Watching those flicks certainly brought back memories of those times...I was in my first 2 years at Western Michigan University when they both came out. Those were interesting times for slasher pics, as they had been enjoying a new renaissance after the success of "Scream" in 1996-1997. "Scream" showed that smart writing, clever dialogue, a reverence for the classic horror films of history, and a young, hip cast of already established actors could be a formula for success.
Anyone remember how dead the horror film genre was by that point? The iconic slasher franchises from the '80s had died sputtering deaths, with 1995's edited-to-the-point of incomprehensibility "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" being the most egregious of the bunch.
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| Oh yeah, and Paul Rudd was in it. |
But, like the snake that eats its' own tail, this resurgence in horror soon began to cannibalize itself, and the genre again sputtered out. What was the last movie to be considered a part of this movement? It's hard to say, but I think 2002's "Halloween: Resurrection" may have been it. It featured the young hip cast and dialogue, but it all seemed so stale by this point. So, once again, Halloween killed the horror genre...for a time.
The rest of the 2000s were filled with reboots of old franchises and "torture porn," but that is a blog post for another day. The actors and actresses from the millennial era of horror went on to varying degrees of success after their respective franchises ended, but in their prime they were the bee's knees to fans. They almost comprised what could be referred to as "the slash pack," not unlike the '80s brat pack: Freddie Prinze Jr., Joshua Jackson, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Liev Schrieber, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Williams, Josh Hartnett...they were all featured in the movies I mentioned.
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| And how many of those movies had posters that looked like some variation of this? All of them. |
And let's not forget the music on the soundtracks! Well, some of it was very forgettable, and it was definitely of the times. Such bands as Creed and...um...Creed had songs featured in some of the movies I mentioned. Maybe you remember this angst-ridden, epic, toe-tapper from "Scream 3?"
Oh yeah, one thing "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" reminded me of was my incredible crush on actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. *Sigh*
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| You're still the one baby. |
RANDOM RAMBLING!
I'm a little short on topics of randomness, but one thing I heard this week that I really dug in the music world were the new tracks by ex-Metallica bass player Jason Newsted's new project, dubbed "Newsted." His band is a three-piece with him on bass/vocals and two guys I've never heard of on guitar and drums. Check it out, it has a distinct retro '80s thrash sound to it. Is this what Metallica could have sounded like if they didn't turn into humongous massive douches in the mid '90s? Perhaps.
I never saw the Paul Rudd Halloween flick. Care to elaborate on the incomprehensible editing?
ReplyDeleteJennifer Love Hewitt is still hot. I officially request a blog series from you about the horror movie eras that you dig. I think you could also possibly include Justin Long into that "slash pack" era, if you'd count Jeepers Creepers somewhere on that list.
And what about the horror-comedies? Stuff like Dead Alive, Evil Dead/Army of Darkness, Troma crap, etc... Where would you place those?
Newsted rocks! Wow, i think that's an official "FUCK YOU!" to Metallica. I dig it.
After a test screening of Halloween 6, the ending was changed, and an entire new ending was shot that nearly dropped the film's "Curse of Thorn" concept (which explained Michael's supernatural powers) entirely.
ReplyDeleteOn top of this, over twenty minutes of other footage was removed from the film during the re-editing process, creating several plot holes in the final cut. A lot of the film, particularly the new ending, makes no sense as a result. I have a bootleg copy of the original version which is referred to as "The Producer's Cut." It's a lot better than the one they released.
I should compile a list of that era's slash pack flicks...I forgot about "Jeepers Creepers." I know there were a boatload of other ones. A run down of horror movie eras is a good idea. I think horror comedies would kind be something that coincides with different eras...Troma stuff was released concurrently with a lot of the movies featuring the '80s slasher legends, "Dead Alive" was early '90s, etc. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" was kind of a horror comedy as well.
Fucking Metallica. If only they had been in some horrible plane accident after "...And Justice For All." They would be legends!