Sadly disappointing effort from usually excellent Calum Waddell. Runs out of steam after twenty mins. Very superficial and unfocused. Perhaps it was the intention to stay away from film historian analysis to try to hook a younger audience - if so, it fails on that level too. A lack of major movers and shakers on camera, many of those interviewed spout pretty banal stuff, often in an affected tone, as if they were uttering something profound, rather than sequences that run: tits out, 'eek!', household implement rammed thru latex, red spewing, etc. This would make a passable, if compromised bonus feature on a bluray. It's far too weak to stand alone as a documentary feature, and is far from the definitive work on the subject, or even a fun tribute to the appeal of the genre. While I'm here, they are a major part of the slasher cycle and deserve discussion, but I hate the Scream films. They are extremely unterrifying, tedious and smug. As such, absolutely classic 1990s American pop-culture artifacts. The smooth contours of the ghostface killer mask speak volumes.
