Wes Craven's highly imaginative and somewhat subversive slasher film has held up well after repeat viewings. The film is at its best when exploring the dreamworld and it often blurs the line between dream and reality, keeping the viewer guessing and evoking that feeling you get right on the edge of sleeping and waking. Robert Englund is great as the creepy, maniacal Freddy Krueger, who is really the only classic slasher villain to be indelibly connected to a particular actor. The last act is a bit of a muddled mess, but the rest of the film is so effective it almost doesn't matter.
Score: 8/10
Day 16: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
Probably one of the most bizarre horror sequels I've ever seen, Freddy's Revenge trades the surreal tone of its predecessor for a story filled with guilt, angst and homoerotic overtones, where Freddy tries to enter the real world by controlling a vulnerable teen. Filled with bizarre moments, erratic pacing, and characters making illogical decisions, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is a poor sequel, though worth watching for curiosity's sake.
Score: 4/10
Going back to the series roots, the third entry in the series brings back Nancy Thompson, the protagonist from the first film, as an intern therapist determined to protect other Elm Street children from Freddy Krueger. This film really expands the mythology of the series, as Nancy guides the patients of Westin Hospital to better navigate the dreamworld and combat Krueger. It also delves deeper into Freddy Krueger's backstory and adds spiritual/supernatural elements that I think really enrich the series. It's a little tonally inconsistent, and the internal logic is stretched a bit thin at times, but A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is, overall, a really worthy followup to the first film.
Score: 8/10
Day 18: Halloween (1978)
Forty years after its release, John Carpenter's Halloween remains the quintessential slasher film. Micheal Myers, as portrayed by Nick Castle, was meant to be the personification of evil and fear and, despite all the sequels, remakes, and reboots diluting his character, he remains a chilling presence in this first outing. The cinematography by Dean Cundy combines with Carpenter's simple but effective score to create a unique, chilling atmosphere. It captures the feeling I had when trick-or-treating as kid, mostly fun and exciting, but with a certain edge of fright (the latter being more emphasized here for obvious reasons). I would be remiss not to mention Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence, who make the film work from a character perspective through their innocent likability and determined obsessiveness respectively.
Score: 10/10
Though an unnecessary and inferior sequel, Halloween II is still the film that comes closest to emulating the tone and atmosphere of the original. Rick Rosenthal is no John Carpenter and this film lacks the tension, focus and tight pacing of the original. It also has no idea what to do with Laurie Strode, who spends most of the film either unconscious or helplessly crawling around trying to escape Micheal. The film is at its best in the first few minutes, as we follow Micheal as he stalks through Haddonfield immediately after his rampage in the first film, and when it follows Loomis determined pursuit of his former patient. The revelation that Laurie is actually Micheal's younger sister is a potentially interesting idea, but it can't help but feel like a clunky retcon and it takes away from Myer's aura of mystery. In the end, it works well enough as a continuation of the first film, even if it stumbles as a movie in its own right.
Score: 8/10
The first real reboot of the franchise, H20 brought back Laurie Strode and stripped away the convoluted Thorn/Man in Black mythology that was run into the ground by Halloween VI. H20 is not the best directed film of the franchise, relying too often on jump scares and often lacking in genuine buildup and suspense, but it does have some stand out moments, particularly one scene in a public restroom along with the climax. Jamie Lee Curtis puts in a solid performance as a Laurie Strode struggling to move on after her traumatic experience and the film's ending gives her character a fairly satisfactory closure. John Ottman does a decent job creating an orchestral version of Carpenter's score, though I miss the more electronic stripped down style of the earlier films. Again, its not a patch on the original but it does manage to bring the series back to its roots and had enough entertaining scenes to keep me entertained.
Score: 8/10
The turkey of the series, Halloween: Resurrection manages to destroy any goodwill that H20 built up in the first ten minutes, as the ending of the previous film is effectively (though not convincingly) rewritten and Laurie is unceremoniously killed off. This might not be so bad if it had any bearing on the rest of the film (or if, indeed, the film was of any real quality). Instead were treated to Hallloween: The Early 2000's Reality Show Edition as Freddie Harris (Busta Rhymes) sets up a livestream broadcast of 5 teenagers who spend the night in the old Myers home only to have the famed serial killer show up and reek havoc. It's just as dumb and unscary as it sounds. This is the kind of film that only works as guilty pleasure/so-bad-it's good material.
Score: 2/10
