Old-Fashioned Storytelling I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of my favorite horror films. It’s one of several post-Scream slashers released in the late 1990s. It’s not overly stylized, gory, or sleazy. It doesn’t rely on the usual traits that slasher fans praise. This one takes a simple approach, relying on old-fashioned storytelling….
Behind the Mask Scream is unique amongst slasher franchises because its signature villain isn’t a single individual. Each entry features a different killer inside the Ghostface costume, which makes each film a fun murder mystery guessing game. So far there have been twelve killers behind the Ghostface mask. Here are my picks for the best…
The Meta One Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is not like the other films in this franchise. It’s a meta-narrative, meaning its self-referential and examines its own artificiality and the nature of cinema itself. Beneath the surface, it’s exploring how art, specifically horror movies, affects the creatives involved in bringing these projects to life and the…
Jason Resurrected Many Friday the 13th fans list Part VI: Jason Lives as their favorite entry in the franchise. I am not one of those people. It’s not a slog to get through like Jason Takes Manhattan or first-class garbage like Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, but it doesn’t rise to same heights…
The Original Film Friday the 13th (1980) is an influential horror film. Alongside The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978), it solidified slasher films as a new horror subgenre and mainstay in pop culture. But its not nearly as close to perfect as those two. Friday the 13th contains lackluster characters, barely has a…
More Watchable Than Freddy’s Revenge A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors is often viewed as the last good one before the franchise went downhill. Many fans label it as their favorite sequel. I’ve always been split down the middle with this one. To me, it’s simply alright. Here’s why. Dream Warriors possesses traits…
A Decent Entry Scream 4 is a turning point in the franchise. It’s the halfway point between the original trilogy and the Samantha Carpenter saga of Scream 5 and Scream 6. Thus far, it’s the last film where Sidney Prescott is the central protagonist and the first in the series to feel like it was…
Top Tier Slasher Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street is a classic and one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s one of the best horror films ever made, a masterclass of how to craft an excellent, entertaining story. It contains all the ingredients of a high quality flick. It’s suspenseful. The characters…
High Points of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge is the most unique entry in the Krueger saga. Freddy is dark and menacing rather than the comedic figure he became in later sequels, but it still doesn’t live up to the quality of the first movie. Why…
A Different Approach Friday the 13th was released at a time when Hollywood was obsessed with remaking classic horror films. Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Fog, The House of Wax, The Hills Have Eyes, Black Christmas, and My Bloody Valentine were all rebooted for the 2000s. Most of these didn’t live up to the…