Eleanor Lawson

All three films are incredible. As soon as I watched one I literally had to watch the others straight away. For a film trilogy that takes a LOT of inspiration from previous horror movies like Scream and The Shining, they feel so unique and original. There’s not much I can’t say about these films: brilliant writing, directing, editing, cinematography and lighting, the plot was gripping and the soundtrack just immaculate, and don’t even get me started on the acting. Amazing. The chemistry between the love interests was incredible too. Obviously there were times where you’re rolling your eyes at the screen thinking “now why on earth would they be so stupid?” But then I think that’s the whole point - it’s a horror/slasher movie that loves to take inspiration from classic horror/slasher movie tropes and it’s done so well. I laughed a lot, screamed a lot, cried a wholeeeee lot, just loved it. Honestly I’m obsessed, which is not what I thought I’d be saying about a horror trilogy.

I hated this film. I hate to say it, because the acting was phenomenal and Tom Holland really got into the role. I blame the directors, which is a shame because I usually love the Russo brothers. But my word, what were they doing? It seems like they sat down for a meeting and said “hmmm, what filming techniques should we include in this film?” And eventually decided “all of them”. This film was so overclogged with special visuals, effects, techniques, colouring etc... it felt so stuffy and forced. There were so many blatant metaphors I didn’t know what was actually happening. They couldn’t consistently decide on narration (or plot, tbh. Like, there was three plots going on at once and it was beyond annoying), it seemed like they forgot about it half way through and then remembered it at the very end. I at least liked the middle section when Tom’s character was in the army - that part was well directed and it looked beautiful. But everything else was awful. Also, do I like Tom Holland? Yes. Do I like his character? Absolutely not. Cherry is, without a doubt, an irritating and downright bad character, therefore I could never get into the plot and I never found myself rooting for him. And the script. That’s what I have the most issue with. At what point was there a conversation or moment of dialogue that lasted longer than 30 seconds? There wasn’t, I checked. The problem was, there was so many things going on with this stuffy, hasty script that there was never a slow moment or peaceful moment - and yet the film seemed to last forever. Overall, I was thoroughly disappointed and wouldn’t recommend to anyone. That being said, everyone I watched it with seemed to love it, so maybe don’t take my word for it. But I just won’t ever be watching this again.