There are a variety of essential scholastic books out there about the classic horror films of yesteryear, covering nearly every decade. However, there isn’t much out there when it comes to a decade that many horror fans wish they could forget: the 1990s. Whether it be the regurgitation or reinvention of the tropes of previous decades, the mainstreaming of the genre, or all of the relentless connections to the pop culture of the time, the horror films of the 1990s aren’t particularly loved by those who didn’t grow up with them. But I did grow up with them, and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into an analytical text featuring all of the (usually mediocre) flicks of my adolescence: The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle: Final Girls and a New Hollywood Formula by Alexandra West, published by McFarland (McFarlandBooks.com). The cover of West’s text features the wonderfully derivative poster art for Urban Legend, which is so generically similar to the more popular one-sheets of the time that it could almost be mistaken for a satirical work of art created for the book. But that was the 90s, right? There was Scream, and then there was everything else that tried to borrow from Scream. read more
