Do They Hold Up?: Three Classic Horror Films
Is Scream still worth watching nearly 30 years later? Art: Faizah El-Gamasy
By ILANA VERHALYUK and FAIZAH EL-GAMASY
Since the 1980s and 1990s, the standards for horror movies have substantially changed. Back then, it didn’t take much to make a horror film. All you had to do was use some fake blood and silly sound effects and you had a perfect movie! However, as time goes on, expectations increase. Do a few well-known classics – Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – still hold up to this day?
Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven, is not only a slasher film, but also one of the funniest movies we've seen. While the movie is not exactly scary, it’s still very enjoyable to watch. It pokes fun at other horror movies while trying to stay as serious as possible. Occasional fourth wall breaks add to the humor.
The movie opens up with the gruesome murders of Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore), and Steve Orth (Kevin Patrick Walls), a young high school couple in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California. These murders are just the beginning as a masked murderer, known as Ghostface, begins to terrorize our protagonist, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), and anyone associated with her.
The whodunit leaves viewers guessing and causes them to point fingers at just about every character, though if you pay close attention to certain scenes, the writer, Kevin Williamson, drops small hints about who the killer could be, making it almost obvious when the film finally reveals the answer.
Coming from someone who never usually watches horror, Scream has become one of my favorite movies solely because of how funny yet captivating it is. In all honesty, it definitely still holds up to this day.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) is another classic horror film directed by Wes Craven, but in this case, “classic” doesn’t necessarily mean good.
The film follows Nancy Thompson (Heather Lagenkamp), a 15-year-old girl who is troubled by recurring nightmares of a man with knives for fingers. Nancy quickly finds out that this horrifying man she’s dreamt of doesn’t just affect her in the realm of her dreams, but also in real life. With no one to help her, Nancy takes things into her own hands. There’s only one thing on her mind: catching the nightmare that is known as Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund).
The idea behind A Nightmare on Elm Street is a truly terrifying one. A man who can kill you in your dreams? Scary. But the execution of this idea is rather poor.
The sound effects are more amusing than scary, but the less-than-mediocre acting is what really makes the movie fall flat. There is a scene where Nancy is crying over the death of her friend… Well, she’s supposed to be crying. Not a single tear leaves her eyes. The lack of emotion makes it more cringey than sad.
The only thing that saves this movie is Robert Englund’s performance as Kreuger. He delivers the best one-liners, which is what really makes the movie iconic. Without Freddy Kreuger, A Nightmare on Elm Street would not be remembered as a classic film like it is today.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is another slasher that is way more mediocre with the passage of time than we personally expected. While it is pretty gorey, the acting throughout the movie isn’t too good, and a lot of the scenes are predictable, making it difficult to enjoy.
The movie begins with Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns), her brother Franklin (Paul A. Pertain), and their friends Kirk (William Vail), Pam (Teri McMinn), and Jerry (Alan Danzinger) huddled in their van, on their way to investigate the vandalism and grave robbing of Hardesty’s grandfather. They visit the grave, then decide that an impromptu visit to the Hardesty’s old farmhouse would be a good bit of fun. However, once they arrive, everything but fun begins to happen. The chaos really unfolds when Leatherface, the chainsaw-wielding main antagonist, shows up.
The movie honestly wasn't as attention grabbing as we hoped it would be. It does have some disgusting moments that would make you want to look away as fast as possible, and sometimes it even has you at the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens, but such scenes don’t happen as much in this movie as they do in others.
The main issue is that none of the characters are given a personality. They all just seem like they’re set up for death. They aren’t lovable or at least funny. They just exist and then later die, as expected. The death scenes are also repetitive and predictable, so we could sense something happening minutes before it would actually happen.
In general, while the movie is considered a classic and a “fan favorite” by many, it doesn’t really hold up to today's standards, mostly because of the lack of developed characters. On top of that, it isn’t even scary, so those who are looking for jumpscares and something truly horrifying are going to be disappointed.