The End Of Creative Horror Movie Posters...

Rating: Null/10 (13 October 2000)

MORD39 RATING: **1/2 out of ****
SCREAM has become a classic already, and I think that's going a bit too far. It seemed so fresh when it came out, but that was due to the fact that the "slasher flick" had been taking a long nap up to the time of its release.
Granted, I enjoyed SCREAM for the most part. It knew how to scare and also not take itself too seriously. You were always left wondering who the murderer was, and it was truly a creative surprise when we found out. Still, this was an idea suited for only ONE...I repeat, ONE...film.

Now, about that terrible movie poster...I HATE, LOATHE, AND DESPISE IT!!!!! Whoever thought up the uncreative idea of having the young cast stare at us looking depressed have RUINED the artsy designs of horror movie ads of yesteryear! From the 1920's throughout the 1980's we enjoyed paintings and other talented flourishes that illustrated true horror which we expected to find on the screen. BUT TODAY.....all you need is a dumb photograph of brain-dead teenagers looking miserable and staring at you, all grouped in a boring semi-circle, to advertise a new film.
This mindless concoction didn't end with the SCREAM film... it continued to the lousy I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and even infected the good HALLOWEEN H20 by having Jamie Lee Curtis and L.L. Cool J. (man, is it OVER!) stare at you grimly with no enticing artwork to back them up!
Next time you check out a new horror film in your newspaper (such as BLAIR WITCH PROJECT 2 which has just opened) count how many times all those ads take the easy way out by showing you a bunch of manic depressive teens glaring at you in a daze. Proof positive that, as I keep maintaining, the horror genre is dead.