Netflix has been taking some big chances with its original horror content over the past year or so, with very successful films such as the 'Fear Street trilogy', 'Army of the Dead' and pretty much anything Mike Flanagan can get his hands on. That in mind, it's fair to say that I was expecting big things from a slasher film that was being released around the spooky season. Where this film truly shines is in its kill sequences. We see some genuinely tense and quite on edge of your seat moments when these kills were taking place and using the hidden secret angle as a way of taking out these teenagers was an interesting premise. I think the use of the photos displayed around the room to show the audience what secret they were hiding was a nice touch. The thing I found the creepiest of all though was the mask the killer wears. Making a replication mask of each individual victims face was just terrifying and truly haunting to watch. I found the blood and gore here was insanely well done. For those of you who have been reading my reviews for a while now will know how insistant I am on practical effects in horror and this gives us that and to a very high standard. We can see this clearly within the 'Scream' style cold open kill that we are introduced to at the beginning of the film. That scene alone got my very excited for what was to follow and I can say that on the effect side of things, it certainly succeeds. The plot is pretty simple and linear, taking a lot off its inspiration from the great slasher decade of the 90's for better or worse. This includes the generic teen drama and the usual tropes and cliques that go with it. Having this teenage melodrama causes some issues with its pacing. These long-drawn-out moments of teen angst did cause me to constantly find myself zoning out or reaching for my phone and then having to pick things back up momentarily. This feels very much like a combination of both 'I know what you did last summer' and 'Scream' in tone and direction yet not quite hitting the heights of either film it is drawing inspiration from. Its score is very reminiscent of the Stranger Things but that's not that difficult to understand considering this comes from the same producers. Zachary Dawes, who is more famously associated with the band The Last Shadow Puppets is the man behind the score and overall I think he does a great job with it. I don't have much to say about the casting, everyone does a good job in their roles and they all have decent enough chemistry between them. I think with the bloated teenage problems subplot I just didn't find myself caring enough about any of them to really take enough notice. This is more a fault in the writing department than with the cast themselves. There is nothing new or groundbreaking here with this, it doesn't hold any rewatchability for me nor will I likely remember it in years to come. That being said, I did enjoy it at the time. For a run-of-the-mill slasher it is a decent enough watch and I have to give it credit for picking a lane and sticking to it. If you are a big fan of 90's slashers like myself then I think you would walk away from this satisfied enough. Limit your expectations and you will have fun with this film.
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