Scream 4 (2011)

"You forgot the first rule of remakes. Never fuck with the original!"

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that they know that the original "Scream" film is special to me. I don't mean to sound stupid or anything, but the original film is what got me into horror films and more importantly it was the film that got me into writing, something I still pursue today well over 14 years later. So needless to say when I heard Wes Craven was teaming back up with Kevin Williamson to make a new "Scream" film I was overjoyed. I waited a long year for the final product and I, for once, was not let down.

The film, like the original, is very much of its time. In the movie the "Stab" films (you know, the movies within the movie based on the events of the movies...)have taken on the life of the "Saw" films. The opening of the movie introduces that since the last film a total of 7 "Stab" films have been made. We get a taste of the opening of "Stab 7" which is made deliberately over the top. We have a few cameos (from the likes of Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell) and we finally meet up with Ghostface (after a long 11 year absence!) The opening comes to an end and we begin the movie.

We meet up with Sidney (Neve Campbell) who is on the last stop of her book tour. And what is her last stop? You guessed it! Woodsboro! Sid has written a self-help book entitled "Out of Darkness". The city is excited for her homecoming (which just happens to be the 15th anniversary of the murders from the original film), but not all is grand! Dewey (David Arquette) is now the sheriff of Woodsboro and really looks aged, as does his wife Gale (Courteney Cox). Their marriage is in an uproar when Gale wants to help out in the investigation of the murders and Dewey wants nothing to do with that. The basic stuff unfolds and Ghostface makes his ways into killings, until the climatic ending, which I won't reveal here.

Now for the official review. I enjoyed the film even if some of things were slightly off. First off, there was something about the movie that didn't feel like the other 3 "Scream" films. I'm not sure what it was but I can say it started with the weak opening to the film. Usually the opening scene is the best part of the movie, to get the audience pumped up, but I felt that wasn't anything special, aside from making fun of the fact that the "Stab" films are out of whack. The film was overly gory, which isn't a bad thing, but it was definitely the goriest of the four films. I felt that the film focused way more on the killings than on the characters. The original three films were very character driven whereas this film is more plot driven, I guess would be the correct terminology.

The film had its normal horror film nods (including naming one of the police officers Anthony Perkins), but there was one thing that really irked me. There is a nerdy movie guy and this very attractive girl who wants the nerdy guy. Granted this does happen, but it doesn't happen too often. I felt that was a little far fetched and the fact that this very attractive girl was also a horror movie nerd. Just something that didn't really make sense to me.

Overall the film was really good and it really made me feel like the old times of watching horror films. 15 years after the original film changed my life the new one has reinvigorated my horror lust and I now have a major desire to watch horror movies again!

Psycho II (1983)

"I don't kill people anymore"

Psycho was released in 1960 and began the slasher genre, in 1978 Halloween was released and that began the slasher era. During the early 1980s, sequels to slasher films were being made left and right, well why not make a sequel to the original slasher film? In 1983, that happened when Psycho II was released. Now, I wasn’t born yet when this movie came out, but I’m sure people were unsure with this one. It’s not too often that classic films from the 1960s or earlier are sequlized, and when they are they usually fail. Well not this one, it seems that people were excited for this, and for one reason alone, Anthony Perkins was coming back after 23 years to play his classic role of Norman Bates. Even Vera Miles returned from the first film to reprise her character of Lila.

Psycho II begins with Norman Bates (Perkins) being released from the mental institution after spending 22 years there. But, Lila Loomis (supposedly because she married the boyfriend of her sister, Sam Loomis) is unhappy with his release, she wants Norman to stay in prison because of the people he killed. But, her protest falls on deaf ears and Norman is released. He returns to his home and motel only to realize that his mother is still there. He gets a job at a diner in town where he meets Mary Loomis (the daughter of Lila, though he doesn’t find this out until later). Throughout the rest of the movie he begins to see and hear his mother again, we soon find out later that it is Lila and Mary causing this, but they push him over the edge and he finally returns to his roots.

Psycho II is actually quite a good sequel. It’s hard to make a sequel to a classic and have it be anywhere near as good as the original. This movie is not as good as the original, nor is it close, but it’s not a bad film either. It’s cool to see Anthony Perkins back playing the character that made him famous and to see what finally happened to Norman Bates after that infamous time in 1960. This film was released 3 years after Alfred Hitchcock’s death, so we will never know what he thought of the film, but it seems that Anthony Perkins was happy enough with it to return to the character another 2 times after this one. The following sequels get worse each one, but still remain entertaining films.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

"Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!"

With Nightmare 2's $29 million box office, Robert Shaye was ready again for another sequel. This time they took more time to get this one ready (part 2 came out just under a year after the first one came out). They were able to coax Wes Craven back into the writer’s chair for part 3. With Craven’s return, came what most people say is the best Nightmare movie.

Nightmare 3 involves a clinic where a group of teenagers are having nightmares of Freddy, this time around Freddy is killing the kids but making it look like they are committing suicide. Nancy Thompson (Langenkamp) is back for the ride as a counselor who knows all too well what is going on and who is doing it. The drug Hypnocil is introduced in this film, a drug that suppresses dreams. With the drug the group of teenagers are able to rise above Freddy and find their “dream skills”. But not all goes well, when Freddy is able to take a captive in his nightmare world.

This film really developed Freddy and his nightmare world, which would come back in all of the following films. There were a few reasons why this movie was so much better than part 2. I feel that part 2 was really trying to be a separate slasher film from the original, and that’s basically how it came off. But this film was staying truer to the character of Freddy. Gone are the days of needing help from someone to kill, and gone are the days of a male lead. Here we have Patricia Arquette (before she was famous) and the return of Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon, both reprising their roles from part one. I really enjoy films that have continuing stories with the same characters. Granted Freddy (Englund) is in all of the Nightmare films, but it is more interesting to see the characters that he goes after. Don’t get me wrong, the movies are all about Freddy which is why Robert Englund eventually began getting top billing on the Nightmare films. But, seeing how “real” people deal with what is going on in the movies is very interesting.

Nightmare 3 was also a great film because Wes Craven had returned. So he was able to see his characters go into a direction he had originally wanted. It’s always great when the original creator comes back to a series he created. This is the last Nightmare movie to be any good. After this New Line Cinema began cranking them out every year, simply to cash in on the series. The movies get periodically worse as it goes along. Until 1991 when the series just died, in more ways than one.

By this time Freddy Krueger was one of the biggest names in horror. In 1988 there were rumors of a Freddy vs. Jason film, that didn’t happen for another 15 years because New Line owned Freddy and Paramount owned Jason and they couldn’t settle the rights. The original Freddy vs. Jason eventually became Friday the 13^th Part VII: The New Blood which was once referred to as Jason vs. Carrie. But, Freddy wasn’t ready to give up just yet on the movies or his fans.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

"You are all my children now"

Right after A Nightmare on Elm Street was a major success at the box office, producer Robert Shaye knew he had a great series on his hands. Eventually New Line Cinema would become “The House That Freddy Built”. Shaye immediately wanted a sequel, and rightfully so. This was 1984, the prime time of the slasher era and the time when anything in the horror genre would get a sequel. It was during the end of the slasher era, when it was dying a horrible death. Though the slasher film died out by 1986 or so, Freddy and Jason would live on into the early 1990s with no problems whatsoever.

When Nightmare 2 was being planned, Shaye asked Wes Craven to return to direct the film, but Craven knew better after reading the script and not liking what he saw, he decided to pass. But that wasn’t going to stop Shaye. He got his director and his talentless cast and began to film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge takes place 5 years after the first (why? don’t ask me, it worked for Friday the 13^th Part 2). This movie has a new family moving into 1428 Elm Street (the house from the original, for those of you who don’t know). But, this time around the center character is a male lead (a mistake they didn’t make again in any of the Nightmare films). We meet Jesse (Patton) whose family has just moved in. But, something is terribly wrong when strange things begin to happen around the house. Most notably the heat in the house, which is never explained nor do I care. Jesse is having terrible nightmares of Freddy. Freddy wants Jesse to kill for him declaring that Jesse has “the body” and Freddy has “the brains”. However this plot point never made much sense to me because Freddy had no problem killing in part one, but for some reason in this one he needs help. There’s even a “great” part when Freddy is able to come out of Jesse’s body to attack kids at a pool party.

My problem with this movie is that it makes no sense. This is also the reason why Wes Craven wanted nothing to do with this movie. It also seems very homosexually directed. Especially with the coach of the high school who is a cross dresser who gets whipped to death with jump ropes, not to mention Jesse screams like a girl throughout the entire film. The cast in this movie is pretty bad, with the exception of Kim Myers (who should have been the main character). There is a pretty good rule in the slasher genre and that is what is called “the last girl”, it’s basically the last person to survive. In every “good” slasher film it’s a girl. People make mistakes sometimes and try to make it a male, but it doesn’t work. In every Nightmare film after this, including Freddy vs. Jason it’s a female lead role. Lets keep it that way. Steer clear of this movie, unless you want to watch all the Nightmare films (which I encourage), but this is one of the worst and you won’t miss anything if you don’t watch this. Part 2 is not ever mentioned again in any of the Nightmare films. Parts 3 through 6 are all connected in one way or another and they almost all mention part 1, but not part 2 (and for good reason).

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

"Come to Freddy!"

During the mid 1980s the slasher film genre was in dire need of help. The once great genre had consumed itself with sub par sequels and extremely low budget cheesy movies that had no real plot at all. The movies that were coming out during this time were basically this: a big breasted girl and her friends (who love to get naked) decide to hang out somewhere away from civilization. While there they are stalked by some random killer, killing for some non-developed reason (if a reason at all). So, needless to say, the slasher film was dying and dying hard by 1984.

But, a man by the name of Wes Craven changed that. And with his little film that no one had any faith in, he breathed life into the slasher film and kept it alive for a couple more years. Wes Craven had all ready established himself in the horror genre by 1984. He had made the classics: The Last House on the Left in 1972 and The Hills Have Eyes in 1977. As well as some other films that weren’t as successful. He had written a film about a killer who is killing people in their dreams. But, the twist was, if he killed you in your dream, you died for real. This idea hadn’t really been done before, at least not in a slasher film. As creative as it may have been, no one wanted to make the film. He finally found New Line Cinema, a small film company on the verge of bankruptcy, that was willing to produce the film. Robert Shaye, the co-CEO of New Line had enough faith in the script and in Craven to make the film, hoping it would save his dying company.

The story was about a group of teenagers, all having the same nightmare about the same unknown man. The only things they know are that he is horribly burned, wears a red and green sweater and has a brown hat, oh and that he has knives for fingers! As each one of them is killed off Nancy (Langenkamp) is the only one willing to stand up to him. Oh, and did I mention the adults in the film don’t pay any attention to what she is saying. That’s classic slasher film rules right there!

Although Craven and Shaye butted heads over the ending of the film, that didn’t do anything to ruin this film. With a great cast including John Saxon playing a police officer again and Robert Englund, a virtual no one at the time, he gained major success and a huge fan following after this film hit it big at the box office. Also along for the ride was Johnny Depp in his very first film. The film was extremely ingenious at the time, not only for the storyline of the film but also for some of the camera techniques used. Including a very interesting special effects shot of Freddy Krueger jumping through a mirror. And a very nice shot of Nancy waking up from her nightmare having parts of the roses from her nightmare with her, but when the camera pulls back they are gone. A very cool shot, that you should probably check out!

Wes Craven did not want nor did he intend this film to be the beginning of a franchise. Robert Shaye had different ideas. A Nightmare on Elm Street hit it big at the box office grossing over $25 million domestically, just enough to save New Line Cinema. A sequel was immediately planned. The film spawned six sequels, a TV series and an eventual face off with the other 1980s slasher Jason Voorhees. Though none of the other films ever lived up to this one, as a whole the series was phenomenal. Heather Langenkamp said it best in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, “Everyone knows who Freddy Krueger is. He’s like Santa Claus or King Kong!”.

Halloween (2007)

"These eyes will deceive you, they will destroy you. They will take from you, your innocence, your pride and eventually your soul. These eyes do not see what you and I see. Behind these eyes one finds only blackness, the absence of light, these are the eyes of a psychopath"

When it comes down to horror remakes, most scrape the bottom of the barrel. Most, like in the cases of Prom Night, April Fool’s Day and Day of the Dead barely even follow the original storyline, if at all. Halloween doesn’t do any of that. In fact, it’s the complete opposite! Rob Zombie had directed only 2 films by 2007 (House of 1000 Corpses in 2003 and The Devil’s Rejects in 2005) but he was an established horror director by that time. Even though he had stated earlier that he hated when movies were remade, he went ahead and wrote and directed a remake of Halloween. At first I was very much against this, as many horror fans agreed, Halloween was and still is a classic. The original 1978 John Carpenter directed film is what began the slasher era. It’s perfect as is, why remake what’s perfect? Didn’t anyone learn anything from the 1998 version of Psycho? Apparently not. But, Rob Zombie came in and put together a fantastic film!

Halloween does something the original film did not, it delves into Michael Myers’ childhood and origin. In the original film we see the child (from his P.O.V.) kill his sister at 6 years of age. Then the films jumps forward 15 years to him as an adult and the film begins. This film takes a good solid 30-40 minutes to establish who Michael is, who his family is and how everyone including his mother (played by Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie) knew something was wrong, but ignored the warning signs. In this film, young Michael (Faerch) kills not only his sister, but her lover and his stepfather. But he saves the baby (later to become our heroine Laurie). After the murders, his mother breaks down and Michael is sent to an institute where Dr. Loomis (McDowell) to the best of his ability tries to help Michael, sadly he is unable and 15 years later, after not speaking for years, Michael escapes the institute and finds his way home to Laurie (Taylor-Compton) who is now a high school student and has no idea of her family background.

The movie is not without it’s flaws. Some poor judgment in casting comes along with Kristina Klebe who played Laurie’s friend Lynda. In my opinion the weakest of the three girls, rounded out by Danielle Harris a veteran of the Halloween series (having been the main actress in both Halloween 4 and Halloween 5). Her acting is stale and annoying at most times. I think the worst casting is that of the children, most particularly Sklyer Gisondo (Tommy Doyal) and Jenny Gregg Stewart (Lindsey Wallace). Lets talk about Stewart first, she is terrible. Overacting throughout the entire film, annoying as shit and just a flat out terrible actress. Gisondo, not much better, not too much overacting, but just flat acting. I understand these are children, but why should they be judged any differently?

There are noticeable horror greats, as Zombie tends to keep it that way in his films, most notably: Brad Dourif who plays the sheriff also voiced Chucky the killer doll in all 5 Child’s Play films, we have Ken Foree who plays Joe Grizzly, appeared in the original Dawn of the Dead and many other horror films, we also have Bill Moseley, who only appears in the theatrical cut, who appeared in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 and the other 2 films Zombie directed. Many others appeared in the film as well, the most interesting was that of Micky Dolenz (a former member of the 1960s rock band The Monkees).

Overall, Zombie did a fantastic job with the film. I love the back story of Michael Myers, I think without that it would have just been another stupid remake. The back story very clearly gave new life to this film, it made the character darker and scarier and because of that made the movie more enjoyable.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

"There's someone in this room!"

Now remember this is 1981, the heyday for slasher films, so a sequel released less than a year after the original was common place here! The first film did so well that a sequel was planned immediately.

Friday the 13^th Part 2 starts off with Alice (King), the lone survivor of the original film, is having a nightmare complete with flashbacks to the original film. It is obvious that she is having problems with her experience. After a lengthy conversation with her mother over the phone, she begins to get ready for a shower, but finds Mrs. Voorhees severed head in the refrigerator and then immediately has an ice pick shoved into her temple, credits roll!

We jump to a camp counselor training area where a bunch of teens (again) are at Crystal Lake, not very far from the camp of the original film. Paul (Furey) is the leader of this training area and warns the kids not to go there, but two of them decide to anyway, finding a dead dog in the process. We also learn that it has been 5 years since the events in the original film. Don’t ask me why they decided to do this, maybe it had something to do with maybe not being able to go near the lake because of the murders? I don’t know. Anyway, Jason is now fully grown and covering his face with a burlap sack with one hole for his one eye (yeah, I know), he hadn’t gotten his trademark hockey mask yet. So he is killing left and right, as usual.

Friday the 13^th Part 2 was one of those rare sequels that was almost as good as the original. Halloween II the same year was another example of this. Friday the 13^th Part 2 was a worthy sequel because it felt so much like the original, though we got new characters, a somewhat new location and a new killer, a killer that we loved simply because his motive was probably the most simple: You have sex, you die. You do drugs, you die. That simple!

Though Sean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller were gone from the picture, the movie still had some great moments. Even some borrowed from Italian horror movies like the scene of the two people being impaled as they have sex. Whoever came up with that idea was a flat out genius. The movie is a must see if you want to see a great sequel to a great horror film. If you want to see the Friday the 13^th films, then you have to see this one.