It’s funny. Even with all of the technological improvements and modern facets that Wes Craven implements with “Scream 4” for his new Ghost Face Killer, this 2011 output of the “Scream” franchise still feels painfully dated and utterly irrelevant. At a time where slasher films were once old news and horror was a dead genre, “Scream” came on to the scene and revived both the slasher sub-genre and the horror genre once more. But during a time where horror has become choked with new directors, original visionaries, foreign artists, and remakes galore, “Scream 4” feels much too little and much too late. “Scream” maintained a firm relevance through the years for quite sometime because it was a welcomed revival that brought to mind why we liked the genre in the first place. But with the film industry becoming more and more a bastion for the new filmmaker with at home technology that allows him to cut a film in under a year so easily, “Scream 4” doesn’t really do much for the genre. Had this entry arrived five years ago I can safely say that Craven would have surely been welcomed in to theaters by yours truly, but there simply is nothing left to do with the “Scream” premise.
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Shrunken Heads (1994)
I remember seeing the preview for “Shrunken Heads” back in 1994 during the end of a double feature from the video store and even then I thought the idea was a weird one. A kids movie about disembodied shrunken heads getting revenge on their murderer is unusual. “Shrunken Heads” is a strange god awful movie, but one that affords itself some nostalgic value so while it is a waste of talent and resources, it’s not totally a waste of time. Whether it’s Danny Elfman’s involvement as the sound track artist, or Meg Foster curiously cross dressed as an Italian mobster with a pomp haircut, every single move to this movie is confusing and often times disorienting.
Super 8 (2011)
You can feel the youth of Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams permeating through every film cell of “Super 8.” The 2011 movie veiled in mystery has become one of the most highly regarded films that isn’t directed by Spielberg but very well may have been. From familial discord, the death of a parent, and the like “Super 8” channels these themes from classic Spielberg fare like “Close Encounters,” and “Jaws” with a sprinkle of “Stand By Me” and “The Goonies” for good measure. We follow a group of children tasked with uncovering a mystery their adult counterparts couldn’t possibly fathom, a menace that promises to destroy the world. Or at least destroy their lives for good.
Savage Streets (1984)
“Savage Streets” is one of my favorite Linda Blair Trash fests, a bona fide grind house spectacular that examines the plight of over privileged white kids who all pose as gangs upon night fall. The streets of surburbia become savage every night with the screeches and howls and Danny Steinmann’s youth gone wild cinematic trip is an exploration in to the aimlessness of this crime spree two groups of youths embark on. Part “The Warriors,” and part “The Outsiders,” there is even John Vernon to tangle with, who makes it his mission to take down the group of men terrorizing the school with drug deals.
Scream 3 (2000)
Bereft of the typical doldrums of the previous films, “Scream 3” at least tries for something new and unique in the end. And while that doesn’t result in a watchable movie it’s at least admirable for its attempts to do something interesting. While “Scream” examined the crime, “Scream 2” examined the fall out from the crime where the idea became the institution, all while “Scream 3” explores the institution becoming so steeped in sensationalism that the crime has all but been snuffed out as a memory and urban myth. This sets the stages for Sydney’s return in the final installment of the first trilogy of “Scream” where she’s not a recluse living among her own devices avoiding the outside world. But fate comes knocking at her door when Ghostface returns anxiously looking for Sydney who has gone in to hiding and has taken on a new moniker and profession.
Stake Land (2011)
“Stake Land” is that type of movie that many indie film fans will take a liking to, primarily since every frame glitters with a Sundance gloss that make it suitable for the independent niche that’s become so popular in 2011. Which is not at all a criticism, but the film often feels like it’s appealing mainly to the indie buffs before the horror fans and that may alienate movie geeks to some degree. “Stake Land” from Jim Mickle is yet another post apocalyptic nightmare from Hollywood that ponders on the question: What if vampires took over the world? Mickle paints this world in such a gritty disgusting zeal with blood soaked carnage and raving maniacal vampires, that it often feels like a sequel to “30 Days of Night.”
Super (2010)
Why wasn’t “Kick Ass” this kind of movie? I mean granted I loved the comic book from Mark Millar, but “Kick Ass” the movie was not what I originally envisioned. “Super” from director James Gunn is what a movie about a regular man fighting crime should be. Funny, original, inventive, and dark, “Super” is that movie the big budget spectacle should have been, a story about a demented individual who tracks his sheer insanity with the use of his red costume and monkey wrench, fighting crime, and inevitably coming across real evil in pursuit of his own form of identity.