My quick rating - 5,2/10. Very self-aware flick. Being a big fan of the original, I had two feelings about this one. Why didn't you just leave it alone, and this should be fun. As Hollywood continues to prove, there are few ideas left and no movie is safe from remakes/sequels. Well, they did knock off the sequels years ago and none of them captured the campy fun of the first so Shudder decided to give it an overhaul. A lot has changed in 40 years and this movie does a good job of ramming that point down your throat throughout this flick. The movie starts out in '93 with a quick intro to our driller killer and his first spree, which leaves a lone survivor and leads us into the opening credits. Now in 2021, a group of girls are on a road trip for a girl's weekend when their car breaks down. All the pieces start to fall into place for what you absolutely know is coming. The premise of all of these flix is simple. Girls get together and have sleepovers which entail them dancing around like fools, having pillow fights, and invariably either kissing or alluding to such behavior. They will for no reason take a shower and show off their boobs, just everything a horror movie must-have. But wait, this is 2021. The twist in this one is actually very well done. Enter the guys across the lake. Seems a group of men is thinking the same thing and everyone just wants to hang out where the massacre happened years before. Seems that both groups have been tuning in to the same podcast and have a yearning to potentially be killed. Turning the roles leads to some pretty funny moments throughout this one. I think that it really was a must to save this one since the kills are so-so and the killer is really bland. Where the first one was a true slasher film of its time and kept to a formula of breasts and gore, this one really strives for the comedy. A bit too much for my liking since there wasn't any real balance to it. Fans of the original are going to love and hate this one equally. I think the slight edge over average relays my thoughts. It definitely won't go down in history as a great slasher flick like the original has (and underappreciated) but still worth a single view if fans of horror/comedy that leans heavily to the comedy side. My advice is to pick THIS one up for #shocktober and then decide on checking out the inferior remake.
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