Quickie Review (Screams To Stream 4: The Gauntlet Of Death)
After enduring back-to-back crapfests with The Bye Bye Man and Chernobyl Diaries on this journey through THE GAUNTLET OF DEATH, ya boy is eating good again with the next STS4 selection, probably one of the greatest meta horror flicks ever made and the film that reignited the flagging career of famed horror master Wes Craven. A killer wearing a ghost face mask is taking their love of scary movies one step too far, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake and hacking and slicing them in brutal fashion, all while asking, “what’s your favorite scary movie?”. One of their potential victims, high school student Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell), finds herself trying to elude her would-be attacker and find a way to fight back. What can I say about this movie that hasn’t already been said? This came out at a time when slasher movies were mostly dead and horror movies weren’t doing successfully at the box office, mainly relegated as exclusive releases on cable channels like HBO, Cinemax & Showtime and on home video. However, Scream was the movie that breathed new life into horror movies and the slasher subgenre, giving it a jolt of funny meta humor that separated it from the garden variety horror movie released at the time, while also being a genuinely suspenseful and sometimes brutally violent thriller (the opening scene alone is an absolute bloodbath). If you’re watching this for the first time, go in to it blindly. Don’t let anybody or anything reveal the surprises. If you’re like me and watching for it for the umpteenth time, it’s a treat to rewatch because you get the clues right away and you instantly recognize all the references and Easter eggs laced throughout. All in all, Scream is a classic worth the highest recommendation and it made meta horror cool before The Cabin in the Woods made it cooler.

I have escaped Ghostface and made it back to The Gauntlet. Now, my journey through The Gauntlet continues! Next up: Insidious!