This Week in Cinema, I Learned…Oct 06-12 2024
Written by Cameron Geiser
Welcome to This Week in Cinema, a yearlong film criticism project wherein I will be watching a new film that I haven't seen every single day.
Welcome back to the Paddington Check-in. So far, so good. No need to break that glass, not yet anyways. The second week of October continued the slasher marathon, but a few new players entered the field including Jason of Friday the 13th fame and the freshly infamous Art the Clown in Terrifier. In fact we begin the week with the final Scream film (for now) with Scream VI surprisingly my favorite film in the franchise, and while John Carpenter’s Christine isn’t exactly a slasher, it does fit into that sub-genre tonally speaking. However we do begin sliding into terrifying territory (Thanks Art) with the Original Japanese version of The Ring, just titled Ring here, and rounding out the week comes a clever concept-heavy jumpscare factory with Lights Out.
Since my time with Scream has come to an end, and after much deliberation my ranking of the franchise is now locked in. From best to worst my final lineup is 6, 5, 2, 1, 3, and 4. Watching the movies evolve over the course of six consecutive days was really something special. You could see how each film was recontextualizing the Horror genre and how perceptions and expectations of Horror films change over time with the taste of the audience evolving on a parallel course. From riffing on the big slashers from the 1980s to digging at modern “Elevated Horror” like Hereditary, The Lighthouse, Get Out, and The Babadook, Scream has always had a deep love for the Horror genre as a whole. That love has also changed the genre itself, and maybe I’m just a sucker for movies about movies, but I unabashedly ended up loving Scream. Which was a gigantic surprise as I thought I might not enjoy them at all, or potentially find them insufferable. I couldn’t be happier with how wrong I was. This week I learned that not all slasher villains are alike (Art!), and once again, to let my expectations leave my body once the opening credits begin. They really can be a dangerous thing!
October 6th
Scream VI (2023)
4/5
The most recent iteration of Scream takes the series to New York City and honestly the gimmick did not disappoint. Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) have moved to the big apple to get away from Woodsboro and their intricate past with the Ghostface killings. Right off the bat this Scream is ALL about turning the tables on audience expectations. Sam and Tara are both dealing with their trauma from the last film in their own ways while navigating college in the big city. This time around we get two “false” Ghostface killers who are taken out by the actual Ghostface killer of the film, and I liked that. Good twist on the formula. Now that the series has become a “Franchise” in the modern setting, the characters have to contend with the differences in modern horror to what came before. At one point a character explaining “the rules” says that “Anyone can go at any time… especially Sam and Tara” and all I could think was, “How prescient…” What makes this film stand above the rest of the franchise, you might ask?
For me it was in the execution of the tension, the more visceral action sequences, and the fact that they changed it up for this film while still very much staying within the headspace crafted by the previous films. This one also does not waste the New York City setting like some other horror movies *cough* Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan *cough*. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett wisely took this gigantic city and filmed it (Montreal, Canada, I know, I know) in such a way to emphasize the inherent claustrophobia of the places and spaces that feel iconic to the New York experience. Bodegas, the subway, high rises galore, Scream VI used the NYC setting to its advantage while honoring the past.
Speaking of the past, Gale and Kirby both show up too! Kirby wasn’t what made Scream 4 a disappointment, in fact she was the MVP of that film in my opinion. Gale is still consistently Gale, she wrote the book that the Carpenter sisters asked her not to write. Because, you know, she *had* to. Also, not to be rude but it is shocking to see Courtney Cox transform over the years. No disrespect, but Gale sorta looks like she’s been in her own version of The Substance when not popping up to check in on the Ghostface killings. This was an excellent evolution in the series, and despite casting and crew changes to the next one, I’m still looking forward to seeing what they do with the series. Highly recommended.
October 7th
Jason X (2001)
2.5/5
Having seen a good majority of the Friday The 13th movies, I’m honestly surprised I never got around to watching this one because Jason X is easily the silliest slasher flick I’ve ever seen. Don’t let the score fool you, while this isn’t exactly a “good” movie, I really enjoyed the heck out of it. So, what little plot there is exists only to place Jason into space in the future and let him loose with some new tech. Jason gets caught in the near future but since his Governmental captors cannot kill him or keep him dead they decide to freeze him, unleashing a several hundred years time jump bringing him and the person he was actively stabbing to death into the year 2455.
By this time the earth had become too polluted to live on and humanity moved on to a different planet, but occasionally the decaying planet is studied and on one such field trip a professor and his students accidentally discover Jason and his victim and bring them aboard their spaceship. Nanobots reanimate Jason after a bit and as you might expect, everything goes haywire. What can I say? It’s a Friday The 13th Movie. Teenagers exist to have premarital sex and be violently obliterated by the hockey mask wearing slasher icon. There are some decent puns and good cheese to be had, but there were very clear budgetary limits for the set design and the script wasn’t exactly “strong” either, but hey, that’s not why you come to watch Friday The 13th films, you watch to see Jason kill snot-nosed teenagers and trust-fund college kids.
October 8th
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)
4/5
The only Nightmare on Elm Street movie that I hadn’t seen is weirdly ironic to watch after mainlining the entire Scream franchise first. Especially because Wes Craven’s New Nightmare is essentially just a proto-Scream movie starring Freddy Krueger as Ghostface. I actually love the core concept of the film, that instead of Robert Englund playing just Freddy Krueger, he’s playing a fictional version of himself on the set of a new Wes Craven Nightmare film wherein he’s possessed by “The Real Entity” of Freddy Krueger who then starts killing the cast and crew making the film. There's some great stuff in there using the actress from the first film and to be frank the atmosphere that pervades the whole runtime is excellent and consistent. There was a lot of effort and care put into not only the visual flare of the film, but also in the stellar set design, especially once the third act starts to escalate exponentially. While it's not quite my favorite film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, it is a very good entry that recontextualizes the supernatural side of the films and plays with the more imaginative aspects of the core idea of the series.
October 9th
Christine (1983)
3/5
Somehow, I never realized that Christine was a film directed by John Carpenter, based on a book written by Stephen King. These guys are two of my favorite artists in storytelling, and ironically I saw In The Mouth of Madness first, which is John Carpenter directing a film about H. P. Lovecraft's style of stories, but bathed through a prism of Stephen King (Especially in the depiction of Sutter Cane’s book covers). Anyways, this supernatural slasher is about a 1958 Plymouth Fury that's neglected for about twenty years before socially dubious teenager Arnie (Keith Gordon) picks up the dusty old red and white clunker. Christine just needed a little T.L.C.- however once she's cleaned up Arnies life starts taking a dive as Christine isn't just a classy car, she's a jealous killer too. This one was a lot of fun, entirely predictable and easily digestible, but what impressed me most were the special effects utilized in Christine's ability to repair herself, to squeeze into hard to reach places, and in her controlling manipulative behavior. It's a great spooky tale to throw on, especially on rainy autumn nights.
October 10th
Ring (1998)
5/5
Having never seen either the American remake or the Japanese original film, respectively I decided to go with the first version of this story. Through social osmosis I had heard the concept of (the) Ring before, probably through the Scary Movie comedic parodies from the early 2000s in my youth. If someone watches the cursed videotape, their phone will ring and they are subsequently told that they will die in seven days. Psychological, atmospheric, and terrifying Ring is pure nightmare fuel through the ideas represented on screen. I almost don't want to divulge more while simultaneously feeling the need to shake you by the shoulders and beg you to watch this movie if you have any interest in horror films at all. The levels of tension achieved here, alongside a truly great hook that evolves as the film runs on, combine for something truly revelatory. Any great horror movie will stay with you after the credits roll, keeping you awake at night through the implications of the ideas in the story, and Ring is definitely that movie. I love any ending that implicates the viewer for even watching the film, and this one has an unforgettable third act. Simply, divine horror.
October 11th
Terrifier (2016)
2.5/5
Before the title card for Terrifier had even dropped, my stomach churned, laughter welling up in my chest from anxious disgust, and my heartbeat had most definitely accelerated. I had just witnessed the world of Art The Clown (David Howard Thornton). Well, specifically writer-director Damien Leone's world of terror. So, what's the story? Well, that's not really the point of the first one. The point is the shocking violence depicted on screen. Art is a supernatural presence, taking the form of a Mime Clown dressed in black and white, that finds extreme joy in killing, and comes across two unfortunate young women, Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran). This is the first film in a series of three completed films thus far, with Leone citing plans for fourth and fifth entries.
To be completely honest with you, I did not enjoy this one. I thought it was a miserable experience to watch. However, with the foresight of writing this from the future, I do believe this film *had* to be a terribly bleak and dark experience to make the next films really stand above this first entry. Also, David Howard Thornton's silent performance as Art The Clown is, honestly, a cinematic treasure. If his macabre comedic performance didn't work, Art would not have become a new horror franchise favorite. Then there's Damien Leone, the writer-director-editor and special effects make-up artist of Terrifier. Leone deserves a lot of credit for this production as he was essentially the backbone of the whole filmmaking side of things, and he did all this with essentially no money. The experience of watching Terrifier wasn't all that great, but the indie filmmaking behind the scenes makes this one special. Plus, the sequels were better (more on those next week).
October 12th
Lights Out (2016)
3/5
Lights Out is one of those films that has a real banger of a concept, but ends up fumbling it in the back half of the third act. The whole conceit is that a being, called Diana in the film, who lives only within shadows, has a symbiotic relationship with the mother of the main characters and feeds on any innocent passersby unlucky enough to be caught in the dark. There are some decent ideas when it comes to visual flare with regard to the light and dark concepts of flipping light switches and having reality change based on that. There's also a handful of incredibly strong sequences of tension, atmospheric terror, with good imagery intertwined with the fear of being hunted. However, the writing is pretty bad at times. It's perfunctory and workmanlike, only there to push the characters towards each new interaction with Diana. It's not a terrible horror movie but I do take issue with the ending. In all good conscience, I can't recommend stories where suicide is the solution. That's probably more of a personal issue, but when you know people that have taken their lives- it leaves an impact on you. So yes, I think there were better, stronger, ways to write yourself out of that ending.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.