Board 8 > Snake Ranks Anything Horror Related Vol. 6 *THE RANKINGS* (Extra Spooky Edition)

(+) Yeah! (+)

For me, the first four seasons are pretty impeccable and great seasons of horror television, which is not-so-coincidentally the Jessica Lange era, even if you can see the cracks forming in Freak Show. Asylum will probably forever be the peak for me: Lange's Sister Jude and Lily Rabe's Sister Mary are amazing characters and make the season worth watching alone. Not to mention I friggin' love asylums as horror settings, I think they're so creepy and filthy and combined with the horrible staff, that would just be a total nightmare to be in. In retrospect, I think you're right that it does go off the rails more than I realized back then (I was only 17 and far less critical) but to me it's still the perfect combo of genuine horror mixed with campy fun (I will forever love The Name Game sequence). Hotel was really bad and to this day I have not seen it through to the end despite some attempts. Roanoke is another great season, my second favorite actually, since the structure of it is creative and it has some of the scariest sequences in the whole show. I also enjoyed the 80s season because I too like that setting and I love slasher movies.

Now you haven't mentioned Apocalypse but that's even worse than Cult, STEER CLEAR it is one of the most convoluted messes of a plot I have seen in a TV show.

I haven't watched the latest season yet, Double Feature, waiting for my mom and brother.

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Nominated Cult because it was the one I was watching at the time and it immediately struck me as something that could be so bad it's good, like there was a lot of intentional camp at first. But then it started taking the camp seriously and by the end I had no idea what it was going for

overall I'd say
Murder House > Asylum > Freak Show > Hotel >>>>> Coven >>>>> Cult = Roanoke

I know Snake thinks very highly of Roanoke but it was literally the only season I'd consider boring. It had its moments but they were few and far between, and Sarah Paulson gave by far her worst performance of the series imo. As dumb as Cult was (and it was very dumb) at least it wasn't boring.

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Oh, interesting! Roanoke is one that's definitely on my list to check out but its interesting you guys have it on the opposite ends of the spectrum. I'll probably skip Cult (and maybe Apocalypse) entirely.

For me:
Legitimately great horror shows
Murder House
1984

(ymmv on 1984 but like Snake I love slasher flicks and 1980's slasher flicks in particular so it scratched a particular itch for me. There was some dumb stuff sure but it was a fantastic homage to the genre and there was a bunch of fun things I just liked a lot)

Fun, but not as horror focused as I would like
Coven

Some great episodes and scenes, but messy overall and not as focused as I'd like
Asylum
Freak Show

Terrible and made me quit the show for like four years
Hotel

I haven't finished Hotel or Freak Show so I suppose those could be better than I'm given them credit for. Freak Show just had some really boring episodes in the middle and I lost interest even though I meant to go back. Hotel I had no interest in continuing at all, but maybe I should at least give it more of a chance.

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Freak Show I enjoyed a lot almost solely for its villains. Twisty the Clown was great (but short lived) and Dandy was one of my favorite characters from any season

Hotel I would consider a messy season, but its highs really carried it for me (and I do think it got better as it went on)

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Yeah, I loved Twisty the Clown and my interest waned as soon as that story arc was over.

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Last one I watched was Roanoke

Asylum > Roanoke > Coven > Murder House > Freak Show, yea I missed out on Hotel and came back for Roanoke for whatever reason. I definitely think AHS' biggest problem is they run out of steam towards the end, so hearing about Double Feature seems like it miiiiight fix some of their problems? I dunno though

Oh and even though Freak Show is last I still enjoyed it for the most part

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oh btw Snake, I didn't even realize The Silver Scream 2 released last week, I thought it was coming on the 29th for peak Halloween vibes. Have you gotten around to it yet? I've been going through new music tonight (the new Every Time I Die is immaculate) and put it on, been enjoyable so far!

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I absolutely loved 1984, but I'm very partial to 80s camp settings.

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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

oh btw Snake, I didn't even realize The Silver Scream 2 released last week, I thought it was coming on the 29th for peak Halloween vibes. Have you gotten around to it yet? I've been going through new music tonight (the new Every Time I Die is immaculate) and put it on, been enjoyable so far!

I sure did! I listened to it the night it came out and it was friggin' amazing (though funny it came out the same night as a new Miranda Lambert song too, another favorite artist of mine)! I wasn't prepared for how deathcore it was going to sound but it made the tracks that much more intense. I still need to give it a few more plays though. My initial faves besides the singles are Take Your Pick and Ex-Mortis, those two are really fun and the Corpsegrinder feature on the former was a great choice.

Oh and I definitely gotta check out the new ETiD.

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113. The Well (Part 3) - The Ring soundtrack (12.5 points)
Nominated by: jcgamer107 (4/5 remaining)
https://youtu.be/6Lt5ZG7OttII

Importance: 1
Fear: 3.5
Snake: 8

The Well Part 3 captures the pure melancholia of Samara's lingering spirit and the conflicting feelings of suffering and horror Samara's final moments entail, both regarding her own point of view and that of an outsider, like us, the viewer. It's a rather simple but effective composition, comprised only of piano, violin, and dual cello work, but arranged brilliantly to be a thoughtful reminiscence on the entirety of the film. There's also a music box motif midway through, representing Samara's childhood so cruelly taken away from her. It's the kind of score that makes you pause in place, and just sit and think for awhile. It was composed by Hans Zimmer, not typically known for horror film scores, and in fact this was his second pure horror score after the film Hannibal. I think Zimmer captured the mood and tone of the film quite well, and this is a great little piece of horror music I'm happy to be acquainted with.


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112. Franken Fran (manga) (12.5 points)
Nominated by: Raka_Putra (4/5 remaining)
https://imgur.com/a/MywYTJ0

Importance: 2
Fear: 4.5
Snake: 6

Franken Fran is a comedy-horror manga starring the titular character of Fran Madaraki, a Frankenstein's monster type of creation with bolts on her head and stiches giving her a distinctly inhuman appearance. The manga is mainly compromised of self-contained stories for each chapter, and combines body horror with Tales from the Crypt twists of black humor and ironic ends. Fran is quite the cute protagonist, and her aloof and carefree attitude does wonders in helping downplay the more disturbing parts of the series. Despite this, Fran is an incredible doctor, surgeon, and scientist, with an analytical mind with others' best interests in mind. She's able to grow extra arms to perform surgery faster and she can even detach her head and still work! Besides the obvious Frankenstein inspiration, there's also a slant of Dr. Moreau, as Fran surrounds herself with her father's experiments of animal-human hybrids, the most prominent being Okita, a cat with a human head. One of my personal favorite chapters was "Cockroaches", in which Fran attempts to create a solution to kill cockroaches on a genetic level. A pharmaceutical company with a director who is OCD about cleanliness comes to investigate Fran's progress, and you can immediately guess where it goes, but with a twist as it turns out the cockroaches have become genetically advanced with a hive mind and demand the instigator of their extermination be punished for their crimes (that would be the director). It strikes the perfect balance between comedy and horror, as the director's panicked reactions are priceless, but there's also great panels that show the director being eaten alive with sickening detail. And that's really the thesis of the entire manga right there. It's a fun read if you like body horror that doesn't take itself seriously, which is refreshing for a horror subgenre that's typically pretty extreme. I wouldn't say I fell in love with it personally, but I absolutely enjoyed what I read regardless.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

113. The Well (Part 3) - The Ring soundtrack (12.5 points)

Well put, it's definitely a reflective track, and perfect for the rainy, dreary look of the film. Han Zimmer's score is one of the best additions to the remake, and has more emotional depth and connected motifs than your average big-budget horror movie score, which is often treated as an afterthought.

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There's actually a sequel now (Franken Fran Frantic), but I haven't been keeping up with it.

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Oh yes actually when I first started reading it I actually discovered that it was Frantic I was reading and not the original, whoops! I read up to through the Battle Royale arc before realizing. The Pokemon parody they did in the second chapter was amazing though!

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I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's one of my favorite manga and Fran being so adorable and pure-hearted (even with her slightly off moral compass...) is a big part of it.
Another thing about the manga that I appreciate is that it parodies or pay homage to many different works and genres, including horror classics, or gives its own twist to them.
And a chapter I really like is chapter 39, where theme park mascots are actually bioengineered monstrosities and for some reason they're going feral and start attacking the guests - who, in turn, become more mascots. It's like Five Night at Freddy's on crack.


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I appreciated that quite a bit too!

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111. Big Boos Haunt (Super Mario 64 level) (13 points)
Nominated by: wallmasterz (3/5 remaining)


Importance: 3.5
Fear: 3.5
Snake: 6

In recent years, Super Mario 64 has garnered this unexpected reputation for being a "horror game". The Super Mario 64 iceberg and "every copy of SM64 is personalized" contributed heavily to this, and I like how games can become folkloric entities like this and become transformed in their meaning as time goes on. Around this same time, I feel the concept of liminality and transitional spaces was starting to take hold on the internet, capturing mine and a lot of other's attentions for their ubiquitous nature and relatable nostalgia with a sense of dread and melancholy. Games from the late 90s, at the dawn of 3D graphics, now exist in a state where they give off this feeling of transition, due to their sparse environments and detail forcing the use of imagination to a greater degree. Dropping into the level, you're greeted by this foreboding wall of endless wooden planks, and greeted to "come on in". The camera positioning makes the scale seem massive. Upon entering, however, things are unsettlingly empty. The following rooms don't offer much comfort either, with strange geometries and bottomless pit beckoning you to your doom. If you had played Resident Evil earlier in the year this came out, you would absolutely be getting flashbacks, especially as you enter and see various doors on either side. There's even some slight influence of a fixed camera angle in certain rooms which is interesting. Despite all this doom and gloom, the level is rather playful in its hauntings however, more of a fun house than zombie infested hellhole. Boos are pretty easy to defeat, even the King himself, but other elements like the floating eyeballs and famous mad piano do add a bit of surrealness to the proceedings. The music also adds quite a bit to the atmosphere as you would expect. Sure, this may be horror at a distance, but it's still a fantastic use of the genre that kids will love and get spooked by while appreciating its subtleties years later.

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Yeah I think the creepypasta stuff for the game is a little overboard but that stage is still creepy and really good. That piano...

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110. Spencer Mansion West Storeroom save room (Resident Evil) (13.5 points)
Nominated by: Cavedweller2000 (4/5 remaining)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUamgwGKrLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSdJdMI-O08

Importance: 2.5
Fear: 1
Snake: 10

What? Oh... Oh noooooooooo!

Has any introduction set the stage for a room more than Rebecca's over-eager shock at spraying STARS Alpha Team member Chris Redfield in the face? The West Saveroom, nestled under a dark staircase deep in the heart of Spencer Mansion, is perhaps the epitome of coziness. Way back in 1996, if you started as Chris Redfield, this would've been the first ever Save Room you'd ever lay eyes on. Rebecca's rude introduction aside, the sparse room with one simple bed, item box, and typewriter, laid the perfect groundwork for RE's horror rhythms for sequels and spin-offs to come. Here was a place of respite, the proverbial eye of the hurricane away from the shambling corpses and rabid dogs that roamed the over-extravagant halls of Spencer Mansion. The absolutely amazing songs of "The One Who Survives" and the save room theme "Peace of Mind" gave the room added character - melancholy but soft and reflective tracks that set aside looming dread for glimmers of hope and determination to see this investigation through to the end. This room was featured in both the OG and remakes, with the remake version being obviously more detailed, filling in the gaps you probably thought you always saw anyway. I do prefer the remake version, because I feel it better tells a story and the natural lighting from actual sources feels more realistic and inviting where the original feels a little too cold to me. It's one of the most used save rooms canonically as well - Richard recovers on the bed watched over by Rebecca, while Jill will end up saved by Barry and laid out on the bed to recover from her poison. Even the characters know - if the horrors of the outside halls become to much for your sanity to bear, there's always a place for you to take a deep breath, restock your inventory, save your game, and rest easy knowing no enemies will ever get you in there.


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109. David Pumpkins - SNL character (13.5 points)
Nominated by: Suprak the Stud (4/5 remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS00xWnqwvI

Importance: 4.5
Fear: 1
Snake: 8

I don't count myself as one of the biggest SNL fans around, but every so often they have a skit like this that even brings in a naysayer like me into the equation. David S. Pumpkins, played by the irreplaceable Tom Hanks, flanked on either side by two skeleton compatriots, has become an unlikely Halloween icon. Sometimes the stupidest and simplest of concepts can really be the most memorable. I mean what is this skit really besides some cheap Party City costumes and a few catchphrases? But, I love it and many others did too. Tom Hanks' charisma is absolutely magnetic here, and Mikey Day & Bobby Moynihan who portray the skeletons add a lot to the magic too. The comedic timing is excellent. I almost love Beck Bennett and Kate McKinnon's befuddled reactions more so than I do Pumpkins. I can sit here and repeat the catchphrases of the skit but it truly speaks for itself.

It has been discussed that the skit's release date, in October 22, 2016, right before one of the most contentious elections of the US, contributed a lot to people getting attached to the character. SNL is a highly political show, and to have such a decidedly NON-political sketch gave a sense of comfort and fun to an otherwise highly tense time for the country. I'm not some political expert by any means, in fact I care very little for politics in general, but nevertheless horror has always been a political genre and even something as goofy as this feels deliberate in the way it downplays and straight up ignores the national news. It helps remind me that Halloween, as scary and dark as is often associated, is primarily a celebration, and a character like David S. Pumpkins, tacky suit and all, keeps the fun and joyous parts of Halloween alive in the face of all fear and danger.

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Its funny because whenever I show someone the David Pumpkins sketch, the reaction is either oh I love this or I dont get it so Im glad it was the former here. Its strange though because Ive sent this to people and have them go what the hell is this only for them to bring it up a year later as their favorite thing. I have no idea why but thats happened three different times now.

Surprised this ranked as high as it did though because I assumed fear and importance would both be one. Good write up!

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Thanks! Pumpkins remains a decently popular Halloween character and even got his own animated spin-off short so I figured he deserves a little higher in importance. I'm actually surprised he's not the kind of character brought out and milked more, but I guess it must be hard to get Tom Hanks around a lot I suppose.

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never thought this character would have the sticking character he did, but I'm glad it ended up being the case. The sketch is just the kind of dumb that makes it hard to not rewatch several times over

Also I miss Bobby Moynihan

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108. Tremors (Series) (13.5 points)
Nominated by: FFDragon (3/5 remaining)


Importance: 5
Fear: 3.5
Snake: 5

Of all horror franchises, Tremor was the least likely to become such a long running series, and yet it defied all odds. The Tremors sequels are surprisingly decently liked for low-budget, direct-to-video schlock. The first one is a near impeccable 90s monster movie, complete with awesome special effects, Western-tinged horror, memorable acting, Kevin Bacon and Reba McEntire, hilarious moments, and a cool, small town atmosphere. It was a film that never took itself too seriously but still had stakes, that's for the best, and that's all I needed. The sequels never really interested me however. They all star Michael Gross as his character Burt Gummer from the original; I have to hand it to him, as his over-the-top hammy redneck acting fits in perfectly for the tone of the sequels. He acts complete circles around the rest of the cast though, and it's noticeable. I'm just going to say it, Gross is too good for these films yet if he weren't him there they definitely would not keep getting made or be half as good as they are. For action films with the lightest horror you can imagine, there's worse ways to pass the time. I really always hate the aesthetic these direct-to-video films carry though. Every Tremors poster looks worse and more photoshopped than the last. The directors always have films like Sniper Shooter 6 and Death Race 17: Blood Vengeance on their resumes. Everything about it feels cheap and soulless, which is the true reason these sequels do nothing for me. I like goofy and stupid horror at times, but for Tremors, I'll just stick to the original, thanks.

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What is that... crab-shark-snail-beetle in the back? Reminds me of some of the sillier Power Rangers villains.

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I'll admit that Tremors is not good (except for the first one and I will fight anyone on that) but they are such a guilty pleasure for me. And the fact that this dumb movie spawned one of the most voluminous horror series out there blows my mind.

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Also one of their creatures is named the Ass Blaster. Amazing.

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That poster is amazing.

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I don't know who the woman in that poster is but I'm in love with her


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lmao I just remembered dean norris is a main character on that tv show

god talk about a series that punched way above its weight class

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I rather love the original Tremors, and now this talk is making me wonder if I should check out the sequels.

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Yeah, the Tremor movies are a super guilty pleasure of mine. They used to come on USA frequently around Halloween time and they were always appointment viewing for me and my sisters. I didn't even know they made a series though, so that's something I have to check out. I know even the movies weren't "great" but I didn't care. They were a ton of fun and super charming.

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107. The Nowhere King (Centaurworld villain) (13.5 points)
Nominated by: PrinceKaro (1/2 remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEGbIpD6wNo

Importance: 2
Fear: 5.5
Snake: 6

Centaurworld is an animated series that, like a lot of modern series do, place darkness and despair all around the edges of the joyous visage. Series like this reflect our times perfectly, as people, governments, and companies put up these fronts, pretending everything is fine all the while there is suffering and sadness all around us. The Nowhere King is a personification of these thoughts, sealed away long ago and only now is his evil returning to the forefront once again. His design reflects pure toxicity and corruption, with the rot and tar of the King's slinky body covering all it touches like liquid hatred. Horror is built on mystery; hooves, fur-like body, and a skull visage all give clues that Nowhere King was once a centaur like the rest of Centaurworld. It opens up thoughts such as, what could've happened to the King that turned him into this monstrosity? The Nowhere King works so well because of how he clashes with the show's art style and his pure ebony blackness covering the screen is an effective use of horror, emphasizing the importance of color in any production, animated or not. What I like most of all though, is that yes, though this darkness exists, it CAN still be overcame if confronted head on. All hope doesn't have to be lost, but acknowledging that darkness is there is an important part of that. Centaurworld still has plenty of narrative to tell, but already, the Nowhere King joins a long lineage of cartoon villains notorious for their fear, designs, and ability to tell dark and relevant stories even in the context of "just" being a kid's show.

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106. Fiona Belli (Haunting Ground) (14 points)
Nominated by: FFDragon (2/5 remaining)


Importance: 3
Fear: 1
Snake: 10

Haunting Ground is a deeply tragic piece of survival horror video game storytelling, but through the eyes Fiona, we get to see first-hand all aspects of what makes it so. Her parents are killed in a car crash when she was only 18 at the start of the game, already deeply traumatizing the poor young woman. But it's the way she grows stronger as a person through the game that makes her one of my favorite protagonists. She is smart and resourceful, and though she shows great, understandable fear, it's never out of cowardice but out of pure survival instincts as she learns to draw from her own power to fight back despite her lack of physical strength. Fiona loves animals, as shown not only through her connection to Hewie, but out of the way she shows disgust over a tiger rug in the castle. Her kind-heartedness is constantly challenged and corrupted throughout the events of the game, as Fiona is subjected to psycho-sexual terror, body horror, challenge of her very identity, and a world of dark magical fantasy she is thrust into unwittingly. Sexuality and identity are the biggest two factors in defining Fiona's character growth: Fiona is chased by a literal stalker, voyeuristically spied upon through paintings, challenged by Daniella, Fiona's foil who struggles with her own image and lack of pleasure sensations. Fiona's outfit is even given to her by Daniella, purposely revealing and the opposite of Fiona's little seen but modest fashion sense. These taboo scenarios push both the player's and Fiona's sanity to their breaking points, but Fiona learns and adapts to the alchemy surrounding the castle and leaves her fears behind. This also ties in to identity: Fiona encounters homunculi, Fiona's own possible origins, these artificial humans grown through alchemy with no will of their own, close to humans in appearance but having a deeply unsettling and uncanny factor. To confront your own humanity like this puts you even firmer into Fiona's boots as it's a relatable situation. That's why I love having Hewie with you: Fiona's aforementioned affinity for animals is a decidedly human connection and demonstrates Fiona as her own woman, refusing to give in to the demands of her captors and never losing what makes her Fiona. Fiona's character is an excellent meditation on trauma, how it affects us, and ultimately how we can overcome it and come out stronger for it in the end.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

111. Big Boos Haunt (Super Mario 64 level) (13 points)
Nominated by: wallmasterz (3/5 remaining)

I enjoyed reading this. For me, Super Mario 64 is one of the most nostalgic games

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Snake5555555555 posted...

107. The Nowhere King (Centaurworld villain)

Huge Adventure Time vibes from this guy. The Lich was one of the best parts of that show

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I'm going to be out before the top 100 but I got a Snake 10 which is more important

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Now that I'm an actually an organized and prepared project runner with a spreadsheet, I should do a small end ranking where I rank everything by just the Snake score and see how things would've changed.

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I need a Clock Tower 3/Haunting Ground/Rule of Rose remastered collection.

...I don't think they were made by the same developer, but still!

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I think Sunsoft owns the rights to Clock Tower, but CT3 and Haunting Ground were both developed by Capcom and are technically both CT games so that at least could work I think! Rule of Rose is Sony owned, but there's potential that a small indie company called Onion Games is remastering it for Nintendo Switch. That would be absolutely incredible either way though.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

Haunting Ground were both developed by Capcom

It's no coincidence that RE5 Jill looks strikingly close to Fiona.

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Oh yes I'm well aware of that fact! That still weirds me out to this day.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

I think Sunsoft owns the rights to Clock Tower, but CT3 and Haunting Ground were both developed by Capcom and are technically both CT games so that at least could work I think! Rule of Rose is Sony owned, but there's potential that a small indie company called Onion Games is remastering it for Nintendo Switch. That would be absolutely incredible either way though.

Nice! And I didn't know about that last part in particular. That would be great.

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105. Grace Le Domas (Ready or Not) (14 points)
Nominated by: MetalmindStats (3/5 remaining)


Importance: 4
Fear: 2
Snake: 8

Grace isn't entirely an original character, so to speak. She comes from a long and storied lineage of tough, tenacious, and resourceful female horror protagonists, from Annabelle West in The Cat and the Canary, to Ellen Ripley in Alien, to Erin in You're Next. I say this not to take away from Samara Weaving's brilliantly funny and spunky, later unhinged, dynamic performance, but to recognize just how powerful a character like Grace is for millions of horror fans, especially in the female demographic, and she stands as a feminist figure in the context of modern times and in the annals of horror history for years to come. Grace is by all accounts an outcast, a misfit, and a rebel. She's a foster child without a true home or family to call her own, and she thinks she found her tribe with the Le Domas, or at the least, with one of their offspring, Alex. You can already tell from the onset that Grace has very little in common with the snobby and unpleasant family, but they are willing to accept her nonetheless. There's just the one little problem of the "family ritual" - a deal with Le Bail (it's the devil), where a game must be drawn and played in order to officially join the family. The game in question - "hide and seek"; sounds innocent but it becomes a game of life or death as the Le Domas are forced to kill Grace before sunrise or risk the death of their death family. Over the course of the night, Grace is transformed into a true survivor, subverting the odds, fighting through fear, and making a lot of fumbles and mistakes along the way. Grace never feels phony in the role, she's truly a normal woman doing her best in a horrible situation she didn't ask for. Grace's feelings, especially in how she views her new husband Alex and his seeming betrayal, represents a lot of fears that joining a new family brings, and the uncomfortable anxiety and lingering feeling that your newly found partner isn't all he or she says they are all the while committing to what is meant to be a life-long relationship. Hey, it's even as Grace herself says at the end -"in-laws", all covered in blood and manically laughing to herself, a mix of pure relief and genuine shock. Family isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes. It's tragic, when all one wants is a place to belong, and things don't end up going the way they want. Horror is a genre about both disempowering and empowering oneself to challenge the obstacles of life, and no character walks the line as much as Grace Le Domas, whose story remains relatable for all-would be brides out there about the take the plunge into extended family life, whose strength remains a source of inspiration, and whose ultimate heartbreak reminds us just how hard it is to find someone who understands and accepts us for who we are.

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104. Hotel Transylvania (film series) (14 points)
Nominated by: Xeybozn (4/5 remaining)


Importance: 6
Fear: 2
Snake: 6

Hotel Transylvania, as a franchise, is a totally unlikely hit for me. Adam Sandler-led, you'd think this would be a soulless cash grab at best, or a total Trolls shit-fest at worst. But no, it actually lends a lot of credence to the classic Universal monsters of old, and prominently updates them cleverly into modern times that I think would do wonders into hooking kids into these great old horror classics. The cinematography invokes the classic aesthetic through clever shadow play, and the original scores invoke the powerful music accompaniment these monsters are associated with. I think the concept is a little odd - a hotel for monsters and non-humans, but monsters being persecuted by the humans and having a place for rest and relaxation I guess is a compelling enough hook. I'm never a fan of the big pop music dancer numbers in these films though, and the scripts are predictable as you would expect, all the messages about family and belonging that are in many modern animated films and are important to instill in young audiences. However, this is primarily where my demographic doesn't jive with the intent of these films, and I understand that fine, I still enjoy these films for what they are. My greatest compliment for the series is Genndy Tartakovsky certainly knows his way around children's entertainment, and it's another notch in his respectful and storied career as an animator. A new film is just around the corner, lacking the series lead Adam Sandler, but I'm sure it will be just as successful as the previous entries in the franchise.

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I've seen the first two. I am not in a hurry to watch the rest of the series, but yeah they were enjoyable for what they are.

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103. Fear Street (Book series) (14 points)
Nominated by: RaidenGarai (3/5 remaining)
https://imgur.com/a/6CYN6Wz

Importance: 5
Fear: 4
Snake: 5

...Or Goosebumps for a slightly older tween audience. Even though I read plenty of Goosebumps as a kid, I don't think I ever read any Fear Street. Not for lack of interest, I just never came across any at book fairs or the classroom libraries, which I think speaks volumes at the real trashy influence of this series. Fear Street is not a classy series, but for their audience target, it makes sense. The whole series takes place in the shared universe of Shadyside, but presented in anthology-level format, with occasionally recurring characters. Shadyside, specifically the titular "Fear Street", is a cursed town full of paranormal activity and a disturbingly high amount of murders. Like a lot of B-tier slasher films, the books thematically deal with promiscuous romance, rich bullies, teenage pranks, bad babysitters, and weekend getaways. It's all very surface level providing the perfect framing for the gruesome (for a teen series) horror and gore Stine writes. I think my favorite part of the series are the covers usually accompanied by some absolutely awful puns even the Crypt-Keeper would scoff at, like "The perfect tan... or the perfect murder?" & "In this hospital people are dying - to get out!", but as a fan of bad puns I approve whole-heartedly (but after this bad break-up... I'll be left half-hearted")! In all seriousness, I do think the covers have a fantastic aesthetic, beautifully rendered snapshots of dark suburbia, of boys looking through girls' windows, cheerleaders among graveyards, stalkers looming just out of eyesight, and wispy, chilly woodsy walks under the pale moonlight. Stine's prose is not high-literature, but to capture the attention of tens of millions of teens across the country with these small vignettes of relatable teen angst and anxieties is something to be applauded and celebrated, and the series still lives on today with the release of a successful Netflix film trilogy, perhaps opening the doors for an even stronger influence to come.

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Does Fear Street have some bonkers stories too? I really enjoyed the more mind-warping, Twilight Zone-ish Goosebumps books.

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Now I haven't read every book in the series but while some do have twist endings the stories are mostly straight-forward.

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Ah, thanks. That's a shame. But then again that means I don't have to hunt them down.

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