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From ‘Halloween’ to ‘Suspiria’, Exploring the Dangers of Overhyping Horror

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This year horror welcomes back a certain white-masked killer and also ushers in the remake of a bewitching Dario Argento classic. (What a time to be alive.) We’re on the horizon of what could be a very dynamic year for the genre. Sure, Halloween and Suspiria are making waves—and headlines—but smaller films like Hereditary and A Quiet Place are rounding out the release schedule, brewing their own media storms with star power and positive word of mouth. Thanks to the internet, there’s an absurd amount of coverage and opinion to chew on, but can this sprawling availability of news, announcements, and dare I say it—hype—detract from a movie’s eventual effect? I would argue that it does, especially in horror, a genre greatly reliant on the element of surprise.

The announcement of David Gordon Green’s upcoming Halloween continuation, the eleventh installment in the franchise, can be traced back to 2016, almost two and a half years before its impending release. Since then, details have slowly trickled out. Funnyman Danny McBride co-wrote the script with Green! Jamie Lee Curtis is on board! John Carpenter might be interested in doing the music! The mere notion of having Michael Myers back on the big screen was enough to whet the appetite of horror fans, and the later additions of Curtis and Carpenter to the project sparked a frenzy. Comment boards on this site alone lit up like ignited gas in Haddonfield Memorial and understandably so. However, I fear that hype could possibly work against its favor, and that’s truly a scary thought.

I can’t help but compare this to the years that preceded Andy Muschietti’s IT. The barrage of “First Looks,” plot details, Tim Curry fanboying and never-ending takes was so inescapable that I fully wanted and expected to be psychologically damaged by the movie. I wanted Pennywise to haunt my dreams. I wanted him stitched into the inside of my eyelids when I closed my eyes at night. My expectations were so unruly that it was virtually impossible for Muschietti and Bill Skarsgard to deliver what I’d constructed in my head. (Disclaimer: I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy IT. While the movie was well executed, I don’t think I’m alone in wishing it was a little darker and a little more twisted.)  

Truth is, hype happens and it happens to the best of us. But who’s to blame when expectations run amok? Viewers? Marketing strategists? Social media? The constant need for everyone to have a public opinion about everything can even hinder the movies we’re primed to love the most. Should I have given myself a “Twitter Time Out”? Avoided the press? Checked myself before I wrecked myself? The answer is a resounding yes.

I needed to rectify this going forward. After seeing the trailer for John Krasinski’s phenomenal A Quiet Place, I muted commercials, left theater seats for previews and closed online ads. I avoided any and all sorts of media coverage. No reviews, no interviews. I went cold turkey after a single trailer view. Ultimately, this decision to “sign off” made all the difference; I saw the movie on its Thursday premiere night and couldn’t have enjoyed it more. My viewing remained free from outside influence, and I realized how much more fun it was to go into the experience as dark as possible. I loved the unknown; I was at the mercy of the director’s vision for 90+ minutes. It was uncontaminated escapism. After seeing a trailer for the increasingly buzzworthy Hereditary, I vowed to follow the same pattern. Yet despite my attempts, I still saw the Toni Collette-led film hailed as “the scariest movie since The Exorcist.” (Insert eye-roll here.)  

Dakota Johnson stars in SUSPIRIA
Photo: Sandro Kopp/Amazon Studios

Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming Suspiria remake is also in line for the hard sell. Argento’s original is a cinematic masterpiece. It’s beautifully shot with splashes of color that pop off the screen. Its cinematography is bolstered by an incredible score by Italian prog-rockers Goblin. A lot can be said about Suspiria…and a lot is already being said about its remake. One Google search of “Suspiria remake” pulls up “First Photos,” Thom Yorke score news, and praise (already!) for the director’s on-set work. One headline even reads: “Suspiria: The 11 Craziest Reactions to Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Traumatizing’ and ‘Sickening’ First Footage.” I’m already exhausted.  

It’s natural that excitement and fandom tend to raise the stakes for high-profile films like the ones mentioned here. Before the announcement, it looked like Myers might’ve never reclaimed his butcher knife again, let alone do so with such a wowing creative team behind him. We’re all guilty of fueling the hype machine from time to time, falling victim to a hyperbole-filled pop culture world that’s constantly plugged in. In some ways, hype is necessary; it sells tickets, it makes movies profitable, and it informs Hollywood as to what content we’ll shell out for. Hype could very well be a necessary evil from which we might never escape. The Michael to our Laurie.

But we should learn to limit our exposure and self-regulate these media blitzes. Online anticipation can and does affect how we consume movies and our opinions of them. On October 19, I can’t wait to hit the theater to witness Laurie Strode go mano-a-(wo)mano with Myers one final bloody time. I’ll avoid harping on what I want from the film and just enjoy the ride Green and company have created. I’ll let the sheer insanity of watching a brand new Halloween film unravel before me, ecstatic that this horror icon (and Myers, too) is back in action.

To continue this conversation, check out Trace’s editorial from earlier this year, “Let’s Talk About Managing Expectations…”

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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