Michael Cox’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Do you like scary movies?" - Ghostface
This was one of the picks for the films this week for the Film Cult. If you want to see what I'm going to watch for each week, check out this list here
Ahhh! My first slasher and boy, was it a great one! This was a lot of fun and so enjoyable.
The film is really meta, but it's not meta to a degree to something like Deadpool which would be annoying to certain people (I'm not one of them). I love how it plays with the idea of having popular slasher movies in the world of the film itself while providing a fresh take on the genre and being satirical at the same time.
The film is pretty funny and is also able to cleverly to balance that with some nice little jumpscares that add to the suspense rather than ruining it. It's great that I've watched two films with iconic opening scenes back-to-back. That is easily the best part of the film filled to the brim with suspense and what kind of killer that's going to be involved in the story.
But two big parts what makes this film work so well technically to provide the suspense and terror we feel while watching these characters is the camerawork and score. They're both used masterfully here.
Most of the cast does a relatively good job. Henry Winkler (Arthur Himbry) and Joseph Whipp (Sheriff Burke) were great in their smaller roles, Drew Barrymore (Casey Becker) gave a very memorable performance and David Arquette (Dwight "Dewey" Riley) was entertaining. Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks) and Matthew Lillard (Stu Macher) (I miss him) were both really funny. Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers) stole every scene she was in and Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott) was fantastic as our "final girl".
The film was funny, yes, but I don't think the jokes started to land for me until like 45 min in. Skeet Ulrich (Billy Macher) was over-the-top and not in a good way. I'm kind of sad that I knew the twist before I watched this because I saw it coming. I also don't think slashers films are for me or maybe I just started with the wrong one to love it as much as others do.
No matter, I loved it! Thanks for the recommendation, Film Cult!
4/5
