Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: Four teenagers do a bad thing one summer and someone in their little east coast town is wreaking his or her terrifying revenge upon them now.
Biased, pithy comments: I should start by saying this is a weak ``Good,'' in the sense that I enjoyed it and I think other horror/thriller viewers will like this film, but I'm not sure if it's really all that great cinema. Like ``The Game,'' one spends a bit of time after the show wondering about logistics, realism, and motivation, but during the show one is totally absorbed in watching the beauty queen get menaced by the guy with the hook (somewhere in the middle of that scene I began thinking, ``Wow, this is just a classic horror film. Oh well; I'm having a good time.''). I like Gellar in her role as TV's ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and this movie held it together long enough to be fun, if not great. One should also point out that spending time after the show trying to pick out the details of the plot or even make sense of the last scene is a mistake; this is a good solid piece of schlock B-movie horror and should be respected as a fun one. Kinda bloody, if that bugs you (it doesn't bug me).
Other Notes: My fellow viewers and I kept shouting ``BUY THE SOUNDTRACK'' during some of the more blatant moments when they were trying to push the album. It happened a lot. Trailer says, ``By the makers of `Scream','' which means it's written by the same screenwriter. This film, like Scream, also has the same tense mood only with fewer jokes---I had to provide my own wisecracks. Watch out! Most of the videos sold of this have the trailer for the second movie BEFORE they show you the first movie! Sheesh.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Freddie Prinze Jr.
Directed by: Jim Gillespie