Icons of horror Review
When we’re children we underestimate what elders tell us because we are simply incapable of putting ourselves in their shoes. The world seems like it’s not destined to change for the worst because we live more advanced now than we did four decades ago. Yet it’s not until we’re old enough to not even be called teenagers anymore that adulthood takes the very things which once held wonder throughout our childhood and puts it through a shredder of many levels. The things we thought could never die not only do but in ways that build our walls as a reminder of how bad it can get unless we accept that living was always hard despite it being easier for our youth to repress the bad times. All this came up to me as I was reminded of a monologue Martin Landeau’s take on Bela Lugosi from Tim Burton’s Ed Wood recited after watching Mr. Duncan’s fan film. The difference being instead of movie monsters like Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein, The Mummy, or even the creature from the Black lagoon, to some degree, we now have slashers from the 70s, 80s, and a few from the 90s. As I watched the same slashers duke it out it reminded me of how much had changed since films like these were possible. Although the 70s were a stepping stone for slashers like Michael Myers and Leatherface, the 80s introduced us to Freddy, Jason, Pinhead, and Chucky just to name a few. The 90s were only able to notably give us Candyman and Ghostface while teasing a crossover at the end of the last Friday the 13th movie with Freddy’s glove. Once we got Freddy vs. Jason in the 2000s slashers may as well have started selling insurance (or found a better hiding spot from the critics’ radar in the case of Jigsaw and The Creeper). So in a decade like the 2010s, where we came to terms with the fact Rorschach from Zack Snyder’s Watchmen replaced Robert Englund, Icons of horror almost felt like a miracle to me. It felt as though Mr. Duncan was really putting as much individual effort, for a simple fan film as possible because he cared enough, if not just for himself, to continue seeing some of these long passed horror characters be brought back for the best reason possible: they were still worth seeing. Time was only going to be able to tell if either anything like this could ever be made again (which it has as Mr. Duncan made 2 more sequels) or if big budget studios would potentially take the fun out of them. But, if nothing else, it was a creative and enjoyably acted homage.