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Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Tonight is a celebration of teen horror flicks that were in theaters at around the time that I was finishing up with high school.
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Tonight is a celebration of teen horror flicks that were in theaters at around the time that I was finishing up with high school.
This era of horror is very much in the wheelhouse of my friend Nick, and he did not disappoint with his cosplay and an incredible bathtub photo op that he brought to the drive-in.
The first movie of the night was the 1997 film I Know What You Did Last Summer. I saw this for the first time when I was a teenager, but I don't remember if I rented it or saw it in theaters. However, I do remember that I didn't think very highly of it. It struck me as a copycat movie that they rushed into production to capitalize on the success of Scream. It's always worth giving a movie a second look later on in life to see if your thoughts on it will have changed. In this case, my thoughts are pretty much the same. I don't think this movie is anywhere near as good as Scream. I wouldn't go so far as to say I hated it. It's ok, but it's not something that I'd recommend to anyone or something that I'd go out of my way to see again. The legacy sequel that was released two months ago has it beat by a mile.
You can pretty much copy and paste everything that I just wrote about I Know What You Did Last Summer for the second horror flick of the night, except for the fact that I'm positive that I rented it the first time that I saw it. Urban Legend premiered in September 1998 which is not long after I graduated from high school. My thoughts really haven't changed since I saw it 27 years ago, which is to say that it's an interesting concept, but it's not done particularly well. It's not bad, my feelings are pretty much the same as the first film, which is that I'm glad to have had the chance to see it on the big screen, but I'd be fine if this ended up being my last time seeing it.
The third movie of the night was a pleasant surprise in more ways than one. I always thought that I had seen The Faculty before, but I was mistaking it for another late 90's teen horror flick called Disturbing Behavior. I enjoyed Disturbing Behavior more than either I Know What You Did Last Summer or Urban Legend, but it's one of those movies that I thought would benefit from a remake to make it a little less cheesy. So, I had that film in mind in the weeks leading up to tonight's triple feature, and I realized pretty quickly that I had never seen The Faculty before.
I'm pretty lukewarm about the first two movies that were screened tonight, but The Faculty is an absolute banger. If you're going to have a late 90's teen horror night, this movie is right up there with Scream and The Craft as films that I'd strongly recommend that you consider including.
And that's a wrap on the 90's Horror Party. My thoughts on the first two films of the night may make it seem like I didn't have a good time, but nothing could be further from the truth. Tonight was a hell of a good time and a blast from the past that I doubt I would have had any other way.
