semi naked hot hunk he spends more time with than with anyone else (who by the way is barely shown with a girl even in a genre so obsessed then with heterosexual sex and topless girl scenes; and even in a movie that makes sure to show that EVERYONE else but them two and someone else I’ll talk about later are constantly enjoying heterosexual activities).

Even when things go crazy in the party (to have a higher body count in an otherwise slow movie), you could say there is some homoeroticism with all the hot shirtless men and Freddy specifically ripping shirtless men apart, not women. The only graphic bloody scenes are with men if you add the shirtless man being trampled by others as they try to escape. I wonder if sweaty and wet shirtless men moaning and bleeding are actually more of a hidden kink of the filmmakers that they had a chance to indulge in through the movie. Regardless, there definitely was a focus on that.

Add to all this that when Jesse was feeling that the evil in him was approaching, he ended up in a gay bar for some odd reason. Yes, the evil thing inside him drives him to a gay bar, a place he wouldn’t visit otherwise. To go to that length to show a gay bar and then show the coach in leather and then improbably sending them that night to the steamy showers (without the coach changing) is no naive accident. Let’s note here also that the movie presents the coach as sort of bad from the very first sene, having a kick in making young kids sweat, then showing him in a gay bar (which is presented as a place where a possessed person would automatically go to) and having him punish the kid in the middle of the night in a situation where he had no jurisdiction. The only openly gay person in this movie is shown as a bad guy. His punishment is death by his own evil(?) gay BDSM tendencies.

Also notice, I think you didn’t mention this, that when Jesse wanted to prevent Freddy from coming back, he started taking pills that were blatantly called STR-UP!!! Moreover like you said, the writer explicitly made a scene that recalled a closeted gay guy having trouble having sex with his girlfriend, and the director was sure to frame it and the Lisa’s frustration just like that. Then there is all gay subtext, some of which you mentioned (“no girls allowed”, Jesse lip syncing and dancing Touch Me All Night Long, the high pitched screams, the father not taking him as a “real man”, the adults having happy heterosexual sex lives, the constant presence of shirtless sweaty men, the relatively more blatant camp from Freddy, Freddy barely touching women, constant homoerotic scenes that were otherwise unnecessary between Jesse and Grady).

How is Freddy stopped? When Jesse decides to choose Lisa. He had her from the beginning, but he had been dismissive of her from the very start. He spends more time with his hot male friend Grady while beautiful perfect Lisa is constantly after him only to be constantly neglected. Everything is fixed when Jesse fights his inner evil (Freddy, Homosexuality), and ultimately ignores Freddy (his “sexual confusion”, his homosexuality) by deciding to accept Lisa’s love and love her back. He could have ignored her or let himself be convinced by Freddy (or his gay impulses) to go with the flow of what was inside him, but Lisa believed that he could reject Freddy (his homosexuality), and he ultimately does.

Even in the last scene which was just a necessary “is Freddy really gone?” scene, they manage to be consistent with the theme of homosexuality as an entity of evil. They make sure that Freddy doesn’t appear in him (he can be healed!), but in his girlfriend’s female friend Kerry. If you look back, Kerry constantly appears around Lisa instead of with a boy (as opposed to basically every other girl in the movie).There is a scene where Kerry and Lisa kiss in the pool, albeit on the cheek–but still a moment that was otherwise unnecessary. While everyone in the party is with a couple, Kerry is by Lisa. It is no accident that clearly straight Lisa is dressed up as a nice feminine girl, but Kerry is dressed less feminine. In the last scene, Kerry is seen single, in between the now happy heterosexual couple. The only girl in the movie with possible lesbian vibes is the one that has Freddy insider her now.

For a movie that seems so rushed and and incompetent in pacing, dialogue, mood and character, they went at great lengths to be consistent with the theme that the evil inside to defeat is homosexuality. They even propose it can be healed if only you can silence it, reject it, and choose heterosexuality.

We can praise Patton’s portrayal in the movie written for him with gay overtones as a sort of unique representation in a time where there was barely any. We can make him a gay icon. But we should acknowledge that both the writing and the directing came from at least a latent homophobia. I would argue it was much more than latent at least in the writing.