The internet used to come in the mail.

You’d get those AOL sample CDs, load them on your bulky desktop, wait for your sister to get off the phone, suffer an endless stream of scree-oops and static, and boom, twenty minutes later, you were connected: a world of GeoCities and LiveJournals at your fingertips.

Ah, the good old days.

Being a teenage girl online in the 90s and early 00s was wild. We had embarrassing screennames and bedazzled profiles with cheesy inspirational quotes, most likely surrounded by a collection of stars and swoopy digital symbols. We organized our buddy lists into meticulous friend groups—a hierarchy determined by who we were speaking to the most that week—and we did all of this while sporting blue eyeshadow and butterfly clips like it was our job.

Trends are cyclical, of course, so I’m not about to bash my questionable fashion choices, but as I stroll through the Target racks desperately searching for a shirt that’s not skin tight or cropped for my eight-year-old daughter, I can’t help but wonder if things have really changed that much since we said goodbye to chatrooms and dial-up. We livestream our outings and post food photos instead of angsty away messages, but the underbelly that made social media what it is today is still alive and well. Catfishing. Bullying. External pressures to conform to archaic beauty standards.

I’d argue that the era of As Ifs and What’s Your Favorite Scary Movies never ended.

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From reboots to revivals of sitcoms to the resurgence of boybands, it seems like we just…couldn’t let go. And sure, every generation wraps the past in a golden film of happiness, but there’s something different about 90s nostalgia—an edginess missing from the doo-wops of yore—and as I started writing Chloe Cates Is Missing, I asked myself how I could use that edge to explore the very real fears we have about social media today. Why does this neon-colored flashback create the perfect background for an of-the-moment thriller?

Part of it is undoubtedly the charm. We remember what relationships were like before friend requests and poking wars, when origami notes were a necessary life skill and going to the mall elicited an excitement that rivals taking a selfie with Chris Hemsworth. Unchaperoned, by the way, since—as many of my characters point out—this was also a time when we went out with our friends and weren’t expected home until the streetlights came on.

We also saw firsthand how addicting it could be to be connected. I lost count of how many hours I spent IMing (which feels totally wrong to type; when did DM become the norm?) when I was supposed to be sleeping. Being online opened many doors. Not all of them were good.

I was raised in a pop culture environment that built the Mean Girl. Not that there haven’t always been mean girls—I’m looking at you, infamous locker scene in Carrie—but this particular brand of MG outlasted them all: beautiful. Shallow. Popular. Rich. Thin. Sweet to people’s faces but cruel behind their backs, especially her Weird Girl counterpart/mortal enemy (who miraculously became Hot Girl™ when she took off her glasses or slapped on some lip gloss, but that’s a discussion for another day). For years, I thought having a choreographed dance-off was an actual thing that happened at prom. Don’t roll your eyes at me; like I said, the 90s were wild. In a less cinematic sense, she was the one spreading rumors about you to everyone in her buddy list. Taking embarrassing pictures of you on her flip phone and circulating them around school. I’m glad we didn’t have smart phones. Or Twitter.

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Unfortunately for my characters, this is not the case.

Chloe Cates Is Missing focuses on an Insta-famous family and the search for their missing daughter. Jennifer, Chloe’s mother and momager extraordinaire, is a product of this 90s-era edge: shaped by the mean girl mentality and driven by her need to have likes and be liked. Chloe, on the other hand, doesn’t struggle with popularity, at least not online. She’s never known a world that existed outside of social media, but she daydreams about what her life would be like if she weren’t under the public spotlight.

Her carefully curated image is a sensational success, and Jennifer is determined to keep it that way.

And the truth is, even if I loathe her character and the choices she makes, I kind of understand the urge.

Even as I write this, I take mini breaks, aimlessly double-tapping cute pictures of dogs and snowy landscapes (and probably a gif or two of Jensen Ackles; I’m only human). It’s so ridiculously easy to get lost in the scroll, to feel like we know the person on the other side of the screen and deserve the inside scoop, and that’s the scary part. I love social media. And I hate social media. I want to share the things that make me happy, but I also want to throw my phone into the garbage when I read through some of the truly astounding comments people are capable of spewing.

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We don’t need Instagram, but shut it down for three hours and watch the collective digital community go into apocalypse mode. What are we supposed to do to have actual conversations, call each other? Sure, let me just load Dawson’s Creek on Netflix while I dig out my landline from the box of artifacts I keep in the basement.

The horror.

This gray area presents a breeding ground of genre-loving fear. Am I sharing too much? Am I obsessed? Is it even possible to set appropriate boundaries in a time when it’s stranger to not have a social footprint than have nine different handles and color-coded apps?

The answers may get lost in the hashtags, but what a way to go.

***

The internet used to come in the mail.

Ah, the good old days.

I’d argue that the era of As Ifs and What’s Your Favorite Scary Movies never ended.

Article continues after advertisement

Unfortunately for my characters, this is not the case.

Her carefully curated image is a sensational success, and Jennifer is determined to keep it that way.

And the truth is, even if I loathe her character and the choices she makes, I kind of understand the urge.

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The horror.

The answers may get lost in the hashtags, but what a way to go.

***

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

One of the great Gothic horror romances ever conceived for the page, Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera novel from 1911, lived on to haunt the whole 20th century with various adaptations and chillers. But the best to set hearts aflutter—and then tear them asunder with glorious tragedy—is the rather gaudy 2004 big screen adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical.

It’s not the best film version of this tale (that would likely be the 1925 silent classic starring Lon Chaney Sr.), nor is it technically the best way to experience Webber’s music when it’s so much more luscious on stage. And yet, Joel Schumacher’s sumptuous adaptation for the screen is the most romantic Phantom film, not least of all because it is the first movie to keep Leroux’s tragic ending in which a love that cannot be between a disfigured musical genius and his ingenue muse redeems, if not saves, a life. Plus, the songs are still pretty ear-wormy and Emmy Rossum makes a compelling leading lady debut as the young soprano, Christine Daeé. – David Crow

The Fly (1986)

David Cronenberg’s The Fly has more Love Story DNA than it does from the 1958 B-Movie classic it is based on. Body-horror has never been more tender, or more effective as an allegory for losing a loved one to terminal illness. Released at the height of the AIDS crisis, the sci-fi horror film is a moving tale of courtship, honeymoon, and tragedy. It begins as a rom-com. Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) is a reporter for a science journal looking for a story. Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is a socially awkward scientist who thinks he can change the world. He tries to flirt as best as a scientist can. He brags about his motion sickness, which can cause a nosebleed at the slightest velocity change, shows her his closet of identical suits, and introduces her to his baboon friends.

Finally, he pulls out the big guns, basically inventing the teleporter from Star Trek. He should have watched the episode “The Enemy Within,” because soon he is as reliable as a housefly. Seth proposes, by their second date, that Veronica should have exclusive book rights to the mechanism’s development, and the characters are on screen together for almost the entire film. Alone with a bottle of champagne and Chinese takeout for two, Seth gets jealous and shoots himself through the telepod. Veronica knows something is different from the first kiss after his breakthrough. Later he picks up a strange woman in a bar and shoots her through the machine. Throughout, Veronica understands and forgives. She loves him as his hair falls out, she loves him as his ears fall off. She loves him when he’s manic, and no matter how disgusting it is to watch him eat sugar. Even as he becomes unrecognizable, they never give up on each other. – Tony Sokol

David Naughton in American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

John Landis’ horror classic is known for being one of the few movies to totally nail it in two genres – it’s both very funny and really scary – but it’s less often celebrated for also being a moving love story. David Naughton and Griffin Dunne play best buds David and Jack, a couple of US backpackers visiting the Yorkshire Moors, when they are attacked by a mysterious beast, which kills Jack and maims David. Weeks later David wakes up in a hospital in London under the care of pretty nurse Alex (Jenny Agutter), who David soon forms a relationship with. As David begins his full moon transformations and is urged to kill himself by visions of an undead Jack and the rest of David’s victims, it’s the love between David and Alex that marks the heart of the movie. It’s why we care. Werewolf David transforms over two nights of carnage ultimately finding himself trapped in an alleyway, surrounded by police. In a tragic final beat, Alex runs to calm him, telling him she loves him. For a second we wonder if love might truly be able to calm the beast. But it is not to be. The final moments turn the funny, gory, scary werewolf movie into a heartbreaking tragedy. – Rosie Fletcher

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Simon Pegg wanted to make fun of rom-coms. So, Edgar Wright created the zom-rom-com. Shaun of the Dead is a real, old-style zombie movie, the kind George A. Romero used to make. It shrouds social commentary in horror, saying we are already such zombies, in our day-to-day ruts, we wouldn’t notice a zombie invasion. It’s also funny as hell boiled over. But the bleeding heart of the film lies in true romance. Shaun is a loser. He likes to drink, plays video games, can’t keep promises, and will never get his shit together. He can’t even remember where he and his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) met. All her friends cheer when she packs him off to “live a little.” But he comes to life when the undead come to town.

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

The Fly (1986)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

After much speculation about whether the Oscars would go host-less for the fourth year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to return to its host-having tradition with not one, but three of them: as Variety reports exclusively, Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer, and Regina Hall are going to guide us through the event, which is set to take place on March 27.

The decision comes from an age-old problem regarding viewership: how to get more people tuning in for Hollywood’s most important night? In 2019, Kevin Hart withdrew stepped down as host just days before the event. Since then, the Oscars have gone hostless because it made a television event, which is long by its very nature, run a little shorter, which pleased audiences. However, the decision has not improved the ceremony’s ratings, so apparently, we’re going back to square one – betting on viewer’s curiosity to check out how the trio of emcees will handle the challenge.

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Sykes is a well-established comedian whose career has taken her to participate in several major comedy shows such as The Other Two, Black-ish, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and many others. Nominated at the Emmys 14 times, Sykes has hosted her own talk show and comedy specials, co-hosted a number of them, and guest-starred in several others. She is also the creator of the Netflix comedy The Upshaws, which was recently renewed for Season 2.

the-upshaws-wanda-sykes — Image via Netflix

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Amy Schumer rose to prominence after writing, producing, and starring in her sketch comedy show Inside Amy Schumer. Known for debunking female stereotypes built and perpetuated by movies and TV shows, Schumer made her feature film debut with hit comedy Trainwreck, which got her a WGA nomination. The multiple Emmy nominee has an upcoming series, Life & Beth, set to debut at Hulu in mid-March.

Hall became a fan-favorite of the Scary Movie franchise ever since debuting as Brenda back in the early aughts. Since then, she has starred in numerous comedy movies, including Death at a Funeral, Vacation, and the surprise hit Girls Trip. Recently, she joined the cast of Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers and Showtime’s Black Monday. She also stars in the dark comedy Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul, which received high praise earlier this year at Sundance.

This year’s Oscars ceremony is produced by Emmy winner Will Packer (Girls Trip), who was brought in to come up with different scenarios after last year’s botched ceremony. Packer’s main challenge is to make the Oscars as fun and charismatic as possible since it’s virtually impossible to rush the event – who’s going to interrupt Frances McDormand from asking all the women in the room to stand up? The all-female trio of hosts might help make the ceremony dynamic and highly entertaining since Sykes, Hall, and Schumer are all great at improvisation, and a change in format might ease the pressure on each of them.

ABC broadcasts the Oscars on March 27. Check out the complete list of nominees here at Collider.

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ABC broadcasts the Oscars on March 27. Check out the complete list of nominees here at Collider.

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With over 25 years since its original outing, Ghostface has had its fair share of modifications. That’s to be expected with so many incarnations of the slasher icon over the years. Not only were there a mass of sequels to the original Scream movie, the masks were also modified for each incarnation. Haddonfield’s autumn mascot Michael Myers and Camp Crystal Lake’s key resident Jason Voorhees went through various revamps of their own. The theatrical releases of Halloween Kills and Candyman, along with Chucky on SYFY, made 2021 a big year for the revival of slasher icons. Leatherface will soon get his Texan welcome back party on Netflix as well, but to start off 2022, Ghostface came in hot and fast.

In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Wes Craven spoke on the signature face in Scream. “In general, we didn’t mess with the mask at all,” he stated. “With Freddy [Krueger] and the New Nightmare, I felt that I probably should have stuck with the original face. [With Scream,] we just let Ghostface be Ghostface.” With that said, there was a time when the masked killer could have looked different. Due to copyright issues, there was a bit of trial and error on the first film that can be seen in several scenes. Fun World, without even knowing it, had a slasher icon in its stock of Halloween merch. Then Scary Movie took it up a notch.

From, “What’s your favorite scary movie?” to “Wazzup?,” it’s been a trip in perfecting and purposely un-perfecting Ghostface. How well does the new Scream Ghostface hold up to the original?

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5. Scary Movie (2000)

How can you make fun of a movie that was already making fun of itself? You hire the Wayans brothers and dial up the level of ridiculousness. It also works as a parody in a range of genres, not just horror. Scream meets The Matrix meets Shakespeare in Love and so on. Iconic set pieces designed to scare are now remade, either as darkly funny, stupidly funny, or both.

A group of horny and pretty dumb teens accidentally runs over a fisherman. They get rid of the body, despite the man not being dead, by throwing him in the trunk. Soon a killer is on the loose. Could it be the fisherman out for revenge? Or someone else with a complicated motive? Whoever it is, he’s taking out each of the teens, one by one.

A much more wrinkled and stretched out Ghostface mask is worn in this parody where anything goes. When the killer calls up Shorty (Marlon Wayans), the mask contorts, even revealing a tongue. And when the killer gets stoned, the scene literally shows how high the killer is with its eyeholes. In spoofing I Know What You Did Last Summer, the killer’s weapon of choice changes, too. The hunting knife that made Ghostface so threatening in Scream is swapped out for a big ol’ hook. This killer was never about being scary, it was all about having a good time.

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4. Scream: Seasons 1 & 2

It might have been a controversial move but when the franchise moved to MTV, Ghostface was going to look different. Instead of Woodsboro, it’s Lakewood that became targeted by a masked killer. Emma (Willa Fitzgerald) and her friends deal with horror movie rules and real world issues like cyber-bullying that start up the killings.

The iconic ghoulish expression of Ghostface was swapped out for something more human. Seen in the first two seasons of the MTV show, the mask was a surgical mask worn by bullied town resident, Brandon James, to help with his facial surgery. James went on a killing spree and for two seasons another killer has taken it to continue the legacy. The bigger question might not be the motive to the killings, but in giving an already ostracized individual a mask like this and expecting it to not damage the person’s psyche further.

Not only is the mask different, the Lakewood Slasher wears a raincoat instead of a cloak like in the films. And that makes sense. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and the survivors of Woodsboro don’t exist in this timeline. Season 3, a complete departure of the storyline established in the past two seasons, included the traditional look of the killer but even that season’s storyline never saw a continuation. Sometimes being different for the sake of change doesn’t work. But in this MTV version, Ghostface was never a Halloween costume; it was something put together from the show’s own mythology. That deserves some credit.

3. Stab 8

Starting off in Scream 2, the franchise introduced audiences to an even deeper level of meta with the movie-in-a-movie franchise, Stab. There was no subtlety to the title and that was the point. It’s based on the “real-life” Woodsboro killing spree, so it might be fair to say the Stab movies are in poor taste.

Then came Stab 8. From clips shown of the universally panned entry in the Stab movies, the movie within Scream (2022), the killer has some major switch-ups. For starters, the Ghostface mask is metallic, ideal for reflecting the glow of a flamethrower being used on a victim instead of a plain old knife. If that’s not enough, whoever is behind the mask is showing off big, buff arms.

It’s ridiculous and over-the-top but what can’t be denied is that it’s a pretty cool visual. Because Ghostface is a Halloween costume in the Scream universe (that for some reason no one has thought to discontinue), having a different version of the iconic mask would be interesting and make a certain amount of sense. This was the safer way to test that theory. But in remembering Wes Craven’s words from THR, maybe it’s best to not change what already works so well.

2. Scream (1996)

There is a reason the first Scream is still so highly regarded. It remains the most original out of the entire franchise. With all the praise, you might think it’s overrated, but it holds up well after all this time. Along with a script by Kevin Williamson that gives influence to the genre and enjoys playing with its tropes, the cast is an additional selling point. When once it was career hell to star in a horror film, Scream made it cool. The premise alone is playfully aware that it sounds familiar. A killer has watched one too many scary movies and even if you have all the horror movie knowledge in the world, it might not save you. There’s a reason the face of the killer joined the slasher arena.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary, writer Alan Siegel put together an oral history of the first film for The Ringer. A later section touched upon how two masks were used during production. KNB EFX created a stunt mask that got in few appearances, due to uncertain copyrights with its trademark at Fun World. It’s seen in Casey Becker’s (Drew Barrymore) murder and the surprise kill of Principal Himbry (Henry Winkler). If you look closely, the mask’s eyeholes are more curved and puffy than they are in other scenes.

Then there was the classic mask, which looks a bit loose. In other words, it appears as if someone is wearing it and taking it off. The eyes are not always dark; at times it’s obvious someone is looking out from behind the rubber material. The cloak worn is very glittery, something toned down in later sequels, but it catches the garage light well during the death of Tatum (Rose McGowan). The dark boots worn are another intimidating element. And although in-film it’s supposed to be packaged as a “Father Death” costume, the name “Ghostface” stuck.

1. Scream (2022)

When Scream 4 didn’t perform well at the box office, it seemed Ghostface wasn’t going to be back on the big screen anytime soon. For 10 years, that was true. With this fifth film, legacy sequels and prequels was the name of the game. Sidney, Gale (Courteney Cox), and Dewey (David Arquette) were back, but this time, Ghostface had a new focus. A new teen friend group is targeted, each with relations to the past.

The classic mask is used, very much polished up. It doesn’t look worn out like in the first film. The white of the face is practically pristine and the grooves are well-defined. Any shimmer to the cloak is more subtle. It was a fun touch but with it downplayed, Ghostface more easily blends in with the shadows. This time around, the voice changer that always channeled Roger L. Jackson’s raspy vocals is snug inside the mask, with just a finger click to activate it.

Even though the jagged arm hang-offs aren’t clearly seen, it plays an additional part in the menacing quality of the killer. At times, the cloak completely hides the arms (check out the hospital attack), giving more focus to the white mask and truly making the killer appear like a phantom. Maybe it’s due to a decade absence on the big screen, but Ghostface looks better than ever, making for a scary good time in the slasher’s return.

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Chris Sasaguay
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Chris Sasaguay is a Horror Features Writer for Collider. His passion in all the dark thrills of scary movies is thanks to a spooky childhood. Growing up, he visited family who lived in the Headless Horseman territory of Sleepy Hollow. Furthermore, if he should ever meet the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis, he’ll swiftly update his profile pic with the encounter. Stay tuned.

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5. Scary Movie (2000)

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4. Scream: Seasons 1 & 2

3. Stab 8

2. Scream (1996)

1. Scream (2022)

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It’s hard to knock classic films or films that have really resonated with people. However, absolutely no movie out there will be for everyone. Film is a form of art and art is of course always highly subjective. Most people know this but still, fans get protective over the reputation of their favorites.

To put it plainly, some beloved horror films are just overrated. Whether it’s down to how well they aged or to the substance of a film, it’s just the way it is and that’s okay. To be clear, no films on this list are blatantly badly made or going down in history as terrible movies. That being said, it’s likely not everyone feels they deserve the immense praise that they get.

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This is a big one, it’s important to a lot of people and is potentially the most loved movie on this list. Of course, viewing at the time of release or as a child would probably be very effective. Unfortunately upon rewatch, The Exorcist is mostly just pretty boring.

Often seen as one of the most disturbing films of all time, The Exorcist made waves when it was released. There were many stories of people fainting or vomiting in the cinemas, and it’s even rumored that the more intense scenes caused heart attacks and miscarriages in at least one case.

To give the film credit, its most famous scenes hold up very well, and they can be disturbing and scary. Linda Blair gives a stellar performance in the role of the young possessed child. It also deserves credit for its influence on the horror genre as a whole. However, this film is over two hours long. The majority of it is not spent with its most famous moments and the rest of it is somewhat lackluster.

Robert Eggers rose to prominence in 2015 with his film The Witch, a subtle and terrifying horror film that brought folk horror to the forefront. He came around again in 2019 with The Lighthouse, which is extremely divisive. While it has a really high score among critics and is undoubtedly beautifully made, it’s a strong style over substance situation.

The Lighthouse looks really stunning with its black-and-white coloring and nearly square aspect ratio. The scenery shots are beautiful, the acting is fantastic, and there are some haunting visuals. But what about a story to get invested in? Ultimately, while there is somewhat of an underlying story, it doesn’t stand out as much as the technical filmmaking aspects. It makes the movie kind of boring, and hard to get invested in if the viewer isn’t only there for the pretentious aspects.

The Conjuring and the hide and clap scene in the dark basement

James Wan is a brilliant horror creator, and probably the most important horror director to come out of this century. It feels like everything he does turns to gold. After the success of Saw and Insidious, he really ignited the haunted house genre again with The Conjuring.

This film is a solid watch with some terrifying moments and its ties to real people and allegedly real events are interesting. With that being said, there are too many problems with The Conjuring Universe as a whole and its source material to fully get behind this movie anymore. The quality of this franchise has really declined since its first few additions, and more problematic information has come out about Ed and Lorraine Warren as well as the cases they worked on.

It also hasn’t aged massively well because this film now reads as a little generic. While that might not be the fault of the film as it is one that reinvigorated a genre, the market is now so saturated it doesn’t seem too enticing to go back to The Conjuring.

This will be controversial because Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is so often seen as somewhat of the birth of modern horror. Groundbreaking at the time and iconic in some short moments, it doesn’t necessarily hold up the way it should for new viewers.

The shower scene is absolutely incredible and chilling. The big reveal is also still very effective. There are also of course some plot points that went on to set horror trends and really caught audiences off guard. Was Psycho the first mainstream slasher? Many would say yes. However, it’s kind of hard to get into this film.

It’s very rare for people to go into Psycho knowing nothing because it’s so iconic. Unfortunately, that means, it doesn’t usually end up being what new viewers expect– and often not in a good way. The pacing at the beginning is quite slow, to the point where it almost seems like a different movie altogether. It takes a long time to get to the parts viewers want to see, and it’s just not all that scary anymore.

2020’s Host is certainly not as well known or beloved as others on this list, but it did make more waves than one might think. It was released towards the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic on horror streaming service Shudder and is filmed entirely on a Zoom call, which was relatable to people at the time (and probably still is today). It also holds the record as statistically the scariest film of all time, beating out Scott Derrickson’s Sinister.

Host doesn’t suck by any means, it’s a solid story with good characters and some decent scares. But to receive the level of praise and attention that it did feels more like a sign of the times than anything in hindsight. In reality, the film is a little generic and remains forgettable. It’s one that comes up in a lot of conversations about the best horror films in the last few years, but there doesn’t seem to be many reasons outside its timely setting. Ultimately, this one might not age very well.

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In 1999, a well-written, perfectly acted, and fascinating horror movie was released. In Stir Of Echoes, Kevin Bacon played a regular guy named Tom Witzky who lives and works in Chicago. He’s happily married to Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and they share a son named Jake (Zachary David Cope). Everything seems to be well in his world… until Tom realizes that he has a connection to the supernatural that will change everything. And he just might be able to figure out a mystery that took place in his very neighborhood.

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While Stir Of Echoes has a big star in Kevin Bacon, it was released in September 1999, one month after a huge horror movie came out that definitely overshadowed it. Stir Of Echoes is an impressive, horror movie that suffered from bad timing.

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On August 6th, 1999, The Sixth Sense was released and it became a massive hit. The movie grossed $293,506,292 domestically, according to Box Office Mojo, and critics loved it. It has a 90% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes and 86% on the Tomatometer. The Sixth Sense received six Oscar nominations, which is definitely impressive. With one of the best horror movie twists ever, when it turns out that Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is really dead, it’s no wonder that this movie did so well with critics and audiences. Unfortunately for Stir Of Echoes, it’s also a horror movie about the supernatural, and it was released on September 10th, 1999, getting lost in the shadow of The Sixth Sense.

If The Sixth Sense and Stir Of Echoes hadn’t hit theaters around the same time, it’s easy to imagine that Stir Of Echoes would have made a bigger impression among horror fans. The story is definitely there: after Lisa, Maggie’s sister (Illeana Douglas), hypnotizes Tom, Tom realizes that he can see Samantha Kozac (Jennifer Morrison), a teenage girl from the area who went missing. Tom’s visions are fascinating and show that he can access another world besides this one.

The movie takes a compassionate approach to the missing girl trope. Tom wants to help find out what happened, and when he ends up finding Samantha’s body in the walls of a house in the neighborhood, he realizes that his instincts have been right all along. Tom learns that Kurt and Adam, two boys from the neighborhood, attempted to assault Samantha and then murdered her. It’s a horrible story that the movie doesn’t dwell on for too long.

In an interview with The A.V. Club, director David Koepp shared that while the book that Stir Of Echoes is adapted from is in California, Koepp thought that a Chicago setting would be better for the movie. Koepp explained, “I liked the working-class setting, so I tried to think of another city with older architecture and some working-class neighborhoods that I was personally familiar with. I grew up in Wisconsin, and my mother is from the South Side of Chicago. I liked the way Chicago looked, and I felt like I hadn’t seen a ghost story set in that kind of setting before.” This works well as Tom, Maggie, and the other families on the street just want a good, honest life and they are traumatized by the horror that took place in the neighborhood. It’s a nice, quiet block where bad things aren’t supposed to happen.

Maggie (Kathryn Erbe) and Tom (Kevin Bacon) looking scared in Stir Of Echoes

Stir Of Echoes is an underrated 1990s horror film and also shares some things in common with The Sixth Sense. Both movies feature main characters who feel a duty to solve a mystery and help people. They’re also tied to the spirit world and can see and hear things that others can’t. Both films also have child characters, as Haley Joel Osment became famous for portraying the role of Cole Sear. While Cole and Jake aren’t scary horror movie kids, they do make quite the impression. The movies also each have a famous actress playing a young adult character: Jennifer Morrison does a good job as Samantha in Stir Of Echoes and Mischa Barton famously played Kyra, a young girl whose mother poisoned her in The Sixth Sense.

Stir Of Echoes joins horror movies with endings that aren’t spelled out. While Tom and Maggie decide to move away, which is a great idea since this neighborhood has bad, creepy vibes, Jake can hear the static and sounds of the supernatural, suggesting that he will continue to see and hear strange things even when the family is in a new location. While there could have been a sequel, as it would be cool to follow Jake’s journey, the conclusion does feel right. If Stir Of Echoes had been released at another time, it definitely would have more fans. There’s a lot to appreciate here.

NEXT: Looper 10 Years Later: Looking Back At Rian Johnson’s Time Travel Thriller

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Aya Tsintziras
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Aya Tsintziras is a freelance writer who writes about TV, movies, and has a particular interest in the horror genre. She has a Political Science degree from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Journalism from Ryerson University. She loves coffee, reading, working out, and watching TV. She lives in Toronto.

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is one of the most anticipated films of 2022, but whether or not there will be a rated R version released to the public has yet to be confirmed.

A Reddit post dating back to 2020 posited the idea that the film might garner an R rating, rather than the PG-13 rating that its predecessor received.

More recently, an article published last month by Maxblizz contended that two versions of the movie exist: A PG-13 version, and an R-rated version that lasts more than three hours.

An R-rated Multiverse of Madness isn’t entirely out of the question given the subject material. Doctor Strange stories are one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s darker entries, after all, and the second trailer showed terrifying monsters and evil versions of Strange — leaning more into those horror elements than ever before.

From what we know about the upcoming film, Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) seemingly turns to the dark side as Strange tries to stem the tide of the multiverse’s chaotic descent. If the movie follows the cataclysmic events from Doctor Strange’s What If…? episode, they could be pushing the darkness present in the MCU even further.

The episode “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” went to some very heavy places. In an alternate universe, Dr. Stephen Strange gives into grief when his girlfriend, Dr. Christine Palmer, dies. Strange goes to Kamar-Taj and becomes a master of mystic arts and learns how to manipulate time by studying the Eye of Agamotto. Strange then attempts to save her using the Eye, but fails and has to seek more power at the Lost Library of Cagliostro. He grows power-hungry, consuming magical beings and studying these dark arts for centuries.

O’Bengh, the librarian, eventually splits him into two versions of himself, one an evil reflection referred to as Strange Supreme, and the other a Strange who accepts Christine’s death. The two battle it out and Strange Supreme wins, but when he finally brings Christine back, she’s disgusted by his transformation in a Twilight Zone-like twist. His actions rip reality apart, leaving him to live alone in a small pocket of the universe. It’s not exactly the standard superhero happy ending.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in 2019 that Doctor Strange 2 wouldn’t necessarily be a horror film and that it would just have scary sequences in it, but that was before Sam Raimi was helming the project. Apart from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy, Raimi is known for his horror movies. The Evil Dead is rated as NC-17, and other Raimi-led projects like Army of Darkness, Evil Dead, and Evil Dead 2 all have R ratings.

Reports of extensive reshoots for what’s colloquially known as Doctor Strange 2 led many to believe they were including more character appearances — including the rumored Patrick Stewart-as-Professor X rumor that Sunday’s Super Bowl reveal seemed to confirm. It’s also possible, with extra shooting, that Raimi could have also overseen scenes fit for an R-rated version.

However, Disney’s now the steward of a superhero brand that relies on family-friendly dollars. The first Doctor Strange movie was PG-13 and grossed over $677 million worldwide, and interfering with the formula for the sequel might prove too risky.

Between the upcoming Disney Plus series Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac, and Mahershala Ali’s Blade, the MCU will lean more into horror, and perhaps even violence, than established MCU fare — though we did last see Doctor Strange in a quite family-friendly Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Even if an R-rated version doesn’t release in theaters, there’s still a chance it’ll be available in some form, whether on Blu-Ray or as a streaming option.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released in theaters on May 6.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is one of the most anticipated films of 2022, but whether or not there will be a rated R version released to the public has yet to be confirmed.

A Reddit post dating back to 2020 posited the idea that the film might garner an R rating, rather than the PG-13 rating that its predecessor received.

More recently, an article published last month by Maxblizz contended that two versions of the movie exist: A PG-13 version, and an R-rated version that lasts more than three hours.

Even if an R-rated version doesn’t release in theaters, there’s still a chance it’ll be available in some form, whether on Blu-Ray or as a streaming option.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released in theaters on May 6.

When Jerri Bartman’s life spun out of control, the famed horror icon Count Crowley (and Dark Horse Comics) were gifted their newest warrior against the supernatural forces of darkness. And now that the first mission hasn’t killed her, Jerri is back with an official promotion to Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter.

The brainchild of writer/actor David Dastmalchian, the first run of Dark Horse’s Count Crowley comic earned accolades thanks to the scribe’s clear love of classic horror, bolstered by the talents of artists Lucas Ketner, Lauren Affe, and letterer Frank Cvetkovic. But if a washed-up reporter’s reluctant shift into after-hours monster-slaying seemed to be the lifeline she so desperately needed, it sounds like the sequel series will be the exact opposite. As a werewolf hunt and a mysterious vampire threaten to invade Crowley’s home of Beloit, Missouri, Dastmalchian is giving Screen Rant a taste of the horrors to come when Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter #1 arrives on March 23. Read our full interview below.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

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Screen Rant: First off, I have to ask if the fan response to Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter has been what you hoped (or dreamed)? Especially since it is not simply a fun horror story, but one playing some seriously personal and beloved chords in terms of inspiration?

David Dastmalchian: The fan response has been beyond my wildest dreams. When we first released Issue One and the fan art began to appear online, I was astounded. Then I started seeing the Cosplay and the fan fiction and received numerous messages and letters from people who have responded so strongly to Count Crowley. It’s been so rewarding to get messages from young people to folks who’ve been collecting comics and watching horror movies for sixty plus years! I’m so grateful that so many people have been willing to go on this adventure with us. Putting myself out there so publicly as far as my own struggles with addiction and mental illness was really scary and yet the fans continue to make me feel grateful that I was able to speak and write so openly about my own… ‘monsters.’

Count Crowley Amateur Midnight Minster Hunter Comic Cover

SR: I don’t want to imply that nostalgia or homage is taking the spotlight, since it’s the original, inventive, and instantly endearing parts of the story that I think pack the biggest punch. Jerri Bartman is definitely the best example of that, so in what direction is she stepping with Series II?

DD: I love that the nostalgia, the setting the backdrop of our story can provide so much wonderful dressing for this lo-fi story which, by necessity, predates the super digital world of the internet and cell phones. I set the comic in the specific year that I did on purpose when given the context of how mass media presented to the news to the public. The world is on the advent of a very important shift for television and journalism as our story begins and this play heavily into Jerri’s battle against evil. She is about to fully embrace her mission to battle monsters. At first, this will be in the interest of protecting her family. But eventually… she could be having to protect us ALL!

SR: Readers would assume from the first issues that your vision and Lukas Ketner’s are lock-step (along with Lauren Affe, and Frank Cvetkovic). But comic fans know to look forward to creative teams who keep collaborating, and the elevation that so often brings in both directions. Safe to say Lukas is dialing things up for Series II?

DD: I am so lucky that I have my WHOLE team back together! Editor Megan Walker, as well as Lukas, Lauren and Frank are ALL back and they are working at the top of their game. Lukas has a talent that reminds me so much of Bernie Wrightson and he is just getting better and better. I really challenged him with these new scripts and he always rose to and soared above that challenge. We pushed some serious bounds this time around in regards to some of the violence and gore we’ve put into frame. I don’t want to be gratuitous but I really think we needed to be as explicit as possible with some of the horror that Jerri is going to confront.

SR: Last time we spoke about Count Crowley, you warned that the Billy’s message at the end of Issue #4 would “summon a force of evil to Beloit,” but stopped short on specifics. In this story, that could describe both monsters and network executives, so what else can you tease?

DD: Well, what could be any more terrifying than network executives….? How about VAMPIRES?! Readers are going to learn along with Jerri that vampires are not so simply defined as we’ve been taught and they are certainly not as simply defeated as we’ve been led to believe.

Count Crowley Amateur Midnight Minster Hunter Comic Cover 2

SR: The first series had some fun with introducing or hinting at familiar monsters (or monster ‘types’), but with new twists or details suggesting readers – like Jerri – have been misinformed. Is that something you specifically enjoy, and is that going to continue into this new ‘level’ of monsters?

DD: I have been terrified in our current social and political climate at how easily misinformation has been able to snake through the minds of consumers who are vulnerable to unverified data amongst the wasteland of social media. By simply decrying inconvenient facts “fake news” we’ve seen our entire government practically toppled by embittered election losses and attacks against science and education. Since monsters and the forces of evil are well aware of how easily the minds of men can be swayed by these seeds of disinformation, it’s no wonder we all have no idea how to actually stop a werewolf!

SR: In the first Count Crowley trade paperback, you quote Emil Ferris from My Favorite Thing is Monsters, and her idea that “good monsters” are scary looking, while the truly “bad monsters want the world to look the way they want it to.” That idea can take shape in classic horror or social commentary, so how important was that idea for you when shaping this setting and story?

DD: First of all, if you’re reading this interview and you don’t own Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing is Monsters, you need to open a new tab and go buy the book. Rush that shipping. You’ll thank me later. Second of all, I went into writing Count Crowley with the mission of swimming in the murky waters where “good” and “bad” monsters can easily be mistaken for one another. I’m nearly 20 years clean and sober right now, and I know that in the throes of my addiction and mental illness, I was very easily discarded by society into the “human refuse” pile. But what if I HAD been thrown away, essentially destroyed by it all? It’s so easy to dismiss those who have the outward appearance and behavior of monsters, when just some compassion, empathy, and communication can be the difference between life and death.

SR: For Jerri in particular, a mission or purpose seems to be what she needs to believe in herself again, but in the last way anyone might expect, the knobby old Vincent Fright’s sexism seemed to offer just the push she needed in her first monster hunt. I wouldn’t want anything spoiled, but Vincent seems poised to take a really fun role going forward.

DD: Vincent is a vital key in Jerri’s journey as a monster hunter. But, man, that old key is a skeleton key. He’s a gnarly, nasty, misogynist of a key with a huge wealth of knowledge about monsters, a horrible attitude towards women and a bad case of the gout.

SR: Was there anything from these coming issues that you were particularly glad to get into the story, once given the green light for a Series II? With werewolves, vampires, and all other manner of monsters at your disposal, how do you choose what to dig into first?

DD: I was so excited to dig into the mythology and “rules” of lycanthropy and vampirism in these coming issues. I have always had some problems with the rules of these monsters and wanted to get a little deeper into the logic of questions like, “How to do you stop a werewolf?” Boy, oh boy, do we get into all of that in these upcoming issues!

SR: Since you have invited the question with your own recent roles — not just Count Crowley’s werewolves, but Marvel’s What If…? zombies, and Last Voyage of the Demeter’s famous vampire – what order do you rank this horror trio hierarchy? Any metric or logic you choose.

DD: You must climb aboard the cursed ship, Demeter, as you sail off the coast of a cursed land where zombies have devoured your last heroes, and sit under the light of the moon as you read the pages of our new Count Crowley: AMATEUR Midnight Monster Hunter! I hope you enjoy it!

Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter #1 will arrive in your local comic book shops, and digitally, on March 23, 2022.

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Andrew Dyce
(3243 Articles Published)

Screen Rant Editor Andrew Dyce was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Despite calling the vast nothingness of the Canadian prairies home (or perhaps because of it) film and television have been a passion since birth. As a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a degree in English Literature, Andrew has grown to appreciate the story and writing behind everything from blockbuster comic book movies to schlocky B-movie action.

8 The Crazies

Breck Eisner’s 2010 remake of the George A. Romero sci-fi horror classic The Crazies takes place in the fictional town of Ogden Marsh, Iowa that becomes afflicted by a biological agent which turns those infected into bloodthirsty killers. Following a bizarre and unexplainable plane crash, residents of a quaint farming town start to exhibit psychopathic tendencies: a husband locks his wife and son in a closet and sets the house on fire, and a respected local shows up to a baseball game wielding a shotgun. When authorities blockade the town in an effort to contain the disturbing virus, Sheriff David Dutton tries to protect his wife and two other survivors from the violent lunatics. Eisner wanted to make sure the makeup design for the infected was realistic and researched medical books and consulted medical professionals to design an authentic look. The edgy and heart-pumping horror flick stars Justified‘s Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, and Danielle Panabaker, and was well-received by critics and moviegoers.

7 Friday the 13th

Jason Voorhees Is the Focus of New Friday the 13th TV Series

The iconic 1980 independent slasher film Friday the 13th introduced the world to the machete-wielding, hockey mask-wearing psychopathic killer Jason Voorhees and kicked-off a lucrative and enduring horror franchise. Directed and produced by Sean S. Cunningham, the beloved picture came to fruition due to John Carpenter’s Halloween; Cunningham collaborated with screenwriter Victor Miller and wanted to create a shocking and visually stunning film that would put viewers on the edge of their seats. Miller loved the idea of inventing a serial killer who turns out to be somebody’s mother and whose only motivation was the love for her child, having said, “I took motherhood and turned it on its head and I think that was great fun. Mrs. Voorhees was the mother I’d always wanted – a mother who would have killed for her kids. Jason was dead from the very beginning. He was a victim, not a villain.” Friday the 13th follows a group of teenage camp counselors who are picked off one-by-one by an unknown killer as they attempt to reopen the infamous Camp Crystal Lake.

Related: The Top 5 Creepiest Horror Movie Villains Of All Time, Ranked

6 Lights Out

Lights Out Trailer Will Have You Scared of the Dark

David F. Sandberg’s 2016 directorial debut Light Outs is a supernatural horror movie that follows a young woman who must confront her childhood fears in order to protect her brother from a vengeful spirit attached to their mother. Featuring Teresa Palmer, Billy Burke, and Mario Bello, the fright-filled flick puts viewers on the edge of their seats with non-stop jump scares and is sure to make you sleep with the light on. It is based on Sandberg’s 2013 short film of the same name that went on to become a viral sensation, garnering millions of views. Palmer had not actually seen the design of the malevolent entity Diana prior to filming her first scene, as Sandberg wanted to provoke a genuine reaction of fear with the chilling reveal. Lights Out was a massive success at the box office and amongst reviewers, with Empire magazine proclaiming it, “A lean, mean scare-machine, and a surprise contender for horror of the year. Seek it out. Then, for God’s sake, buy a bedside lamp.”

5 Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Kevin McCarthy's face, covered in mud, looks terrified — Allied Artists Pictures

The 1956 cult classic sci-fi horror flick Invasion of the Body Snatchers stars Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell, who discovers that the residents in his small town of Santa Mira are being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates, also known as “pod people.” It’s up to Bennell, his friend Jack (King Donovan) and ex-girlfriend Becky (Dana Wynter) to put an end to the frightening invasion and figure out a way to defeat the threatening extraterrestrials. The Don Siegel-directed picture is adapted from the Jack Finney novel and was shot in black-and-white in a film noir style. Many commentators believed the horror flick was an allegory on the dangers of turning a blind eye to McCarthyism, but Siegel argued, “I felt that this was a very important story. I think that the world is populated by pods and I wanted to show them. I think so many people have no feeling about cultural things, no feeling of pain, of sorrow. The political reference to Senator McCarthy and totalitarianism was inescapable, but I tried not to emphasize it because I feel that motion pictures are primarily to entertain and I did not want to preach.” Interestingly, each new remake of the film tackles a different sociopolitical theme.

4 47 Meters Down

image-w1280-(2)-3 — Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures

Johannes Roberts’ 2017 survival horror film 47 Meters Down stars Mandy Moore and Claire Holt as two sisters who are invited to cage dive in Mexico and find themselves trapped in a shark cage at the bottom of the ocean. With air supply running low and great whites stalking nearby, the pair must find a way to survive before it’s too late. The nerve-wracking and phobia-driven premise and deeply convincing performances by Moore and Holt help make 47 Meters Down a tense and thrilling rollercoaster ride for audiences. It was shot almost entirely underwater and became the highest grossing independent movie of 2017, earning $65 million at the box office. The terrifying picture was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, and its success led to the 2019 sequel, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged.

3 Sinister

The 2012 supernatural horror movie Sinister features Ethan Hawke as true crime writer Ellison Oswalt, who stumbles upon a box of super-8 home videos depicting gruesome murders in the attic of his new home. His chilling discovery puts his family in danger when he realizes that the murder he is researching for his new novel is the work of a serial killer dating back to the 1960s. Writer C. Robert Cargill says he came up with the premise of the film after having a nightmare caused by watching The Ring, in which he discovers a video in the attic depicting the hanging of an entire family. He used that criteria for the plot of Sinister, and crafted a new take on the Bogeyman, making the flick’s villain a pagan deity named Bughuul. Sinister premiered at the SXSW festival in 2012, debuting to positive reviews for its atmosphere, direction and talented performances. A sequel was released in 2015, simply entitled Sinister 2.

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2 The Haunting

Based on the Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House, 1999’s horror picture The Haunting follows a group of people who gather at a grand Massachusetts estate for an apparent volunteer study on insomnia, only to discover the home is plagued by supernatural forces connected to its grim history. The Jan de Bont film features some of cinema’s greatest, including Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson, with Neeson portraying Dr. David Marrow, the leader of the nefarious sleep study. Despite a lackluster response from critics, The Haunting was a box-office success, raking in over $180 million. The movie’s stunning set design and top-notch visuals did earn praise, with Roger Ebert writing, “the special effects are original and effective, evoking a haunted house in unexpected ways…to enter these rooms, to move among them, to feel their weight and personality, is an experience.” The spooky and eerie picture is the second adaptation of the source material, with Robert Wise’s 1963’s The Haunting being the first and the smash hit Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House being the third.

1 World War Z

World War Z 2 Targets June Start Date, David Fincher Will Still Direct

The dynamic Brad Pitt stars in the 2013 action horror flick World War Z, portraying a former United Nations investigator who travels the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is threatening humanity’s existence. The blockbuster is based on the Max Brooks novel and depicts the zombies as fast-running, feral creatures who spread the lethal virus through a single bite. The epic picture was praised for Pitt’s performance and for its realistic revival of the zombie genre, with Variety calling it a “surprisingly smart, gripping and imaginative addition to the zombie movie canon.” Though it diverges from the source material, the movie still won the Saturn Award for Best Thriller Film. Due to the success of World War Z at the box office, a sequel was previously announced and greenlit but was ultimately shelved largely due to the Chinese government’s ban on films featuring ghosts or zombies, a fact which is haunting enough on its own.

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8 The Crazies

7 Friday the 13th

Related: The Top 5 Creepiest Horror Movie Villains Of All Time, Ranked

6 Lights Out

5 Invasion of the Body Snatchers

4 47 Meters Down

3 Sinister

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2 The Haunting

1 World War Z

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