There’s something about the cruelty of teen girls that “works” in horror. Best Friends Forever knows this and definitely leans in.

Four teen girls gather for a nebulously defined party in what we’re told is 1996. Queen bee Eden (Addison Holley) opens with a scary story: Nancy (Jen Pogue), an unpopular girl from in the 70s, was invited to a party JUST LIKE THIS ONE. But when Nancy discovered her invitation was a cruel joke, she slaughtered the cool girls and left them half of a “best friends” necklace (because Nancy’s a polite guest).

Eden takes the opportunity to be a bitch and mess with her terrified friends. But in the process, they stumble onto a box containing the aforementioned half of the “best friends” necklace. Despite everyone but Eden being like “Oh shit, Nancy’s back from the grave to slaughter us too,” they choose to split up and get picked off.

Overall, this movie is cool. The acting is decent, the camera work is noticeably well done for a project of this scale, and it was a creative choice to use the pink lighting motif to indicate Nancy related danger (plus there was this rad glowing pink box that I would legit purchase).

On the negative, aside from cliché visual signifiers like overalls and glasses the characters were left only occasionally and clumsily defined. And while the styling was the right direction for 1996, if they had leaned in more with the wardrobe and set design it could have made it pop more.

Best Friends Forever is worth 13 minutes of your time. Good work on a technical end, colorful elements, satisfying moments… sure it would have benefited from some art design and a character pass on the script, but I’m here for it regardless.

6 out of 10 stars

“{Nancy} slaughtered the cool girls and left them half of a “best friends” necklace (because Nancy’s a polite guest).”

“Despite everyone but Eden being like “Oh shit, Nancy’s back from the grave to slaughter us too,” they choose to split up”

“ it was a creative choice to use the pink lighting motif to indicate Nancy related danger (plus there was this rad glowing pink box that I would legit purchase)”