For October, we, with our two friends Alex and Liam, have decided to watch a horror movie every friday night. So far we have watched Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Scream (1996). It’s also known as “Hitchcocktober” even though we haven’t watched any of his work (yet). Our contenders for the next two weeks are Totally Killer (2023) The Birds (1963) but plans might change. One of the movies we watched at this point is by far superior than the other one, spoilers ahead. 

10/5/2023

Nightmare on Elm Street 

This movie was interesting from start to finish. The opening dream sequence was suspenseful and scary and Tina’s death not soon after was shocking while still being expected. The numerous deaths that followed were also angering, being killed by a non-present dream monster is a frustrating premise. The acting was overall horrible. The only person who stood out as good was Johnny Depp, which is probably part of the reason why he is the only actor in the movie we recognized. Nancy was an unconvincing “final girl” who was clearly extremely tortured and crazed by the end of the movie but still was slightly comical to watch as she delivered her lines. Also, Freddy Krueger was disgusting for no reason. He was more flamboyant than anything which was very unexpected. I thought he would be more of an iconic villain but all he was doing was inexplicably and gruesomely killing the characters. His backstory was not fully fleshed out, with the explanation Nancy’s mom gave to his existence not making any sense. Freddy Krueger while alive was a child murderer who used to kill kids in the neighborhood and was freed instead of convicted. So, an angry mob of parents (Nancy’s included) lit him on fire as he was sleeping and killed him. No further explanation is given as to why he can kill people while they’re sleeping and instead of coming off as a haunting aspect of his character, it’s just stupid. The effects were bad but that is to be expected with the time period, also it took the edge off the frightening factor of the movie which I appreciated. With a lot of jumpscares, the movie was thoroughly scary. It had an unsatisfying and open ending with no real resolution, just four (?) people dead and an unsure fate of the villain. 

We rate it 3.5/5 stars, a solid classic that could very much be improved. 

10/13/2023 

Scream

    Scream was a classic horror film, following the tormenting of high school students by a masked killer. Killing Drew Barrymore’s character, Casey Becker, immediately was shocking and a choice that really drew me into the movie. During her death, Casey unmasked the killer and her face indicated that it was someone that she knew. I really liked this as it created more suspense and depth to the killer, a refreshing change from Nightmare on Elm Street. I will admit that the killer was still goofy at times, especially knowing that he must have bought a new costume after losing his mask. Despite this, I think that a masked killer is far more terrifying than a killer like Freddy Krueger. This film also had a surplus of genuine jump scares. There was screaming while watching and a pit in my stomach throughout a lot of the film. I believe that the main character, Sidney Prescott, was a great final girl. Her character had more depth than characters in horror movies usually do. Her mother’s murder added a lot to the tension between Sidney and Gale Weathers. I wish that the mystery of that crime could have been explored more, particularly the false arrest of Cotton Weary. The final reveal of Ghostface’s identity, more accurately identities, was a great twist that nobody saw coming. Though there was a good motive, it didn’t exactly explain the majority of the murders that Billy and his accomplice Stu committed, but the viewer could also assume no serial killers are rational anyway. Bloody, funny, and interesting, Scream was a great horror movie to watch with a group of friends.

We rate it 4.5/5 stars, a cult classic for a reason.