Forgotten Frights is back! To celebrate the second anniversary of our annual horror movie roundup, every weekday for the next month we're going to sound off on a scary good sequel (or, if we want some cheese with our corn syrup, a schlocky second), ruminating on the returns of our favorite monsters, murderers, heroes (or heroines), creepies, crawlies, chills and thrills.
What came before it: (Note: I'm going to be very spoilery.) Years after two teens were murdered at Camp Crystal Lake, the camp is being re-opened (because that's a camp you want to send your kids to). Counsellors start prepping for the incoming campers when they mysteriously start getting picked off one by one. By picked off, I mean stabbed, sliced and otherwise torn to pieces. Soon, we've got one girl left, Alice. Frantically searching for help, she finds a woman who turns out to be the woman behind the murders, Pamela Voorhees, a mother avenging the death of her son who drowned years ago at the hands of neglectful and otherwise preoccupied counsellors. In the end, Alice prevails before seeking escape in a canoe. She's pulled underwater by a deranged and deformed boy who suddenly appears. Flash to her waking up in the hospital, they never recovered any boy. "Then he's still there," says Alice.
What remains: For one, Alice. But not for long. A new group of counsellors gather to set up a new camp. You think they'd learn not to return to the site of a dozen murders with the nickname of "Camp Blood," right? Well, it's not exactly the same camp, it's just right beside it, on the same lake. It's totally fine.
Why you need to give it a second (or third, or fourth) chance:
- There's a new, mysterious murderer, and this time he's bigger and badder.
- Alice is back! For a few minutes, but a few very worthwhile minutes.
- The story is taken a level further. Yeah, sure, we love slashers for their senseless fun, but a good story goes a long way.
- It's fun to take part in the terror. Who's going to die next? What will be their misstep? Is that Jason peering through the woods? (The answer to the latter is almost always "yes.")
- It's not too bloody (which could be a pro or con depending on your taste), but it's got great jumps and truly shocking moments.
- It takes itself seriously and it pays off, which is a lot more than several of this series' other sequels can say.
- An ending the rival's the first's. Not to spoil anything, but we love a clever heroine.