Wes Craven revitalised the slasher genre for the second time with this wittily meta and wickedly entertaining horror flick.

Rating: 8/10 (24 October 2017)

From its immediately and unexpectedly ballsy tone-and-stakes-setting opening to its fantastically frenzied and excitingly squishy finale, this fast-paced slasher is constantly playing with its audience in an extremely entertaining way and represents the second time that Wes Craven revitalised the long-standing genre (after 'A Nightmare On Elm-Street (1984)') as well as his own career, this time by - along with writer Kevin Williamson - introducing a devilishly meta-textual side to the story that isn't always subtle but is always accurate and consistent while also being enjoyably playful even during some of the more intense sequences by having the piece itself play with the conventions and tropes so often seen within the wider horror genre which, no matter how eclectic it may seem, does share a spookily similar set of conventions across the board, conventions to which this picture is no stranger as it still doesn't subvert everything but simply hangs a lantern on most; the other thing that Craven brought to the film was his penchant for proper visceral nastiness as the scarier sequences don't hold back on either the suspense or the gore, something which creatively contrasts with the colourful sets and almost comedic quiet moments to make the flick feel even further from reality and give it a bizarre tone that's cohesive yet slightly odd, almost like the whole thing is supposed to look like a movie which - given the constant meta references - is a nice touch that helps solidify its themes, and it's really only the fact that the right witty script and the right great director came together at the right time that the now varied slasher genre is even still around today. 8/10