James Cameron accomplishes a rare feat with a sequel that doesn’t shame the original and succeeds on its own merits. Aliens is so different in tone than the original Alien, I think of it as a sequel only in name (this goes for all the Alien movies). In a smart move, Cameron decided not to compete with Ridley Scott in the areas of horror and suspense. Aliens is decidedly a combat movie.
As the horror genre shifted full-bore into gore and kill counts in the ’80s, Tom Holland (Child’s Play) wrote and directed this Valentine to a simpler, more classic way of spooky storytelling. Fright Night is about a high school boy (William Ragsdale) who teams up with a TV horror host on the outs (Roddy McDowell) to rescue his friends and family from a vampire (Chris Sarandon) who has taken up residence next door.Â
A suburban family seeks the help of paranormal investigators after their youngest daughter is kidnapped by malevolent spirits inside their own home. Poltergeist, written and produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), is an emotional and visceral thrill ride that I have cherished since childhood. The story’s family, the Frelings, are quirky but entirely believable. You get invested in them before the supernatural shit hits the fan, and this gives weight to all the scares and spectacle that follows.
