Jeff Loves Horror

Episode Synopsis: Wednesday’s mystery grows deeper when a student who was killed at the end of episode 1 suddenly shows up, seemingly alive. Meanwhile, she is also forced to begin ingraining herself within the school. Positives: Something I appreciate is when I can pick up on things I may not have noticed on a previous watch. In this case, a lot of the nuances around Tyler. Knowing where things go in the future, I actually like how his behavior is put in a different context. I was also able to appreciate a lot of the dialogue in this episode too. It came off as a lot more clever than I remember it being. I also enjoy how we see many of the relationships Wednesday has with other characters really starting to take form. In particular, I like how we’re already getting a sense that her relationship with Principal Weems is going to be tense. Mixed: One of the criticisms that is levied against the first season is the large number of similarities it has to Harry Potter. While it’s not somethi...

  Episode Summary: After dumping some piranha into a swimming pool as revenge against a water polo team for bullying her brother, Wednesday Addams is expelled and sent to a school for outcasts. Before long, Wednesday stumbles into a murder mystery and learns she's part of some sort of prophecy.  Positives: The first thing I want to highlight is that right away, I love the show's tone. It's spooky, but the show almost immediately makes it clear it works as sort of an entry level horror. I like that the episode spends most of its time introducing you to the characters. It really isn't until the end of the episode when the mystery starts coming into play. I like that. I also love the music used. I think my favorite use of music in the episode is Wednesday playing Paint it, Black on the cello. Of course, I also need to mention the style. One of the big gets for the show was Tim Burton, who directed this episode, as well as the next three, and you can really feel his influen...

  Plot Synopsis:  After years of being traumatized by Ghostface killings, Sidney Prescott has relocated to the town of Pine Grove, Indiana. Now her oldest daughter Tatum is the same age that she was when the Ghostface killings began. Of course, a new Ghostface pops up to begin slicing people up to get to Sidney and her daughter.  Positives: As usual, Neve Campbell shows up to work. I kind of like that this is a Sidney Prescott dealing with motherhood. She's still a very guarded person. I kind of like that the lesson she has to learn is that she has to teach her daughter how to be a fighter, and that Sidney needs to learn that she can't always be there to protect her kid. Isabel May is solid as Tatum. Something I like that I know is not going to be for everybody is how they utilize Matthew Lillard. I won't go into spoilers here. I also like how Chad and Mindy are integrated into the movie too. Having them as Gale's interns is actually kind of fun. I should also say that ...

Before going into my ranking, I feel like it should go without saying, but there will be spoilers for Scream 7. #17: Greg: Not everyone is necessarily going to include the two guys from the opening scene from 6. But, since they had a clear plot that they had set in motion, I am. Greg is the one who comes in last, pretty much by default. He's the one who is dismembered in the fridge. He's already a corpse. Who knows how things would have gone for him if he wasn't already dead at the beginning of the narrative.  #16: Karl Gibbs: Karl Gibbs is a character who is killed and unmasked roughly halfway through 7. He's near the bottom because he totals maybe 30 seconds of screentime, and has no lines. Because of this, his reveal is very underwhelming.  #15: Marco Davis: In case you're wondering who he is, Marco is the orderly from 7. Like Karl, he has one scene before his reveal, which makes for a very disappointing unmasking. I rank him ahead of Karl because he, at least, h...

Plot Synopsis: When a meteor crashes near a small town, it unleashes a monster with an insatiable appetite. The only ones who know what's happening at first are three teenagers, while the monstrous blob racks up a body count as it makes its way through the town.  Positives: Even 37 years later, the effects surrounding the blob, as well as the effects for the kills in the movie still hold up incredibly well. Of course, it helps that they are practical. The main man behind the effects is Tony Gardner (whose work in the horror genre includes the likes of The Addams Family, Zombieland, Hocus Pocus, and the Chucky franchise starting with Seed ). Naturally, it makes sense why the effects look as good as they do. It should also be noted that the movie is directed by Chuck Russell, and co-written by Russell and Frank Darabont. The two had previously worked together on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Their teamwork on this film feels natural. Darabont would go on to have more o...

Plot Synopsis: Fifteen years after murdering his sister, Michael Myers escapes from a mental institution, and returns to his hometown on Halloween night, where he sets his sights on a teenage girl named Laurie Strode. Meanwhile, Michael’s therapist, Dr. Sam Loomis is hot on his trail. Positives: I think the best thing this movie has going for it is its simplicity. For example, the characters are fairly simple. Michael, Laurie, and Loomis are still beloved characters almost fifty years later. Now, I personally will have more to say about Laurie specifically in a different section of my review. The opening scene is one of the absolute best opening scenes in a horror movie ever (perhaps rivaled only by Scream and Jaws ). Something I appreciate far more as an adult than I did when I first watched the movie as a teenager is the movie’s pacing. It’s actually fairly slow paced a good chunk of the runtime, but I think that actually works. It feels more like it’s ratcheting up the tension. The ...