Why the 1990's weren't that bad for horror.

 Why the 1990's weren't that bad for horror?

For this final week of Staystillreviews Sensational Summer, we are covering the 1990's. Here we are going to bring up some pretty valid points on why the 1990's weren't actually that terrible or the downfall for horror after the 1980's slasher boom.

1) Some really recent sequels came out.

Amityville 1992 It's About Time, Amityville The Next Generation, Child's Play 2, Candyman 2, Return Of The Living Dead 3, Leatherface The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, Waxwork II Lost In Time, ect. This was a span of time where some actual really decent sequels came from movies in the past. Some good, some bad, but for the most part there were some great ones. I'm saying all of them, but namely the ones I listed above.

2) Clive Barker made 2 amazing original films.

Everyone seems to remember writer, director, and artist Clive Barker for this first official movie Hellraiser in 1987. In actuality, Barker directed two other films in the 1990's which have gone on to become cult classics. Thanks to Shout Factory we have gotten epic releases of both Lord Of Illusions, and Nightbreed which had been hyped for years due to the lost director's cut. As time has gone on, these classics that at the time weren't highly successful are counted as Barker's best work. In fact, let's just take a second to talk about Nightbreed. The AMAZING story this told, as well as the original creatures and makeup?! Breathtaking!!! 

3) Two classic villains were shown in a new light.

As the 1980's came to a close, as did the series to epic slasher series such as Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare On Elm Street came to a close. Sadly, depending on who you talk to...the overall quality began to go down as the sequels stacked up. In the 1990's, we were given a brand new take on these super villains. For Jason, we saw him jump bodies via The Hidden in Jason Goes To Hell, where when he's finally actually seen he looks like a jacked up, result of all the toxic waste in part 8. What I love about Jason Goes To Hell is not just the fact that it's adults that fight Jason in this one, it's the ending where it had in my eyes one of the greatest ways to open up for him and Freddy to come face to face. Sadly Freddy Vs Jason didn't live up to that last epic shot of the movie. For A Nightmare On Elm Street we got Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which was the first time Craven had truly returned to the series since his writing involvement in part 3. New Nightmare was decades ahead of it's time, and showed what would happen if suddenly the movies ended. Where do these villains do if the universe they live in ends? 

4) Sleeker, slicker slashers.

Scream, Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legends, Bride Of Chucky, ect. Sure they weren't gritty like Pieces, Don't Answer The Phone, or Blood Rage, but since years before they kept claiming that Silence Of The Lambs was a psychological thriller, Scream was what jumpstarted horror until the 2000's were the splat pack came in. Scream was a whole new take on horror, and like Popcorn earlier that decade turned the tables, almost being like the audience itself on how fans expected what was going to happen. The fact that the killers were actual fans themselves make it even more disturbing. 

5) CGI hadn't completely taken over yet. 

Sure CGI was coming in hot and heavy. Sadly as we all know, unless it's the effects in T2 it doesn't age very well. I adore Deep Rising, but 98% of these effects have aged really bad. Nope, back in the 1990's we had KNB kicking ass, and were shown amazing effects in so many movies. I would say some of the best are of course Nightbreed, Scream, Event Horizon, and Night Of The Living Dead.  There were still plenty of splatter, blood, creatures, and goo to go around!

Thanks to the 1990's we have classics such as The People Underneath The Stairs, Village Of The Damned, The Blair Witch Project, H20, and many, many, many others. Long live the 1990's kids, it was one hell of a time!