Film commentators often remark on the film's perceived
homoerotic theme. Some people have argued that a subtext exists about Jesse's alleged repressed
homosexuality (never clarified in the movie), and they point out the encounter that he has with his gym teacher in a
bisexual S&M leather bar, and his flight to a male friend's house after an aborted attempt of making out at his girlfriend's pool party.
[2][3] During the latter scene, Jesse, shirt unbuttoned, states that he's scared that "something is trying to get inside my body"; his shirtless friend replies, "Yeah, and she's female and waiting for you in the cabana, and you want to sleep with me." Director Jack Sholder claims that he never intended for there to be a
gay subtext to the film, but has subsequently admitted that he does see it in the film, according to the "Nightmare Encyclopedia" included on the DVD box set. Mark Patton, the actor who portrays Jesse, is in fact gay.