Not much has made me laugh this year. There’s been an onslaught of R rated comedies and nothing has hit the spot quite like “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.” Eli Craig’s horror comedy is a film that works more so as a comedy film and it had me laughing non-stop for ninety minutes with a premise so clever it’s shocking that this is the first time we’ve seen it accomplished before. The premise is tricky, but Craig handles the material with enough finesse and creativity to where nothing feels forced or drawn out to fill time. The film is a merciful ninety minutes and that’s all it needs to tell its story. You’d think with a movie featuring such morbid dark humor that Craig’s creative work would be mean spirited, but surprisingly, he opts for unbelievable dark humor that works in ways that will leave audiences slapping their knees with laughter.
Tag Archives: Slasher
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.
Teddy (2011)
The funny thing about “Teddy” is that there is no reason for it to go beyond an eleven minute run time. This film’s premise is so hackneyed and predictable, it’d barely make a decent feature length film. Which is not by any means a criticism, just an honest observation. You have to respect Slasher Studios for comprising an entire narrative and condensing it in to only eleven minutes.
Scream 4 (2011)
What with so many horror movies offering up a surprise ending we will not see coming for the last ten years, it’s a given that the lure for “Scream 4” is not so much the surprise ending and the revelation, but the nostalgia. Hallelujah Wes Craven on the way to career hell is finally taking “Scream” seriously again in what promises to be a reboot to please the fans and no one else. The problem with “Scream 4” or “Scre4m” is the inability to be about as entertaining as it possibly can. The only thing worse than a bad horror movie is a boring one and “Scream 4” manages to be boring in about as many wave lengths as possible, delving in to the same old tropes we saw in the original series, and lacking the balls to even off core characters to keep us grinding our teeth and our guards low.
Scream 2 (1997)
With “Scream 2” you can pretty much sense Craven and writer Williamson struggling to create a sense of atmosphere that they did with the original. And the movie series that claims to dodge the slasher clichés while also mocking them, eventually became so clustered with attempts to bring audiences a new experience they pretty much relied on clichés and a formula they streamlined in the original. We have someone offed in the beginning, we introduce the old cast, we get to meet a new cast of characters, someone is killing the cast members, Sydney has to find out who or whom is doing the killings, a load of red herrings are thrown at the audience, there’s the obligatory thought that perhaps one of the original three cast members are behind it, and then there is the grand stand off in the climax where we’re given a bunch of “gotchas!” Officers and all authorities are also immensely useless.
Suicide Girls Must Die! (2010)
I think deep down Sawa Suicide just assumed that horror fans alike would universally embrace “Suicide Girls Must Die” for the simple fact that it’s a horror movie with a lot of hot girls from the actual website. Granted, I am a huge fan of the Suicide Girls (seriously, these women are insanely beautiful) but just because something is even slightly popular, it doesn’t mean it warrants a movie. And you can hide all of the flaws and cheese behind the fact that it’s a horror film, but even so. The fact that anyone assumed this would be even the least bit entertaining is beyond me and displays a bit of hubris in the notion that the Suicide Girls attachment would mean rave reviews.
Black Christmas (1974)
We never did find out who Billy was, did we? Was he a disgruntled ex-boyfriend? A humiliated crush? Or perhaps just a lunatic who drifted into the sorority house one night before Christmas? It’s always more frightening to be left with questions, isn’t it? Why do killers always have to have a motive or connection to the characters? Do real murderers always make sense? From the first frame director Bob Clark leads us through a labyrinth of absolute red herrings advising us to pay attention, notice the clues, and really focus in on where he’s going with “Black Christmas.” For years I heard many people trying to figure out who Billy is and what his intent was toward this group of young women in their sorority house one Christmas. How is able to get in and out without notice? How is he able to sneak back and forth in this house without being seen?