𝐍𝐎 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐈𝐄 ⁻ ˢᶜʳᵉᵃᵐ ⁵

8 - how to unintentionally shock your father

"Hang on, who's Stu Macher?" Liv was a little bit slow.

"Billy Loomis' accomplice," Dad explained, "a real...loonytoon."

"Okay, okay," Sam straightened up, "so the first three attacks are all on people related to the original killers."

My eyes widened with an unexpected realization; "Oh my God, they're making a requel," Mindy's voice and my own said the same exact thing with the same exact delivery.

"A what?" Sam asked, and Mindy and I exchanged a sigh before she went on.

"Or, uh, like a sequel, fans are torn on the terminology." Mindy didn't exactly explain yet, but I knew she was getting there.

"Okay, Mindy, can you please speak English?" Chad asked.

"Okay," she was oddly adorable with all of this, "remember the Stab movie that came out last year?"

"Oh yeah!" Liv pointed in Mindy's direction. "The one the Knives Out guy directed, right? You know, I actually really liked that one."

Usually, I found Liv annoying, but just because she deserved a couple of brownie points right now, I gave her a non-sarcastic thumbs up, and Brielle gave her a pat on the back.

"Of course you did, you have terrible taste." Mindy wasn't just talking about Liv's taste in movies, but Liv's taste in men and women as well.

"I hate you." Liv stated pointedly, and I pressed my lips together.

"The point is the hardcore Stab fans hated it. They go on 4Chan, and Reddit, all they're talking about is how Stab 8 pissed on their childhoods. How they crammed in social commentary just to make it elevated, how the main character is a Mary Sue!"

You don't understand, I could listen to Mindy rant about horror movies for forever.

"What's a Mary Sue?" Richie asked, like the stupid sort of manchild he is.

"You really don't wanna know," Brielle, Laina, and Wes said all of that in sync for a very clear reason to anybody who knew Mindy.

"What's wrong with elevated horror?" Amber finally spoke up again. "I mean, Jordan Peele fucking rules."

"Uh, obviously, but that's not Stab. Real Stab movies are meta-slasher whodunnits, full stock!" Mindy was very passionate about all of this, I was waiting to pitch in when need-be.

"Come on, it's just a movie!" Sam argued, clearly missing the point.

"No it's not," Mindy shook her head. "To some people the original is their favorite thing in the world-the movie that made them love horror! That mom or dad showed them when they were ten that bonded them together. And God help anyone who slightly fucks with that special memory, who makes a movie that they think disrespects it." The brunette stood up slowly. "It sounds like our killer is writing his-their own version of Stab 8, but doing it as a requel!"

"Which is?" Dad asked for more clarification, which was entirely understandable.

"See," she clasped her hands together, "you can't just reboot a franchise from scratch anymore, the fans won't stand for it. Black Christmas, Child's Play, Flatliners, that shit doesn't work! But you can't just do a straight sequel either, uh, you gotta build something new-but not too new, or else the internet goes bug-fucking-nuts. It's got to be a part of an ongoing storyline, even if the story shouldn't have been ongoing in the first place. New main characters, yes, but supported by and related to legacy characters."