A second set of modern slashers, this time with a focus on slasher entities rather than slasher icons.
Overview
Following up my comparisons of classic and modern slashers, this time around I’m looking at several modern slasher series where the villain is a group or concept more than an individual icon. For this set, I’m reviewing Final Destination, Wrong Turn, Hostel, and The Purge.
**CONTENT WARNING: Violence, death**
**Spoilers below**
Best Series
Nominees (this and following sections listed from worst to best fit)
The Purge
The concept behind the Purge series could have been really interesting. Unfortunately, they never quite did it justice. It ultimately felt like a money-grabbing series that was trying to be super deep and creepy, but instead it came across as shallow and lame … and shockingly boring for how much violence happens on screen. Only one movie really captured the chaos in the streets that I expected from an actual Purge event, while the films set in L.A. or D.C. (two of the most densely populated areas in the USA) had the characters running through several blocks that were completely deserted. They also focused constantly on the fact that murder was legal, but no one ever seemed to loot instead, which I would have expected a lot more of. And for a series that revolved around the fact that no one is safe, hardly any main characters ever died.
Wrong Turn
Wrong Turn is a bit of a mixed bag for me. It falls into the same category as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes because these movies tend to be pretty good movies in general with really disturbing horror, but the overall concept of tourists being terrorized by mutated families just isn’t my favorite premise. But more on that later. As a whole, WT is a decent horror series with quite a few worth watching, if you can get past the ableism. That part just makes it difficult to rank at the top.
Hostel
Overall Hostel is a solid (if brief) slasher series. The horror is consistently brutal, and while the worst of the series had several frustrating aspects, it was still better than some of the other bad slashers I’ve seen. The first movie isn’t particularly deep and is a bit misogynistic, but they make up for both of these things in the second one.
And the winner is…
Final Destination
The entire premise of FD makes it automatically one of the most interesting series. Each movie starts with a freak accident that kills dozens, but one victim is given a vision to protect themselves and several others, only for the survivors to be hunted down by Death itself. There are so many epic “accidents” throughout the series, and it was always fun to guess just how badly any scenario would turn out. FD3 and FD4 might not have been perfect, but as a whole, the series knew what it was and embraced it well.
Best Slasher
Nominees
Inbred Hillbilly Cannibals
As mentioned above, not a huge fan of the inbred hillbilly family as a villain concept. It feels demonizing of deformed/disabled people. It was my least favorite thing about TCM and it’s the same with WT. The first several films feel like, “Oh, this family got all deformed so naturally that makes them evil cannibals.” At least with TCM there was more to it than that–the family themselves were basically their own echo chamber of bad ideas that they passed along to future generations. Here, again, it just felt like they were evil because they were deformed, at least in most of the movies. They clearly started veering away from this concept as the series progressed. The fifth film heavily features Doug Bradley as the main villain, and he appears to be outside of the typical family but seemingly took the current hillbilly trio under his wing for criminal mentorship. The sixth amps up the incest side of things, but again the most prominent villains aren’t among the mutated family members. Then finally in the remake, it’s a completely different take altogether where instead of inbred deformed cannibals, they’re just a secret society who plays by their own rules. If that had been the group from the rest of them, I probably would have rated the series as a whole higher.
Rich People
The entire concept of Hostel revolves around the idea that rich people are willing to pay thousands of dollars for the opportunity to torture and murder innocent strangers with zero consequences, aside from a required tattoo that will stay with them forever. The thing that’s so interesting about this is that these aren’t supernatural beings or monsters or isolated families. These are the elite, and to them this is basically a game. They have the money to spare, and this is what they use it for, because to them, this is exciting. Their complete and utter disregard for the nameless lives they are taking is truly terrifying.
Rich People and the Political System
Where the rich killers in Hostel were part of a secret society, in Purge they dominate the country during the annual Purge night. It’s a common theme throughout the series that the rich are able to afford protection and offensive capabilities, while the poor are slaughtered. In fact, the entire purpose of the Purge event is revealed to be a way in which to remove the poor and homeless populations across America. It honestly makes sense that it would play out in such a way, I just wish they hadn’t tried so hard to make them all be creepy. It felt cheesy and unrealistic and often threw me out of the atmosphere.
And the winner is…
Death
How do you fight an invisible, relentless force that has complete control over your environment? Plus, if you do defeat it for the moment, it’s going to come back around and kill you on its next loop anyway. Death also has the distinct advantage of making the survivors look crazy and/or suspicious because naturally no one is going to believe that Death has a personal vendetta against them. It’s truly the best villain.
Best Overall Movie
Nominees
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
In a series of lackluster films, this one was the least boring. I like how a group of various strangers are stuck together and have to trust each other on the most dangerous night of the year. Unfortunately, even as the one I would consider the best of the lot, that’s about all the praise I have for it.
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)
Wrong Turn (2021) was probably the best story-wise, but it was so distinctly different than the rest of the series that it didn’t even feel like a WT movie. Had it been called by a different name, it just as easily could have been its own stand-alone, unrelated horror movie. So while I’m willing to consider it for other categories, it just didn’t feel right picking it to represent the WT series in the overall category, so instead I went with the best of the standard WT movies. A bit like Halloween: Resurrection, the premise of this film is that a group of people are making a Survivor-esque reality show. However, it doesn’t play as heavily into the concept of not knowing what’s real and what’s part of the show like Resurrection did, which is an aspect I would have liked more of, but the movie worked fine without it. Rather, what makes this film so good is the characterizations. There are several unexpected friendships along the way, and even the misogynist starts to see the error of his ways. The villain family feels the most humanized in this, grieving the loss of their family members as they are taken out by the show’s staff/stars (mostly Henry Rollins). Also, while all the movies have some pretty intense horror scenes, this one had me particularly feeling the danger.
Hostel: Part II (2007)
The first Hostel has an air of mystery about it, since both the characters and the viewers don’t know for sure what is going on or who all is in on it. That works well for a first movie. But ultimately I much preferred the additions this one brings that showcase the inner workings of the organization, as well as focusing on some of the clients as they bid on and prepare for torturing innocent tourists. This also sets up a great twist towards the end where the outcome is the opposite of what you’d expect from the various clients. The child gang even gets more development as we see why they are forced to engage in criminal activities. In addition, the ending is super satisfying as the main character beats the system at its own game.
And the winner is…
Final Destination 5 (2011)
This one was a really tough call. Of course, the first one is quite good, but FD2 and FD5 were on almost equal footing at the top. Both have the best initial freak accident, both have some of the most epic additional death sequences, and both have a really interesting plot point: FD2 being that the survivors of this event already cheated death once due to interference from the survivors of FD1 who didn’t die when they should have, and FD5 being that the survivors may be able to get Death off their tails if they take someone else’s life instead. Ultimately, FD5 took its twist and ran with it in a more fulfilling manner, even turning one of the survivors into a villain as he reached the point of being willing to murder a supposed friend to save himself. Plus, the ending is absolutely fantastic. There are two twists in a row that are both so well done, especially the initial twist which had my jaw on the floor.
Scariest Movie
Nominees
The Forever Purge (2021)
Of all the Purge movies, this is the one that has the most chaotic, dangerous scenes. One in particular has the main group mere blocks from the Mexican border, but the town has been overrun by both Forever Purgers and the military – making every step a risk and even causing the main group to become separated. Finally: the kind of intensity these all should have had!
Wrong Turn (2021)
The reason this one is the scariest of the series is because it has a more psychological aspect to it than the other WT movies. Whereas those ones are just senseless killers slaughtering people for the fun of it, this one features a fully cognitive group of individuals who use cunning and intimidation to lord over all intruders. Plus, there’s always an added layer of danger when there is a major dilemma that the characters face, and this story brought in such an interesting one. This one plays off the viewers having seen the other WT movies, so it is assumed the woodsfolk are dangerous … but when one of the main characters kills one of woodsfolk, there isn’t actually any proof at the time that they are violent. For a while, it seems like the hikers have brought the majority of the trouble on themselves, as they are captured by the Foundation and put on trial – only to learn that it was (supposedly) all a misunderstanding that they were now going to have to pay for. That, to me, was more terrifying than a creepy guy shooting someone with an arrow from behind. I’m a little disappointed that it turned out to be a lie, since the Foundation never let any intruders leave anyway, which goes against their reasoning in the trial. Still, the Foundation as a whole does such a great job at being scary, especially the ominous leader Venable (Bill Sage) and his daughter Edith (Daisy Head), and the final escape and confrontation are both intense.
Final Destination 5 (2011)
Again, this was a fairly close call between FD2 and FD5, but even after four other FD films, FD5 is the one that most had me thinking, “Oh no, I can only imagine how horribly this scenario can possibly go!” every time a character went anywhere. I mean, between gymnastics practice, acupuncture, and lasik, I was tense the entire time anticipating just how far Death would go. Seriously, I’ve never been so anxious about a small screw in my entire life.
And the winner is…
Hostel (2005)
It takes a while to actually get to the torture facility, but once we’re there it is pretty much nonstop fear and gore. Between Paxton’s (Jay Hernandez) nauseating escape route and the eye scene (*barf*), just to name a few, this movie definitely ranks highly on the disturbing scale. Yes, the other Hostel movies also have torture sequences, but they just never feel as gruesome as this one does.
Best Survivor Girl
Nominees
Laney (Betty Gabriel: The Purge: Election Year (2016)
While Senator Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) is the focus of Election Year, Laney is the one that impresses me the most. Every year she goes out into the streets of D.C. on the most dangerous night of the year and tends to the wounded. She never backs down or hesitates to protect anyone, even strangers, nor is she afraid to go on the offensive when necessary.
Kimberly (A.J. Cook): Final Destination 2 (2003)
As a whole, Kimberly was a tad on the generic side as far as survivors go, especially within the FD series. However, there are a few things about her that do make her stand out amongst the rest of her series. For one thing, she’s one of the only ones to successfully get Death to leave her alone, presumable for a peaceful and long life. All the other movies either ended with them dying anyway or always watching their backs for the next time Death swings back around through the remaining survivors. Kimberly is able to make the ultimate sacrifice of temporarily killing herself, with a plan to be revived and therefore break Death’s chain altogether. This in turn allows her to save not only her own life, but the one final survivor left in the order. She didn’t even know for certain it would work, but she risked her life anyway, and that’s really bold.
Beth (Lauren German): Hostel: Part II (2007)
I’ve always liked Lauren German as Chloe Decker in Lucifer, so it was fun seeing her as a survivor girl. While a bit naïve at the start … well, to be fair, she knew the boat ride was suspicious, but she totally let Axelle (Vera Jordanova) manipulate her without questioning her whatsoever … in the end, Beth beats the hostel organization at its own game by willingly becoming a client herself in order to survive. I’ve seen main characters become villains, and I’ve seen them fight their way to survival, but I’ve never quite seen a main character pay to murder someone in order to resolve their situation.
And the winner is…
Jennifer (Charlotte Vega): Wrong Turn (2021)
This one was a hard one to choose, because both Jennifer and Beth are incredible and both come out on top in different ways. Jennifer takes the steps few would be willing to, offering herself to wed Venable in order to save her own life as well as that of her boyfriend. She so convincingly appears to have been brainwashed by them by the time her father arrives, that I was legitimately fooled. Later, despite escaping, she makes the impossible choice to return to the Foundation in order to protect her family and unborn child. Then, while pregnant, she slaughters several trained warriors thanks to what she picked up during her time with the Foundation, including her “husband” and main tormentor. Get it, girl!
Worst Movie
Nominees
Hostel: Part III (2011)
First, the very idea of this movie doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The series is called Hostel because not only is it a reference to the term “hostile,” it also centers on a European hostel. So setting a movie in this series in Las Vegas instead, a place known for its extravagant hotels NOT hostels, doesn’t necessarily vibe with the series structure. Having said that, I did think they worked the Vegas aspect in nicely, especially the idea that the clients aren’t just the torturers but are also audience members who view the scenarios as if they were a show and vote on the outcomes. Otherwise, this movie firmly defined in my mind the difference between a twist and a psych-out. The twist, I liked and genuinely did not see coming. The first psych-out worked as well, since it plays off the established norms of the previous two movies to set an expectation, before turning it on its head. But then there were three more psych-out’s by the halfway mark of the film, and at that point I just felt like I was being deliberately lied to by the filmmaking and lost a lot of the enjoyment. It was the same issue I had with the multiple fake openings in Scream 4, just spread out a little more here. Still, it wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, and the horror was pretty intense.
The Purge (2013)
It’s not often that the first movie in the series is the worst one, but in this instance the original Purge movie has a lot of problems. So many people make such dumb decisions all throughout the film, there wasn’t a single person that I rooted for, and the villains were the most annoyingly fake-creepy of the whole series. Even the deaths became redundant as most of them follow the same exact structure.
Final Destination 3 (2006)
As much as I love Mary Elizabeth Winstead, there are just too many things that don’t make sense about this one. So, Death’s original plan was for the various students to die on the roller coaster. But somehow all the pictures foreshadow their actual deaths, even though the pictures were taken before they cheated death in the first place? What, does Death just have backup plan upon backup plan going into freak accidents or something? Then there’s the fact that Wendy (Winstead) didn’t notice that her sister Julie (Amanda Crew) was on the ride with her, nor did Julie bother to check in with Wendy while she was having a panic attack to make sure she was okay. Finally, at the very end, Wendy gets another vision of calamity, but it comes way too late for her to do anything about it, so what was the point of that? It might have worked better if some complete stranger started freaking out near them, spurring them to take action and begin the cycle one more time.
And the winner is…
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009)
There is just so much wrong with this movie. For one thing, the “good guys” have odd reactions to things. I mean, I know they don’t have much control over the situation, but they didn’t even say a word when Chavez (Tamer Hassan) decided to decapitate a literal child, while he was still alive. Are you serious?! Then we have Willy (Christian Conteras) who is established as an undercover cop who is just there to gain Chavez’s trust. And then he’s the first one to die, and Chavez never even finds out he was an undercover cop, nor did that play any role whatsoever in the rest of the movie. Why bother including it, then? Mixed into all of this is the bizarre frequency in which no matter who runs in what direction through the woods or how long they’ve been going, someone else will always, always catch up with them. It’s amazing multiple people even wind up going the same direction, much less reaching someone with a head start, and this happens like five different times. This goes right alongside the supernatural longevity of Three Finger (Borislav Iliev), which rivals that of Michael Myers. At one point he gets stabbed through the head, and he still comes back from that. Mind you, this series doesn’t particularly abide by those supernaturally unkillable rules otherwise, aside from the family in WT2 being a bit extra resilient–though by no means to this degree. Don’t even get me started on the twist ending. Why would Nate (Tom Frederic), the upstanding dude of the movie, go back to steal the money in the first place? Worse, why the heck is Brandon (Tom McKay) still there however much longer later when he should have been miles away by then? Even if he waited around, why kill the one man who gave him his freedom? What a mess.
Final Tally
Final Destination: Best Series, Best Slasher, Best Overall Movie
Wrong Turn: Best Survivor Girl, Worst Movie
Hostel: Scariest Movie
The Purge: None
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