If you’re in my age group and a female then there are high chances that you were into the Sweet Valley High books.  I just found out that Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) is going to be making a Sweet Valley High movie! This is exciting news but also has potential of being a total fail. It’s tough trying to adapt something that played a major part in a teenage girl’s life. I started off with Sweet Valley Kids, moved onto Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High and even Sweet Valley University, so I basically grew up with them.

One of the best things from these books was the cover art, my all-time favourite is “All Night Long”, how amazing is that dude with his mustache? I’m pretty sure his name was Scott and he was a University bad boy that Jessica was pursuing until she ends up getting into trouble at a frat party, I think he tries to pressure her into sex and then there’s a fire. I can’t really remember. All I know is on the cover, Scott looks 40 and really creepy.

Then in the mid 90s, Sweet Valley High became a TV series. I own it on DVD. You know when something’s so bad that it’s awesome? That’s what this is. I can’t say the same thing about bad TV Series today, well…maybe Jersey Shore is an exception.

I’m curious as to who they will be casting for the different roles, if they will be known actors or unknown. Is it going to be in today’s decade, or will it be set in the 80s? (How awesome would that be?) I just hope it’s not a Gossip Girl style movie, please don’t disappoint me Diablo!!

Who else is excited for this?

I’m a big sucker for teen thriller movies from the early to mid 90s with stories of young love involving troubled teens with psychotic behaviors. You gotta admit, they are quite entertaining.

Here’s my top 5 list:

#5 – Mad Love (1995) ft. Chris O’Donnell & Drew Barrymore
Matt (Chris) is kinda a wuss, he spots Casey (Drew) at school, she’s rebellious, outgoing & fun. They fall in love, Casey’s parents don’t approve and forbid them to see each other. Casey goes completely nutso-crazy, she tries to commit suicide, her parents to send her to a mental hospital. So then Casey & Matt run away together to Mexico. This soundtrack is amazing, from Nirvana’s cover of the 60’s song Love Buzz to 7 Year Bitch (oh so good), filmed in Seattle, watching this brings me right back to 1995.

#4 – Cruel Intentions (1999) ft. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Philippe, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair
Total weird story, rich spoiled step-siblings Kathryn (Sarah) & Sebastien (Ryan) who are secretly madly in love with each other, play manipulative games to pass their boredom. Kathryn makes a bet that Sebastian won’t be able to sleep with Annette (Reese), a virgin before the start of the school year. If he loses, Kathryn gets his Roadster, if he wins, he gets Kathryn. Things don’t work out so well in the end and who can forget that Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve, I always think of this movie when I hear that song.

#3 – Poison Ivy (1992) ft. Drew Barrymore, Sarah Gilbert, Tom Skerritt
Ivy (Drew), a troubled, rebellious teen befriends Sylvie (Sarah), a loner. She infiltrates herself into Sylvie’s rich family wanting so badly to be loved, she even goes as far as seducing Sylvie’s father with hopes of taking over.  There’s some serious awkward and hilarious scenes. Gotta love these psycho bitches!

#2 – The Crush (1993) ft Alicia Silverstone, Cary Elwes
Nick (Cary) is a journalist who recently moves to Seattle (totally filmed in Vancouver though) he finds a nice spot in a carriage house behind a family. Adrienne (Alicia) is the family’s 14 yr old daughter and she develops a raging crush on Nick. Of course any 28 year old male would and should refuse advances of a preteen, she doesn’t handle rejection very well and in turn gets a little stalker-psycho. I’m pretty sure this is one of Alicia’s first movies and she is awesome in it.

#1 – Fear (1996) ft Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, Alyssa Milano
Proof that it’s not always the females that are the crazy ones. Innocent Nicole (Reese) falls for bad boy David (Mark), he’s mysterious and full of charm but quickly turns into a jealous psychotic freak. (We still love him though). There are some epic scenes in this movie, which is why I’m ranking it as #1, also pretty sure that the fact that Marky Mark is in it makes it land at the top spot.

The 90s seemed to be quite in the game for the thriller/suspense genre. I’m sad that there aren’t that many movies in this genre out now and even if there were, I don’t think they would have the same impact on me. I guess that’s why you always love the movies you grew up with.

What are your favourite 90s movies?

Last Friday my good friend Kyla & I went to go see Evil Dead: The Musical. A play based off of Sam Raimi’s cult hit movie series (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Army of Darkness). I am not the biggest zombie/slasher fan but I am a big fan of plays & musicals and I thought this might be entertaining especially around Halloween season. We made a quick pit stop at the nearest movie theatre by my house to buy some popcorn and sneaked it in my giant canvas bag (what’s a show without popcorn?!) and ran through a torrential downpour to get there. We weren’t expecting much but were pleasantly surprised at how hilarious it was. Poking fun at many of the horror movie cliches and lots of fake blood and cheesy gore, I was laughing from start to finish. Best part was the “Splatter Zone”, the first 5 rows were provided with plastic ponchos to protect themselves from the demon blood shower that occurred towards the end of the show.

Show has been extended until November 14th!