I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

Believe it or not, I had never seen I Know What You Did Last Summer before now. I've seen it parodied in Scary Movie and probably other movies too, but never watched the actual film. Then the other day I was in the mood for something light and I finally watched it. 

The story follows four friends, Julie (Jennifer Love-Hewitt), Helen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.), and Barry (Ryan Phillippe). On their way home from a party on the beach, they accidentally hit and kill a man. After some arguing, they decide to dump the body in the water and never talk about what happened ever again. A year later, Julie returns home from college only to find a letter simply saying, "I know what you did last summer". Shocked, she reunites with her friends and tries to figure out who is after them. 

I haven't read the novel of the same name by Lois Duncan upon which the film is based on and therefore I don't know who is to be blamed; what I do know, however, is that the plot of this film is extremely simple and thin — to the extent that it feels like there's no plot at all —, it's filled with holes and becomes boring when it's actually supposed to get interesting, that being as soon as the man with the hook makes his appearance. As for the twists, they are not that surprising, and the filmmakers attempted at twists so many times, it eventually becomes annoying. 

The writing doesn't get any better with the characters as they are nothing but four stereotypical teenagers, very annoying and unlikeable teens whose lack of development prevent us from caring about them. Also, why should we sympathize with a bunch of idiots who killed a person and dumped the body in the water? The only character I felt sorry for was Max, the fellow student suspected of being the man with the hook, but only because he is played by Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory's Leonard whom I love. 

Columbia Pictures

The acting is also your standard horror flick acting as it's just pretty people putting on scared/scary faces for most of the film's runtime while reading their lines. 

With all that being said, I Know What You Did Last Summer is not a complete waste of time. While the writing is terrible, and tension and suspense are nowhere to be found, there's plenty of enjoyable, unintentionally funny moments that make the film a bit less unbearable. 

Curse of Chucky (2013)

After Seed of Chucky, directed by Don Mancini, just like this one, I was expecting the worst but Mancini was able to surprise me again. He left comedy to go back to the original trilogy’s dark tones, and it worked. Although it’s far from being the best horror or slasher movie, Curse of Chucky sure is a pretty entertaining one – and it kinda made me excited about Cult of Chucky.

The story is about Nica, a young woman in a wheelchair (Fiona Dourif, Brad Dourif’s real-life daughter) who is forced to deal with her sister (Danielle Bisutti), her brother-in-law (Brennan Elliott) and her niece (Summer H. Howell) after the mysterious death of her mother (Chantal Quesnel). The cause of death, however, isn’t a mystery to us since Nica and her mother received a package containing Chucky (Brad Dourif) not long before dying. What we don’t know is what score Chucky is trying to settle as he starts killing the members of the family.

As you can see, it’s pretty simple. Also, it doesn’t have a lot of twists and there are plot holes here and there but it’s surpassingly well developed and it provides a quite solid explanation of why Chucky decided to torture this family (and it even ties in the original film).

Like I said earlier, Mancini ditched comedy for horror and he really should have done that before because he’s quite good at developing the horror, building suspense and delivering some pretty solid jump scares. There’s plenty of blood and gore, but there are some pretty interesting camera angles that are way more effective than all those effects.

The acting is average. Actually, most of it is below average, which is completely understandable given the poor characters and dialogue – Danielle Bisutti was truly awful though. Anyway, I was very impressed with Fiona Dourif. Although she overacted in some scenes, she pulled off her rather complex character beautifully.

Child's Play 2 (1990)

Genres

Horror, Thriller

Director

John Lafia

Country

USA

Cast

Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Christine Elise, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham, Grace Zabriskie, Peter Haskell, Beth Grant, Greg Germann, Raymond Singer, Charles Meshack, Adam Wylie

Storyline

When his mother is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Andy (Alex Vincent) is placed in foster care. But he won't be safe because Chucky is onto him and he's determined to claim Andy's soul.

Opinion

Although it wasn't spectacular, Child's Play was a solid horror movie. It had a rather original concept, a good direction and plenty of suspense. Child's Play 2 has neither of those, it's just an excuse to make a goddamn terrible sequel.

The plot to this is absolutely ridiculous and quite pathetic, to be honest. The writers tried to make it deeper by adding foster care, but there really isn't anything more than an incredibly evil doll who is obsessed with a kid. That damn doll is basically a stalker.

The good thing about the original was that, like in Jaws, the monster wasn't revealed immediately which is how the director managed to build tension. In this one, Chucky is the monster right from the start which is why the film isn't a bit exciting or thrilling.

Another huge problem is the characters. First of all, the film is filled with bland and undeveloped characters, like Andy's foster parents. You could take them away from the movie, and nothing would change. The worst though is Chucky. How is it possible that someone who basically takes away any logic the characters have at the end loses? It just doesn't make sense. But I guess it's silly of me trying to give this film a sense.

Script aside, the direction is also a mess. Like I mentioned before, there's no suspense, no scary moments, and overall not so much horror. Also, the atmosphere sucks because there's no atmosphere. The film did get better in the last 5-10 minutes, but that isn't enough to make this film even watchable. 

Child's Play (1988)

Genres

Horror, Thriller

Director

Tom Holland

Country

USA

Cast

Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Brock Winkles, Dinah Manoff, Tommy Swerdlow, Jack Colvin, Raymond Oliver, Neil Giuntoli, Alan Wilder, Aaron Osborne, Juan Ramizer

Storyline

To escape from a cop (Chris Sarandon), a serial killer (Brad Dourif) transfer his soul into good guy doll Chucky, a doll that a single mother (Catherine Hicks) eventually gives to her son (Alex Vincent), clueless of it being possessed. And soon the doll starts killing people.

Opinion

Since I've already tortured myself with some of the most famous horror franchises, I thought it'd be fair to watch Chucky's franchise too, because who wants to be the target of a murderous doll? I sure don't. That, however, didn't prevent me from expecting Child's Play to be a terrible movie. Thank God it wasn't the case because I'd be pretty scared to write that review for the reason I mentioned earlier. I'm kidding of course. I'm not scared of a doll. The movie though, it was better than expected.

The story is pretty lame, clichéed and predictable but I have to admit that the whole doll possessed by serial killer thing is quite an original idea and it moves very well and it's overall enjoyable.

But the reason why Child's Play exceeded my expectations is the direction. The way Tom Holland set up the story and the creepy atmosphere he was able to build are the things that will engage you and keep you on the edge of your seat. The story itself (and the murders) isn't that scary, but the atmosphere is so good and the music fits so well, they easily make up for it.

Also quite impressive is the doll. There are some pretty good puppet effects, and the special effects are overall pretty good, especially for this time period. And Chucky's voice, although I was expecting it to be way creepier, fits the looks of the doll.

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Genre

Horror

Director

Rachel Talalay

Country

USA

Cast

Robert Englund, Lisa Zane, Shon Greenblatt, Lezlie Deane, Breckin Meyer, Ricky Dean Logan, Yaphet Kotto, Tobe Sexton, Cassandra Rachel Frei, Lindsey Fields, Johnny Depp, Tom Arnold, Roseanne Barr, Alice Cooper

Storyline

Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) returns once again to haunt both the dreams of the last surviving teenager (Shon Greenblatt) and those of a woman (Lisa Zane) with a deep connection to him.

Opinion

If "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child" was awful, I don't know what "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" is. Other than a ridiculous nightmare and an unwatchable film.

Unlike the previous entry, this film actually had some potential with Freddy's backstory. It could have been good. No, it should have been good. But the filmmakers decided to throw that potential away and write instead a story that is stupid, confused and so boring it makes you wish to be the one dying instead of Freddy.

As if that wasn't enough, that thing resembling a plot moves so fast you don't have time to process what just happened that something else happens. But don't worry, it's not important, after all nothing happens but stupid killings - trying to kill someone with a cotton bud? What's next? Brushing someone's teeth to death? - and Freddy still trying so hard to be a comedian.

And just like the other times, he doesn't succeed. He is just an idiotic joker who can't pull off a single joke, and that isn't scary at all. In other words, Krueger is the film's biggest (and only) joke.

Completing this pathetic film there are utterly annoying, irritating characters that are light years away from character development, atrocious acting and horrible effects.

Basically it's a great horror. In a different, bad way though.

Death Proof (2007)

Genre

Thriller

Director

Quentin Tarantino

Country

USA

Cast

Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Quentin Tarantino, Marcy Harriell, Michael Parks, Eli Roth, Omar Doom, Michael Bacall, Jonathan Loughran, Marley Shelton, Monica Staggs

Storyline

Two separate sets of voluptuous women are stalked at different times by a scarred stuntman (Kurt Russell) who uses his "death proof" cars to execute his murderous plans.

Opinion

Back in 2012, Tarantino said "Death Proof" is the worst film he's ever made, not a terrible movie, still the worst. I can't argue with that. But I guess it was supposed to be. It's an homage to Grindhouse films after all. 

The plot is pretty simple: Stuntman Mike, a psychotic yet cool scarred stuntman who goes around in a death proof car - those automobiles used in TV Shows to simulate clashed - to pick up and kill girls based on their appearance. Nothing more.  

The style is totally Tarantino's: long and exhausting nonsense dialogue - maybe this time a little bit too long - served with futile and vulgar topics, typical camera movements of the sixties, spectacular chases, vibrant red blood splashing everywhere just to not take this whole thing too seriously. There is all of this. Unfortunately, if it wasn't Tarantino's, the film would have passed completely unnoticed because it doesn't really have anything special.

Okay, maybe the soundtrack is special. I mean, after all nobody manages to use popular music in the way Tarantino does. You gotta give him that.

The casting of Kurt Russell was perfect though. He finally has the opportunity to go all bad again, and man, he goes bad. Even when he is supposed to be friendly, he exudes a sense of menace that doesn't' leave until the end of the film.