"DEAD TEENAGERS" (2024) Is A Web Of Meta Horror Ambition (REVIEW)
Has Meta-Horror peaked? Between the deconstruction of the found footage genre, more on that another time, and hyper-awareness of tropes lathered on us by the two most recent Scream films it sure does seem that the book on meta-horror is written with no other editions being printed soon. It may not be just the horror genre, by the way, as the collective Marvel/DC cinematic universes have also bludgeoned us over the head with meta-verses and self-awareness to an almost nauseating degree. Much like any trend these days, the culture will chew it up and spit it out whilst lighting it on fire when it is done with it. This isn’t to say that meta-horror is going anywhere, but rather that it has reached a ceiling through which it will not grow for some time. Then again, there’s Quinn Armstrong’s third and final Fresh Hell Presents film, “Dead Teenagers” from Cranked Up Films. Is Armstrong here to save meta-horror, or is he here to drive a nail in its coffin?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Five teens must take agency over their demise in order to end the slasher they are playing out on their own terms.
HOW IS IT?
The third film in Armstrong’s “Fresh Hell” anthology trio is certainly the most ambitious. It can be lamented that the horror genre treads familiar ground far too often, but those same folks likely aren’t paying attention to the independent horror circuit which has been curating some truly interesting films, even if they don’t always stick their landings. “Dead Teenagers” is as meta as it gets for a slasher these days combining elements of the lo-fi indie sci-fi film “Coherence” with all the tropes of your classic slasher. What starts as confusing and playful turns into a subverting of expectations that may give genre purists some whiplash from swinging for the fences so much. In the end, the novel twists on conventions and genre commentary are captivating enough, even if the road the story takes to get there doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“Dead Teenagers” at its core is a meta-slasher that weaves in some marginal adjacency to the previous two films in Armstong’s anthology. It takes the idyllic group of teenagers doing teenage stuff at a remote location and then asks the question, what if the actors became self-aware of their participation in a horror film and how might that affect the outcome? As a thesis, it is a fascinating question that feels shockingly obvious despite feeling wholly original. It’s a credit to Armstrong’s commitment to integrate more socially-focused and human-centric stories into the horror genre (see our interview with Armstrong). To be clear, the commentary in “Dead Teenagers” isn’t as potent as it is in “The Exorcism of Saint Patrick” (review)or “Wolves Against The World” (review), but it still carries an undercurrent of empathy for the characters and their plight that makes them more than just fodder for the slaughter. Much of this rests on the strong performances from the cast of teens who all deliver compelling and believable interpretations that sell the high-concept well. No one stands out above the rest as they all have to walk a fine line playing their characters in different ways based on how the story contorts around them. Conceptually, “Dead Teenagers” offers up something new in the meta-horror space that feels right for the current moment we’re in, but it does leave some things to be desired.
Something that almost every meta-horror movie struggles with is straddling the line between believable critique and logical explanation. For meta-horror to work, the self-awareness has to make sense in the context of the story. In “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” we begin under the premise that Freddy is a fictional character and the actors who played characters are just regular people, and then introduce the meta elements of Freddy being as real as they are. In “Dead Teenagers”, the meta is part of the mystery as the story slow-drips information in a off-putting and confusing way. This is not to say that we don’t enjoy a bit of ambiguity with practiced patience, and up until the end of the 2nd act, it can feel like you’re going crazy from all the time jumps and lack of reasoning. Once it is revealed what is going on, and the solution to it, “Dead Teenagers” introduces yet another major pivot which veers the story in an even spacier direction, and not to its benefit. While the ideas are interesting, they also beckon for an explanation, especially when we are given flashing jump cuts from the other two films intercut throughout some of the hallucination scenes. Even the ending, which goes full-on with the deconstruction of the 4th wall feels less interesting than the idea that characters in a movie can control their fate. While it doesn’t work for us, that isn’t to say that credit isn’t warranted for the attempt at something different and certainly worth your time if you think the horror genre is running out of ideas.
LAST RITES
“Dead Teenagers” swings for the meta fences to mostly success by introducing a fantastic concept with fresh commentary on the slasher genre that is only marginally marred down by some logical loose ends. It is a fitting and ambitious conclusion to Armstrong’s trilogy, and we look forward to whatever he works on next!
THE GORY DETAILS
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Where can you watch it?
Dead Teenagers is out NOW in select theaters and on VOD!
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