It’s time for some more mini horror movie reviews, as the spooky month of October demands. Settle down, kids!
Scream 2 (1997)
We’ve covered the first Scream film a while back (2016, hot tub fans!) and eventually I’ve got round to watching the sequel. Unlike Scream, which I had seen before my Halloween Horror Fest review, I’d never bothered to watch Scream 2 till now.
Slasher movies ain’t really my bag, as I know I’ve mentioned before. Nor are “modern” films (OK, this is 25 years old, whatevs) or films about teenage Americans. Never the less, I’d enjoyed Scream and the second instalment has been on my watch list for a while.
Here the survivor from the first movie, Sidney (Neve Campbell) is now attending college when a spate of copy cat killings, inspired by the deeds of Ghostface in the previous film, start to occur. There follows a series of nasty murders and numerous twists and turns as the killer stalks and slays various characters. All the time, the audience is trying to guess the identity of the new Ghostface.
There’s nothing supernatural here, but there are plenty of jumps and surprises. Like the first film, this sequel attempts to play with the audiences expectations with numerous well observed references to other movies. Also like the first film, I found Scream 2 far more entertaining than I expected.
7.5/10
Renfield (2023)
Bang up to date now, with this 2023 movie starring Nicholas Hoult as the titular character, the familiar of Dracula. Yes, THE Dracula, played here with demonic glee by the one and only Nicholas Cage.
Here the trusted and sort-of immortal Renfield, the Count’s trusted servant, becomes dissatisfied with his lot – what with all the seeking victims and removing the gory evidence his life entails. Renfield joins a counselling group for people in abusive relationships, initially to stalk the abusers for Dracula’s prey. Eventually, the familiar decides to remove himself from his toxic existence, but not without resistance from his former master.
I was looking forward to seeing this movie, but sadly missed it in the cinema. The short time it ran in cinemas should have given me a clue as to whether it was any good…
What could have been a fresh look at the horror of the Dracula legend instead morphs into an action comedy, with guns and explosions and over the top fight scenes. It’s still an entertaining movie, but not what I hoped for at all. I hate dumb action movies and Renfield steers far too close to those waters.
Having said that, Cage is brilliant as the Lord of the Undead and I’d love to see more of him in this role.
Watchable but throwaway, which is a shame. Next.
6/10