Manic Expression

A point I HOOT (lousy feathers!) may or may not have made clear by now is that I love slasher films. They're my favorite horror sub genre, and heck, even though they are the go-to example of sequelitis, I even love a lot of the sequels.

Now, in previous reviews or lists, I've expressed my enjoyment of Jason Takes Manhattan, The Dream Child, The Return of Michael Myers, and Child's Play 3. This list will be contain only ones I've yet to bring up or only mentioned in comment sections.

Here we go!

8. Halloween II (2009)

I maintain that Rob Zombie's Halloween is probably one of the stronger entries in the endless stream of remakes recently, but I actually think the follow up to it is an even stronger film. What struck me since I saw this in the theater on opening day is how dark of a movie this is. For Laurie, things go from bad to worse to hell, especially in the director's cut. This is one of the few slasher films where the story could almost be considered a tragedy, as pretty much nothing goes well for the heroes in here. A very underrated flick IMO,

7. Bride of Chucky

Though "people encounter a killer while taking a simple vacation" is a standard slasher film set up, this is a rare example of a road trip slasher film. The first film to bring in the great Jennifer Tilly as Tiffany, Chucky's first foray into straight-up comedy is interesting because it both jokes around with the concept of romantic movies and at the same time plays it seriously with both Jesse and Jade's relationship, as well as, in a bizzare way, Chucky and Tiffany's. Plus, Chucky's last line before being killed in this remains one of my favorite movie lines of all time.

6. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

The film that was the result of plans for an 80s Freddy Vs. Jason film falling flat, "Carrie Vs. Jason" as the fans call it is a rather nice replacement. Lar Park Lincoln gives a surprisingly good performance as the lead character Tina, and Terry Kiser as Dr. Crews may be the biggest Asshole Victim in the history of slashers. Sure, this film is notorious for being edited to the point it feels like you're watching the tv cut, but the uncut kill scenes do exist. Plus, this film brought us Kane Hodder as Jason, who IMO is indeed the best actor who played the part.

5. Scream 4

I have brought this up before, so I'll just leave you guys with a little hint: Sometime in the near future, I'll be collaborating with a certain someone on this site about this movie.

4. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (Producer's cut)

While most fans of the series prefer to think of H20 as the unofficial finale (and I can definitely understand why), the producer's cut of part 6, had it been the official release, would have made a solid finale IMO. It ties up the mysteries the previous film brought up in an interesting fashion, and even though it was 17 years since the original film, they manage to tie it back to the original film by bringing back some characters we haven't seen since Part 1. Though this version of the movie also ends on a cliffhanger, it's the type of cliffhanger that I think you could get away with ending a series on. Also, it gives Donald Pleasence more screentime in his last movie, a definite plus.

3. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

Yeah, probably the "Really?"-inducing pick of this list, H5 has a special place in my heart. Danielle Harris gives another great performance as Jamie Lloyd. Similiar to what I mentioned back in my comments on Rob Zombie's H2, this is a very dark in tone film, even for a slasher. Everything goes wrong for little Jamie here, and though she's still alive at the end, she really did not earn a victory here, and she has no one left to protect her. This and Halloween 4 I love to watch as a double feature. Check this one out if you can.

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

One thing I really love about both the Scream and Elm Street movies is that for the most part, the teens are nice people you don't want to see get killed. While both Freddy and Ghostface have become pop cultural icons, you do find yourself rooting for the final girl and her friends.  And in this movie, you find yourself cheering for Nancy as she tries to save the remaining Elm Street kids. This film also gives more backstory to Freddy without taking away his scare factor. If anything, his origins in here makes him more freaky. True, this was the debut of funny Freddy, but his one-liners here really work IMO. The best Elm Street film, in my perspective.

And the number one best slasher sequel I haven't already covered is....

1. Scream 2

6 years ago, I probably would have called the 1997 sequel to Scream my favorite movie. And while I've seen plenty of slashers and other movies since then, Scream 2 still holds up really well IMO. Scream 2 is what a sequel in general should be-continuing the past story, it isn't the same film as part 1, and it has a likeable new cast. Also, out of all 4 Screams, this one probably keeps you guessing who the killer is the most. Neve Campbell once again shines as Sidney Prescott. The atmosphere of the film was very neat, and the reveal of the killer has a nice callback to a certain plot point from the first film. All in all, it's a very solid sequel.

There's my list, hope you guys enjoyed it! Share your thoughts below!