Scream (1996) - Run Time: 111 mins. - Released: 12/20/96 - My Rating: 9/10 - This movie is bloody brilliant in that it doesn't take itself too seriously and pokes fun at a lot of other horror films throughout the course of its nearly two-hour run time. It was originally intended to be the anti-horror movie at a time when horror movies had become a bit watered down with premises revolving around leprechauns, clowns, aliens and dolls, just to name a few. It didn't really set out to be a horror movie, let alone a franchise, as it did to just generally make the statement that the genre had become a joke. But something weird happened after it got released, as the film blew up and unexpectedly made so much money that Miramax Studios and Dimension Films put Wes Craven back on their speed dials begging him for a second, a third, a fourth, etc., installment. Figuring it'd give him a shot to expose some more horror movie clichés, Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson agreed to sign on for an impromptu trilogy. And so, the legend began! For those who aren't initiated with this cult film, the story follows a high school girl named Sidney Prescott (played by Party of Five's Neve Campbell) and her friends, all of whom are being stalked and killed by Ghostface, the same masked knife-wielding psychopath that killed Sidney's mother the previous year. Though the killer's costume can be found at any local five and dime and is nothing special and/or revolutionary, the fact that he uses a voice changer is, as is the twist at the end of the movie which switches up the slasher film formula from the stale one we'd grown used to in the past. Now, there are two people doing the killing, instead of one (although we don't find this out until the movie's final scene)! However, game-changing ending aside, this movie works for so many other reasons. First and foremost, the self-deprecating humor. For instance, near the start of the movie, when Ghostface first calls Sidney and asks her if she likes scary movies, she responds by saying, "What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It's insulting." Two seconds later, guess which way Sidney's running while Ghostface chases her? That's right, up the stairs! Then, there's Randy (played by Jamie Kennedy, whom some might know from Ghost Whisperer or The Cleveland Show, but whom surely no one would know from Malibu's Most Wanted since nobody actually watched that film), the film geek with a secret crush on Sid, who guides us through the movie by saying stuff like, "There are certain RULES that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie," and then listing them to everyone's amusement. Aside from those two, there's Courteney Cox (fresh off Friends' second season), David Arquette (a.k.a. the soon-to-be WCW World Heavyweight Champion), Drew Barrymore (in the 13-minute opening scene), Rose McGowan (who was dating shock rocker Marilyn Manson at the time), Liev Schreiber (probably best known for his real-life work as Naomi Watts' husband), Skeet Ulrich (who's gone on to do some stuff since then, but was a relative unknown back when this movie premiered) and, in my opinion, the star of the movie, Matthew Lillard, previously of Hackers and SLC Punk! fame, with all his funny mannerisms and just overall general weirdness. If you're an astute watcher of horror films, you'll catch dozens of references to Halloween, Carrie, Psycho, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist and more throughout this film, not the least subtle of which are the movie's director Wes Craven wearing a Freddy Krueger sweatshirt while playing Fred the Janitor or Linda Blair appearing as an obnoxious reporter. Oh, and as if the mocky-type humor and formula-changing ending weren't already enough to make this movie Wes Craven's biggest statement since he first appeared on the scene with The Last House on the Left, he even got "The Fonz" himself to make a cameo as Principal Arthur Himbry. That's right, Henry freaking Winkler's in this horror movie, which instantly makes it the coolest one ever, no?!
Scream 2 (1997) - Run Time: 120 mins. - Released: 12/12/97 - My Rating: 7.5/10 - This movie starts with a copycat killer offing Phil (Omar Epps) and Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) as the couple attends the premiere of the movie Stab, which is essentially a book ("The Woodsboro Murders") turned into a movie (Stab) within the movie (Scream 2), the fictional book of which was of course published by reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) after she survived the first go-around of this franchise. So essentially, Stab is the film universe's Scream, and as joked about in the real Scream, inevitably starred Tori Spelling as Sidney, although Deputy Dewey saw her as "a young Meg Ryan," himself. (The fake movie also stars Heather Graham, David Schwimmer and Luke Wilson, among others ... I'll leave you to guess which actor plays what role in that movie within the movie.) But anyway, please tell me I didn't just lose you with all this inter-dimensional film talk because that's really not what this film aims to do. On the contrary, this film tries to make the story as easy to understand as possible, this time not only bringing back Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) to tell us the rules of a sequel, but also employing his fellow film geeks Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), Cici (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and a film class student played by Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson to break them down even further. In this updated film, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is now living in a college dorm room with her roommate Hallie (Elise Neal), dating a preppy guy named Derek (Jerry O'Connell) and still keeps in touch with Randy, who's attending the same school, and Deputy Dewey (David Arquette), whenever he comes to visit. Although Sidney is attempting to live a normal life, post-trauma, Gale's book-turned-movie is making that nearly impossible, as every cuckoo bird in town keeps calling Sid pretending to be Ghostface. She doesn't really pay them any mind until she hears the news story about Phil and Maureen, then suddenly it becomes all too real again. Almost as if to make the suspects innumerable, this time around, Sid's roomie is pledging a sorority house, and Sid's boyfriend is already in a fraternity, so we have all these new faces around town and around Sid, which include a very young Portia de Rossi. Also, Cotton Weary's been let out of prison since we last saw him, since Maureen Prescott's real killers were caught at the end of the first film, so Liev Schreiber's character is out and about again, possibly seeking revenge but possibly not. Lastly, there's also Gale Weathers' new cameraman Joel, who jokes about being the token black guy in the film and about how "brothers don't last long in situations like this," then goes away and comes back often, making him seem either very nervous or very suspicious ... I'll let you decide. Then, in a new twist near the end of the flick, we find out that Billy Loomis' mother is still alive, and she's obviously one of the killers, as she's come to get her revenge on Sidney for killing poor little (not-so-)innocent Billy. However, as to who her partner in crime is during this second installment, I'll leave some spoiler untouched for you, so as to not totally ruin the film for anybody accidentally stumbling upon this information. This movie picks up where the last one left off, in that it continues referencing horror movies (even House II: The Second Story gets a mention in this one!), packs in a ton of cameos (even some that ain't seen, such as Selma Blair playing the voice of Cici's friend over the phone, and some who're dead in this Scream film universe, i.e. Matthew Lillard, who played a guy at a party, and even Wes Craven himself played a doctor in this one, while David Arquette's father Lewis Arquette played Chief Hartley), and constantly pokes fun at stale horror movie clichés ("Hang up the phone and star-69 his @$$!" / "Why is she naked? What has that got to do with the plot -- her being butt-@$$ naked?" / "Typically, serial killers are white male." "That's why it's perfect! It's sort of against the rules, but not really. Mrs. Voorhees was a terrific serial killer, and there's always room for Candyman's daughter. She's sweet, she's deadly, she's bad for your teeth." / "The blade conveniently missed every major vein and artery." / "Stupid people go back! Smart people run! We're smart people, so we should just get the f**k outta here!" etc.). All in all, it was a pretty darn good sequel, but it just lacked a bit of the originality that made the first one that much better. In other words, we already knew we'd be getting two killers, and we kind of expected all the self-mockery and wacky cameos again, so it wasn't as great, but still a relatively good film experience.
Scream 3 (2000) - Run Time: 116 mins. - Released: 02/04/00 - My Rating: 6/10 - This movie is where the franchise really jumped the shark! Now, the whole premise is based around the Hollywood set for Stab 3, which is apparently the same set Sidney's mother Maureen Prescott had disappeared to for a couple of years, circa 19-/20-years of age, when she pursued an acting career in Hollywood, only to get used up and passed around the scene while known as "Rina Reynolds." Therefore, because we've got the real ones AND their film crew versions, we've now got two Sid's, two Gale's, two Dewey's, etc., as well as some fake sets of old sets from previous Scream films. Also, as if to keep us on our toes, this is the first film that features only one killer (although dead Randy warns us via a very convenient pre-taped video confessional that in a trilogy, "all rules are off!," so I guess this is explained away that way), and the one killer has an even higher-tech voice-altering device that actually allows you to program anybody's real voice in there to imitate that person, adding a whole new (*cough* unbelievable *cough*) layer to this film. And lastly, the lone killer in this film is claiming credit for being the one to really kill Maureen Prescott. What does that mean -- was there a third un-apprehended killer that got away? Nope, apparently, it means our new killer was the one that recruited Billy and Stu to do his dirty work for him, as he hunted down the mother that abandoned him when she left her fictional life as "Rina" behind to return to Woodsboro. That's also why new Ghostface is so mad at Sidney, because the mom that bailed on him and couldn't care less what became of him, ended up being so maternal with her. But, you know what? As Sid clearly tells her newfound brother in the movie's climactic scene at a Hollywood mansion, the same mansion in which "Rina Reynolds" had been passed around years ago during one of fictional film producer John Milton's legendary house parties that got out of control, "God, why don't you stop your whining and get on with it. I've heard all this $#!+ before!" As you can see, the humor's still the same, as the worn-out clichés are still called out as cleverly as before (this time tackling a bunch of Hollywood clichés, just for good measure), with far-reaching cameos ranging from Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, Rules of Engagement) to Jenny McCarthy (Singled Out!, Two and a Half Men, every 30-something male's childhood fantasies) to Carrie Fisher (the original Star Wars trilogy) to Jay & Silent Bob (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back). Heck, even the plot makes sense, which after three films, is usually not the case with most horror franchises, and that's the only reason I'm even letting this film get away with a rating of six. Aside from the positive stuff, let me state some of the obvious negatives: the cast was way too excessive in numbers, the fakeness (read: Hollywood sets and gimmicks) in what was supposed to be a "true" story seemed more of a distraction than a helpful storytelling tool, and a lot of the other stuff just seemed too unbelievably "out there" (namely that ultra-advanced voicebox, the fact that Sidney is now working as "Laura" for a Women's Crisis Center from a home that's very detached from the rest of the world, an isolation which nobody that's been through what she's been through would ever be able to sleep through comfortably, and that super cheesy happy ending where Dewey proposes to Gale, and then Sid, them, and the police officer we now assume is dating Sid, sit down to watch a movie together, all the while purposely leaving her front door open in the middle of nowhere, almost as if to prove something -- really?! Like THAT would EVER happen!). I understand this was supposed to be the last film in the trilogy and Wes wanted to give us some peace of mind as we left it behind. It appears like he was trying to give us some sense of hope for these characters having a normal future, but c'mon now, NOBODY leaves their doors open in this new millennium, let alone somebody who's been through as much crap as Sid, so yeah, there were better ways of handling that ending. But all in all, this third film was a valiant effort at ending a franchise in the right direction, and I'm still glad I watched it, despite it not being the best of films.
Scream 4 (2011) - Run Time: 111 mins. - Released: 04/15/11 - My Rating: 3/10 - The third film, which we all thought was somewhat bad, was a freakin' masterpiece compared to this crock! The only reason this film even exists is because Hollywood saw a chance to make money, in that my generation had moved on from this franchise and a whole new audience was now hoping to get to experience it in theaters. Well, in 2011, they finally got their wish... unfortunately. In this latest production, Sidney goes back to Woodsboro to promote her new book titled Out of Darkness, chronicling the things she has suffered in the past three films. It is an attempt to reconstruct herself after living her life as a victim for so long. The source of inspiration behind the book was the death of her father, Neil Prescott, who died after the events of Scream 3 from a heart attack. Unfortunately for Sidney, the murders of two teenage girls happen the night before she arrives and things just get worse from there. Sidney is also there to reunite with the now married Gale and Dewey Riley, her estranged cousin Jill Roberts, and her aunt Kate, who is her dead mother's sister. But anyway, let's just fast-forward through this film by telling you everything you need to know. It stars Julia Roberts' niece Emma Roberts as cousin Jill, Heroes' Hayden Panettiere as her friend Kirby Reed, Macaulay's brother Rory Culkin as horror movie buff Charlie Walker, and many others who just aren't important to the plot. This being 2011 now, cell phone, text messaging and live streaming technologies are overly incorporated into this film to appease the modern generation, and serve as a major distraction to those of my generation who've decided to watch this film. "Horror movies are not supposed to be trapped by our modern annoyances!" is something I'm sure Randy would've told y'all had he still been with us for this film. The plot is quite predictable, too, as the story goes EXACTLY how you'd expect: Sid's cousin Jill is ticked at having to always live in Sidney's shadow, so she and Charlie, the most horror film-obsessed friend she knows, hatch up this scheme to finally kill Sidney, Gale, Dewey and whomever else they need to, in order to make Jill look like "the hero," the escaped Ghostface victim who saves the day. Only, as everybody watching this celluloid crapfest already knows, she ain't going to get away with it. Of course, Sidney and Gale survive their respective attacks, and again face-off with Jill at the hospital, where Sidney delivers the only good line in this whole film: "You forgot the first rule of remakes, Jill. Don't f**k with the original!" If only Wes Craven had taken his own advice, the Scream franchise would've been spared this red-headed stepchild of a film. It was lame from beginning to end, as it overtly tried to appeal to younger audiences only! (In fact, the only cameos I can even remember from this film are that of True Blood's Anna Paquin and Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell, who open up the movie as two people watching Stab 7, and Barbershop's Anthony Anderson and The OC's Adam Brody, who play deputies assigned to stand guard outside the house where Sidney's staying. How's that for appealing to younger audiences?) So yeah, if you can, avoid this film, as it's the lame duck in the otherwise-bountiful pond that is the Scream franchise.
- The Icicle Works
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