Spooky Season Ranked (2022)

Labels, man. I know a little something about how powerful labels can be. You see, I was the kind of kid who didn't fit in a neat little box. Who wasn't easy to categorize. Who didn't conform to society's expectations, and thus, became a target for labels.

To the adults around me, I was a puzzle to solve. A conundrum. A kid with some manner of behavioral disorder that needed to be diagnosed and fixed. A kid who may or may not be gifted, and possibly needed to be advanced a grade or shoved into some special program. A socially awkward kid who doesn't play well with others and would rather be off alone, in a corner, reading a book or something. If only I would just act normally. Behave the way I was supposed to.

To other kids, I was known as things like loser, faggot, weirdo, freak, dork, nerd, psycho, and all manner of other playground epithets. And here's the curious thing about labels. It turns out that if you get labeled a thing for long enough, the label can become who you are. And, sure enough, I started to lose any sense of who I was as a person, as I bounced from one therapist to another. I started to lose my own personal identity and melt into an amalgamation of labels that had been applied to me. Everything that I was, began to fade away. To become submerged.

I am whatever you say I am. If I wasn't, then why would you say I am?
- Eminem

I had to spend a lot of time working on myself, attempting to put the pieces back together. Discover just who I really am, outside of all the labels people had stuck on me. I had to shake all of that off. Shut the world out for a while and turn inward, rummaging around in dark corners of my mind, looking for answers. Trying to find myself somewhere in there. Find out who I really am. And I did. I made it back from the precipice. But here's the thing. I very nearly didn't. I came awfully close to going down some dark path. I could have poured fuel on the fire raging within my soul and become a seething creature of hatred and rage. I could have been a Corey Cunningham. It would have been the easier path to take, to be honest.

And all of that might help you to understand why I really hate the disease that has taken hold of our society. The way we so casually fling around judgement on the internet. The way we are so quick to slap labels on people we've never even met face-to-face. The way we resort to some social media form of mob justice and condemn individuals based on a joke they made on Twitter once, or because they expressed the wrong political opinions. The way we other people, convincing ourselves that they deserve to be fired from their jobs, kicked off of social media platforms, exiled from polite society. No hope for redemption or forgiveness. One mistake and you're forever branded with a scarlet letter. Shunned and shamed.

Well, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Hurt people hurt people. Every single person out there, with hatred in their hearts, who lashes out at the world around them, likely ended up that way for a reason. They've likely suffered abuses and traumas you aren't aware of. And I don't think slapping labels on them, or exiling them, is going to fix that. It's likely to make it worse, no? To pour fuel on the fire. To amplify the rage that burns inside them until it reaches critical mass and explodes, creating casualties and collateral damage in the process.

You can't fight hatred with hatred, is what I'm saying. It won't work, chief.

We always like to think of evil being some external force that we need to guard ourselves against. We never see the seed of evil within ourselves, that can be so easily nurtured and allowed to grow. To gradually infect our souls, eventually consuming us. It's in each and every one of us, whether you're aware of it or not.

Anyway, whatever with all of that shit. I'm just ranting into the void. I doubt anyone cares what I have to say about any of that nonsense. So, let's talk about the movie a little, shall we?

You see, I actually liked this. Oh, perhaps not as much as Kills, but I apparently liked it more than most people on here. And I get it. I really do. I understand why people would hate this. It's one of those films that zigs when you want it to zag. It defies your expectations. Goes against the grain of what you wanted in a sequel. It's like Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, which I have actually come around to liking over the years. It's not the comfortable and familiar Halloween film you were probably hoping for. It dares to show you something you haven't seen. To twist old ideas. To repurpose them.

***** Spoilers Ahead *****

I mean, I certainly understand not wanting to see Michael as this broken down thing haunting the sewers. Or to be so easily dispatched in the climactic battle. I understand. I want Michael to live forever, happily slaughtering the townsfolk of Haddonfield. But all things come to an end. Michael is a tired old wreck because this franchise is a tired old wreck. The fears of 1978 don't really hold up in 2022. This shit was coming apart at the seams, held together by nothing but nostalgia and fandom. But I get not wanting to let go of Michael. I get not wanting it to end like this. I get not wanting to see your stabby pal done dirty.

But I also still kind of loved this, so fuck it. *shrugs*

#TeamCorey

And, to all of you out there, hurt and alone. The misfits and weirdos of the world. I love all of you.

Watched with Jozlyn