Many people think of the 80’s and 90’s as a golden age for horror. Ask anyone for a Halloween movie recommendation and I guarantee that a movie from this era will be mentioned. However, our generation has seen violence that the audiences of the past had never been exposed to. Not to mention how short our attention spans have become over the years. So this begs the question: are the horror movies our parents grew up with still worth the watch?
In this article, I’m going to review three of the most famous horror movies (according to a Google search) and score them in three categories: Scariness, plot, and viewing experience. I’ll also explain an optimal viewing experience for each.
The Shining
First is the Kubrick-directed classic The Shining. Now to call this film just a “horror movie” not only reduces the movie down to a few chase scenes but also ignores the artistry that makes this movie so amazing to watch. Starring the eerily beautiful Shelley Duvall and the amazingly expressive Jack Nicholson, The Shining is a genre-defining movie about what happens when a small family stays in a haunted hotel.
Jack is hired as a groundskeeper for the Overlook Hotel during its off-season during the secluded Colorado winter. Many gruesome events have taken place at this hotel including the former caretaker killing his own family. Jack’s son Danny gets visions of these events, along with glimpses of the past and future due to his psychic “shining” abilities. This begs the question: will the Torrance family succumb to the haunted hotel? Will another gruesome killing happen? And what is going on with the Overlook Hotel?
I loved this movie upon my first viewing, and I definitely think that it’s still a quintessential film. Visually this movie is enrapturing. I couldn’t tell you much about the behind-the-scenes but the Overlook Hotel’s colorful art-deco inspirations create an otherworldly ambiance present throughout the film. This is why my viewing experience was a 9/10, as I was entertained for the whole 2 ½ hours, with only one break.
The plot has this lovely simplicity to it. You know that the Torrances are stuck in the hotel and that there is little anyone can do to escape, but there’s a mystery aspect that keeps the viewer hanging onto every word. Because of this, the plot gets a 10/10.
Lastly, was it scary? There wasn’t too much gore and there was nothing that would cause nightmares. The movie doesn’t have a ton of gore because it’s not a slasher; that’s not the movie’s purpose. Therefore, I gave The Shining a 7/10 score. Overall, this movie is an easy 10/10, I recommend watching it alone or with friends. I feel my solo viewing experience added to the isolating feeling, but it would be a good movie to enjoy with a friend as well.
Nightmare on Elm Street
The next movie I watched, however, I can’t praise as much. Nightmare on Elm Street is a weird movie. Four teenagers are brought together when they start having weird dreams of a man with knives for fingers and a burnt face, who turns out to be a dead child murderer called Fred Kruger. A man who can attack you in your dreams should be scary, but the writing just didn’t work.
I expected Nightmare on Elm Street to be a slasher comedy because of how awkward the first few scenes are, yet the movie takes itself way too seriously. Nightmare on Elm Street is just a mix of melodramatic, ridiculous-looking kills, and a villain too cartoonish to be scary. It feels very 80s with its accidentally funny shots and clunky dialogue.
Honestly, I found Nightmare on Elm Street to be boring, even with its loud sound effects and solid premise. I found myself waiting for all 90 minutes of the movie to be over. The viewing experience was a 4/10, the plot was a somewhat passable 6/10 (with an ending that made no sense), and the overall scariness was a 4/10.
The 4 points for overall scariness were simply because of the gallons upon gallons of fake blood used in Nightmare on Elm Street. Sure one could argue that a lot of fake blood was also used in The Shining, but it felt tasteful compared to the fountains of blood sprayed whenever someone was scratched.
I mean come on, these rooms were painted in cartoonish amounts of corn syrup. And yet Fred Kruger’s blood was some kind of nickelodeon slime-type liquid? Speaking of which, Kruger’s prosthetics aged like milk. Maybe this is why a modern audience would find Freddy Kruger goofy.
I don’t know if I can recommend this movie. I think it could be fun to watch with friends, there are scenes in the movie that you can talk over and ridiculous lines to laugh at.
Scream
Lastly is Scream (1996). This movie follows Sydney Prescott, a teenage girl whose classmates get murdered under mysterious circumstances. Fearing her mother’s killer is still at large, Sydney must discern who is to trust and who is the killer.
This movie is less of a horror and more of a slasher comedy. Scream can maintain both moments of fear and violence while still managing to be entertaining and not overly scary. I gave it a 3/10 for scariness because of the uninspired kills and the fake-looking corpses.
However, Scream isn’t a movie you should watch if you want serious horror. I had fun watching it with my friend as we tried to guess who “Ghostface” (the killer) could be, but neither of us was scared. Scream has twists and turns while poking fun at horror cliches. I believe that because the plot is engaging and entertaining, it deserves an 8/10.
The experience of watching this movie was a 10/10 because I was engaged for 90 minutes, it didn’t drag on for too long, and I didn’t need to take a phone break in the middle. I recommend that if you’re getting together with your friends for a movie night, watch Scream.
Overall, horror is a genre I’ve never been too familiar with, but after reviewing movies for this article, I have a newfound appreciation for it. Previously, I thought horror movies from thirty to forty years ago would just be filled with cheap jump scares, but I was wrong. Many movies from the 80s and 90s still hold up for our generation and are culturally significant works.
As my final verdict, I recommend watching The Shining if you want tasteful eeriness, Nightmare on Elm Street if you have funny friends, and Scream for a fun viewing anyone could enjoy. Have a great Halloween season and, if you’re so inclined, take a break, sit down, and watch a movie.
