It's Satire... Fool.

Too many people take this film seriously. It's satire. One of the best forms of comedy. Because it's clever. It's a horror.. On the surface... But underneath that, at it's heart, it's a mockery of all old school slasher movies. I am talking, of course, about Scream. It's a pity that less people will watch it due to the unnecessary prejudice about horror movies. It's satire.. Fool. I have some good friends who are self proclaimed 'film nerds' and while that's a fair claim, they're unlikely to touch this movie with a barge pole.

It's a shame. It's a really good movie. It may sound familiar. High school girl, home alone, begins to get phone calls from an unknown caller who wants to play a game or the boyfriend tied up on the patio dies. Fairly average? It goes on. More high school murders linked to something that happened a year ago but the killer is too good for the police... Picking off teens one by one.. At parties, their houses or the school. Anywhere. But the difference is, while other slasher movies are bloody, this one is bloody funny. And make no mistake, it's just plain bloody too.

Drew loved singing Tom Jones down the phone to her boyfriend

It diverges from the rest of the genre by taking what is normal for the style and slanting it ever so slightly. There is no calm voice for the telephone threats, if hit, the killer won't somehow develop super strength and throw you back, he will fall down with a loud "OOF." On that note, the victims do fight back, often, and successfully... More or less. Apart from these aspects, the slasher genre rules are all there but in a post modern fashion. By this I mean the characters essentially discuss how to survive; the rules of survival in a horror movie. On numerous occasions, characters refer to their lives being 'like a horror movie.' One brilliant example of these post modern features is the party. Randy (Jamie Kennedy) discusses the rules of survival, "Never have sex" as clips of his two friends dancing the dance of love appear and "Don't say I'll be right back" just before Stu (Matthew Lillard) walks out uttering the phrase.

Performance wise, Drew Barrymore stands out in her short but crucial role to introduce the story but the true star is Matthew Lillard's grinning, comic and also scary Stu. Also worthy of notice are the real life and on screen couple, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, playing Gale Weathers, the bitchy news lady and Deputy Dewy, the love able police deputy.

Hearing Drew's singing made Matthew all bashful

In technical aspects it still manages to mock the genre. The peer-round-the-corner camera shot, the cheesy violin music... It all works with beautiful irony. And why? Director Wes Craven. Since he was one of the few directors that essentially invented the genre it seems fitting that he mocks it. And he has the ability to since he knows every aspect of the horror movie and can twist it successfully without making it look bad like other spoofs. (See Saturday The 14th)

It's a good movie. It's half horror, half comedy. If you expect it to be something, expect funny. If you expect horror, you're likely to be disappointed. I suggest watching it.


Best Bit? There's a lot. I mean a lot. I'm having trouble picking one. Just watch and see.

Take A Right.. And It's The Last House On The Left.

Despite the title sounding like a set of directions The Last House On The Left has a slight hope. Yes it's a remake which makes every fan in the film world cringe with pain BUT it is a Wes Craven film originally. So it has promise as long as the screenwriters control the urge to dumb it down and make it more graphic to appeal to gore junkies. Well this is half and half... The rape scene near the beginning is a hell of a lot tamer. There's no forced lesbian action or peeing... which is good for most.. But hey, I'm not here to judge... Cept films..

The Events Of This Film, Rape And Murder, Occur Because These Kids Smoked Pot.

Don't Do Drugs Kids

As the film progresses though there is a lot more violence... All of the characters died in different ways to the original but its not that big an issue. The issue I have with this film is everything else. Horror films can be a brilliant chance to express acting skills (John Cuzack, 1408) but then I'm not sure if this a horror... It's certainly is some form of thriller... But anyway it was a brilliant chance for the cast (mainly Tony Goldwyn (John Collingwood) and Monica Potter (Emma Collingwood)) to prove their acting talent... To shift from good Samaritans to vengeful murderers. A slow realisation maybe? Then a plot? Then a loss of human morals? 'Nah skip that' is what the director said. When the Collingwoods realise who their guests are they go crazy. This leads to the assumption that they were already mentally unstable before their daughter was raped... yeah... obvious right?

I think that was really my biggest issue with the film... It focused too much on the plot and action and lost the crucial character details that make a film excellent. It also had one of those reaaaaalllyyy generic soundtracks/score that consisted simply of 'creepy' music.. very disappointing. You can create horror and/or tension through soundtrack without rubbish noises that do nothing but build up catharsis.. badly. Check any Alfred Hitchcock horror/ thriller or 28 Days Later. That's how a score/ soundtrack should be used. Speaking of 28 Days Later, the film that has my favourite cinematography EVER, The Last House On The Left could learn from it. The camera shots weren't bad but they could've been better.

The middle of nowhere had a really bad hoodie culture.

I can't say I enjoyed this film, but then again I can't say I hated it. Detail is one of my favourite things in films and this movie lacked the detail in character depth. The only one who nailed it was young Spencer Treat Clark (Justin.) His character swayed from casual druggie to determined fighter with clear daddy issues. He makes this film half a star better than it would've been otherwise. (That's right I'm using half stars now!)

For a remake it's not actually that bad; compared to the other shit that is produced nowadays. And it may actually be worth a watch, if only to judge it for yourself.

Best Bit? When one of the baddies gets his hands stuck in a food disposal unit... Ouch!