Many other reviewers hit the nail on the head. Right off the bat, the soundtrack was shoved in your face. I felt like it was yelling at me through the screen that this was supposed to be 1994...even though the title is, in fact, 1994. On top of that was the use of songs that weren't released in 1994. I spent most of the first 20 mins, as they went from song to song on my personal 90's mix, looking up the songs to confirm they were from later years. Plus, the Sophie B song, although awesome in its own right, was like 2 years before and was just so out of context given that they were trying so hard to pound 1994 in your head. I would've been ok with them sticking to one song at a time for longer than 10 seconds rather than try to do an entire Billboard top 50 of 90's music.
The computer thing took me out too. I don't remember the chat boxes being so intricate then. And hell no on the high speed internet. Did anyone notice how, while the kid was chatting online, sister answers the tele? And his ass didn't get kicked offline? No way unless they had 2 dedicated lines. But still, that kid's internet was way too stable.
No doubt, this was a poor man's Scream, IKWYDLS, and other fun lil' slashers from the day. But I was genuinely bored because I saw those years ago. The addition of the underlying witch thing just made it so they could tell themselves they weren't ripping off Scream. Even having a somewhat cameo from Maya Hawke gave me Drew vibes as you knew exactly where that was going.
The characters were really not likable except the little brother. He was the only one who didn't make me feel like I was watching a modern, boring Freeform show for teens and YA. The main character (his big sister whose name I forgot until this second) was wooden. Perhaps it was her script because she probably has potential. Her girlfriend was a dud...again, probably the script. They tried to make the one guy the comic relief, but it didn't have that effect. It was really desperate and more could've been done with him because he looked like he could play the part. Kate, though flawed, was likable too, and they could've done so much more with her.
As for nostalgia, I didn't come close to feeling transported back to high school. Throwing in some rando music and some skater haircuts does not make this magically whisk you away to 1994. They should've looked up how to do nostalgia from Stranger Things. That's a pretty fun show to watch, but simply thinking about it takes me back to my childhood.
This was not a short movie. So how come it missed the mark? Dunno to be honest other than what I said before. I think we all, as the audience, deserve more character development to feel some connection rather than typical horror movie sterotypes with not even one dimension. And we've got 2 more to go. Luckily they can have a pass on dealing with nostalgia with 1666 since I'm pretty sure they didn't have Bush or Garbage.... But 1978, nope. You better make it worthwhile or I'm done. So far, from the trailer for the next one, it looks like straight up Friday the 13th Ripoff or Sleepaway Camp. Odd choice of songs for the 1978 preview.... School's Out which came out 6 years earlier. Not trying to say, at all, that people don't listen to older music in any given year...I'm only saying that if you're going to name your movie a particular year, then let's get serious... Yeah, I'm talking to you Sweet Jane from 1988.
I'd say give it a watch if you don't have anything else to watch. But don't expect this to be new or groundbreaking or the scariest movie in years. It's not.
The computer thing took me out too. I don't remember the chat boxes being so intricate then. And hell no on the high speed internet. Did anyone notice how, while the kid was chatting online, sister answers the tele? And his ass didn't get kicked offline? No way unless they had 2 dedicated lines. But still, that kid's internet was way too stable.
No doubt, this was a poor man's Scream, IKWYDLS, and other fun lil' slashers from the day. But I was genuinely bored because I saw those years ago. The addition of the underlying witch thing just made it so they could tell themselves they weren't ripping off Scream. Even having a somewhat cameo from Maya Hawke gave me Drew vibes as you knew exactly where that was going.
The characters were really not likable except the little brother. He was the only one who didn't make me feel like I was watching a modern, boring Freeform show for teens and YA. The main character (his big sister whose name I forgot until this second) was wooden. Perhaps it was her script because she probably has potential. Her girlfriend was a dud...again, probably the script. They tried to make the one guy the comic relief, but it didn't have that effect. It was really desperate and more could've been done with him because he looked like he could play the part. Kate, though flawed, was likable too, and they could've done so much more with her.
As for nostalgia, I didn't come close to feeling transported back to high school. Throwing in some rando music and some skater haircuts does not make this magically whisk you away to 1994. They should've looked up how to do nostalgia from Stranger Things. That's a pretty fun show to watch, but simply thinking about it takes me back to my childhood.
This was not a short movie. So how come it missed the mark? Dunno to be honest other than what I said before. I think we all, as the audience, deserve more character development to feel some connection rather than typical horror movie sterotypes with not even one dimension. And we've got 2 more to go. Luckily they can have a pass on dealing with nostalgia with 1666 since I'm pretty sure they didn't have Bush or Garbage.... But 1978, nope. You better make it worthwhile or I'm done. So far, from the trailer for the next one, it looks like straight up Friday the 13th Ripoff or Sleepaway Camp. Odd choice of songs for the 1978 preview.... School's Out which came out 6 years earlier. Not trying to say, at all, that people don't listen to older music in any given year...I'm only saying that if you're going to name your movie a particular year, then let's get serious... Yeah, I'm talking to you Sweet Jane from 1988.
I'd say give it a watch if you don't have anything else to watch. But don't expect this to be new or groundbreaking or the scariest movie in years. It's not.