Fresh and Exciting

Admirable film.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Canadian slasher movie starring Leslie Nielsen & arguably the most famous scream queen/final girl of all time Jamie Leigh Curtis. Simple plot about teens getting killed in revenge for the death of a child several years before. Apart from the opening sequence there's very little horror until the final half hour, ie the Prom Night, where the unknown killer makes an appearance. The microphone also makes several appearances throughout! Some slasher fans may get bored, and the endless disco scenes won't help. Apart from a decapitation there's not much gore either. However this is one of the best known titles from the Golden Age of the slasher movie & is essential viewing for those of us who just love these films.

When Nick, Wendy, Jude & Kelly were playing "Killers Are Coming" in the abandoned convent (which was such a dangerous structure for these kids to be running around in), and Robin interrupted their twisted variation of Hide & Go Seek...just what was the last man standing (in this case Nick) going to win/lose? Oddly enough, Nick was the catalyst for Robin's literal downfall that day; instead of warning her that Warpath Wendy would target her mercilessly and ushering her out of the building before the others caught him, he screamed "Here Killers, Here!" (which might have been one of their rules in case an outsider intervened), getting the attention of his three co-conspirators who literally scared Robin to death! Nick always seemed the guiltiest of the four, from the get-go when he started to mention that they needed to "get somebody, quick!" but outnumbered by the three girls, he agreed to the pact and still felt totally guilty six years later on the day of the prom during his romantic scenes with Kim.WHAT IF??? Nick ran home that day in 1974 and confessed everything to his father, Lt. McBride...who in turn was looking for a reason to capture local pedophile Leonard Murch, and decided to cover up his son's crime by blaming Murch, leading to his car explosion capture? McBride seemed to be a single father in the 1980 story, and I always thought he was a widower but there were no paintings or photos of Nick's missing mother in their apartment (but there was a framed photo by Nick's phone of him and another guy on a tennis court). I'm assuming that Mrs. McBride was devastated over her young son's malicious mayhem & subsequent coverup by her cop husband...so she flew the coop and left them both! (I know, like the mothers in Happy Birthday To Me and the original Scream did). Maybe Mrs. McBride was friends with Mrs. Hammond at the time and couldn't bear to see her friend suffer at the hands of her own family! And maybe she couldn't live with the fact that her husband framed an innocent man (at least at that time) of Robin's murder. Maybe Lt. McBride and Wendy's obviously wealthy unseen no-show father conspired to keep their children's crime a secret? I know all of this couldn't play out in the 90min movie (with the post-production tacked-on Leonard Murch scenes still in tact!).Speaking of Nick & Kim, after all that time...their Senior year romance seemed to be new since Wendy's jilted lover routine didn't come off as desperate like they've been fighting over him since they were 12!I just wonder about these things years later!

Not a very good film, even by the "standards" of the genre. There was surprisingly little gore, until one particular scene. (This is not a complaint) Very little gratuitous nudity. (Maybe a little bit of a complaint) The acting, sets, direction, etc. place it firmly in the B category, which is fine. Leslie Nielsen seemed to be mailing it in. Jamie Lee Curtis was so young that her craft may not have been well-developed, seeing that she became a fine actress. The director seems to have made his career in television, and it showed. This is kind of a waste of time.

Every year in October, I use the Halloween season to enable my horror movie addiction. I've seen so many in my life I'm starting to work my way into the B-level and forgotten horror movies. In my opinion, this one can stay forgotten. First, a bit of context. 1974's Texas Chainsaw Massacre and 1978's Halloween changed horror. Gone was the horror of Rosemarys Baby, The Omen and The Exorcsist. Now, it's about teenagers running around naked and getting chopped to bits. Slashers, when done right, can be a blast. A menacing killer, sometimes shrouded in mystery. Friday the 13th if the same year did this well, feeling like a Hitchcock or Argento Murder mystery. A memorable weapon is a plus, a la Nightmare on Elm Street. Good chases, or suspense are a must, as In Halloween. And then you have the t&a that permeates the slasher genre. The problem with this one, for me, is that it came too early to understand what makes a good slasher. The Killer is not interesting or supernatural, the weapon is forgettable. Scenes that could be seen as exploitation are boring. The acting, even from Curtis, is passable at best. Granted Acting isn't a high point in slashers, but blood guts and breasts tend to distract horror audiences enough. This didn't. The camera work, never a high point of slashes, is especially bad, with day time shooting seeming overexposed. The sound is an issue too. I shouldn't have to make myself deaf to hear the dialogue. The biggest problem for me is the pacing. The killing takes too long to happen, and the mystery that is supposed to hook you doesn't stick. Skip this. Want a good slasher? Watch Halloween, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare in Elm Street. This is not original or interesting enough to warrant sitting through.