Some parts of this I reeaally liked, but otherwise followed a pretty conventional romcomdram plotline- which nothing wrong with that when you need it :) Parts that were done well were the horror film relevance to its metaphor, references, and importance to its characters; the main character's fun and rough journey (the second hand embarrassment towards the end with the bday party is rough, but everything did lead up to it so it's not like I didn't see that coming...); and I hate to say this aloud but the homophobia/bigotry moments that captures its subtlety and how the characters respond and react to it. Me and the homies hate homophobia but I liked seeing how it was depicted here that felt so specific to a high school kid who cannot wait to leave their small homophobic town in their red-leaning state.

The romance was nice too, although maybe leaned into the romcom pacing a tad much for my taste. and also I'm tired of angsty handling of kisses bc I know in my heart I would never kiss anyone in the spur of a moment LOL. That never felt realistic to me but I may be in the minority here as an ace person? They did have greatly similar interest in horror movies which is cool. Also it's kinda nice in the way that I interpret their relationship in the end to be people who find solace in each other and do like each other very much in the moment- but I feel like these dudes would break up with each other if one went to a different city lol. Glad they mostly figured out their shit together.

Also how many times will I consume Jane Austen inspired media without knowing its that!? Northanger Abby.