Horror movies have long relied on a familiar formula: a woman unwittingly finds herself in an isolated environment filled with satanist cult members who want to kill her to fulfill a Faustian blood pact. She must escape their clutches, often using winking humor and clever violence. While this formula has been a staple of the genre, it's now wearing thin, as evidenced by the recent releases of "Ready or Not 2: Here I Come" and "They Will Kill You."
These films are so remarkably similar in tone, style, and theme that they read like parodies of each other. The characters' fates are predestined by cat-and-mouse conventions, and there are no big surprises when watching the parts come together. The formula still entertains, but its bite has been blunted by the weight of copycats that came after the first installment.
The issue is that these films offer nothing new while building on an already rickety pile of haphazard horror rip-offs. It's far worse for a film to posture like it knows some grand truth or pretend that it's saying something bold when it's not. Instead, a horror film should admit that all it wants to be is fun.
However, there is some innovation to be found in "Pretty Lethal," Vicky Jewson's Prime Video original. While it still focuses on a damsel in distress, it bucks conventions by focusing on a troupe of ballerinas led by a former "Dance Moms" alum. The film is filled with absurdity and demands to be seen to be believed.
The more films like this we get, the less effective they are. We know the world is run by a cabal made up of the rich and powerful. The mask is off. The shock is stock. Millions of people voted to see these shadowy figures' ugly mugs on the news every single day. We've already been forced to figure out how to fight back, just to make each day bearable. Watching it play out all over again on screen is starting to feel less like a movie and more like a never-ending reality show.
