It took me forever to start this series simply because I couldn't get past the first episode.

The problem with Dead Friend Forever is that the horror element here is extremely poorly constructed and executed. At times it felt like the series was going down a path like Nightmare on Elm Street, at other times it felt like Scream and Halloween and sometimes it felt like Bodies Bodies Bodies.

But the reality is that the horror here is from a low-budget school project. The deaths, the makeup, the killer and the mask are all so weak, so silly.

The drama present in episodes 5 to 8 and in episode 11 is simply the best part of the series. And I really wish they had explored this side more and really built a more elaborate suspense and worked the horror in a more psychological way.

Because all the scenes in the country house are terrible and weaken the plot a lot. These scenes can be summed up by the characters screaming and crying and screaming some more (which is done in excess here and is totally annoying). The construction of tension, fear and distrust is poorly executed and is based on the conveniences of the script and a "magic drug" that makes everyone hallucinate about Non.

The two-year time jump is something that cools the plot and I hate it. It makes no sense for Por, Top and Fluke to keep apologizing for hurting Non while they are hallucinating. At no point do they feel any sympathy for him and no drug can force that.

If Phee and Tan had discovered the truth about what happened and revealed it to the group, it would create a much more interesting dynamic.

Because the essential thing in a slasher horror is the suspicion of who the killer is. And that doesn't happen here.

If developed, they would all have motivations. Jin because of the guilt of what he did and because his friends' lie made Non get to that point. Por because Top broke his camera and made him be reprimanded by his father and end up in this mess. Fluke because his friends' lie risked tarnishing his reputation as a future doctor. Phee and Tan for the obvious reasons.

And in the end, all of them in the cabin being hunted by a killer would be amazing. But the deaths are weak (especially Por and Top), the confrontation is simply the characters screaming a lot and there is no tension. The series relies on the drug that Tan created and everything becomes too fantastical.

There really is something very interesting here. I love the middle of the series and Barcode simply shines in an impeccable performance. But it lacks nuance and the foundations of a good horror, it lacks a sharper direction that knew how to develop the plot instead of having the characters yelling all the time and it lacked a cleaner script that really removed all the unnecessary parts and created a bloody revenge drama.

Because that's what this story is. A revenge drama.

But the series mixes countless elements here - slasher horror, psychological horror, supernatural horror and syfy horror and ends up delivering anything. The last episode is a mess and the open end is a big no.

Great performances and an impeccable drama, but it needs a more elegant and precise editing, direction and script to be a good horror series.