Year of Release: 1996
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Courteney Cox, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Jamie Kennedy, Matthew Lillard, W. Earl Brown, Liev Schreiber, Henry Winkler, Joseph Whipp, Lawrence Hecht
Genre: Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review
After the disappointing "Vampire in Brooklyn", writer/producer/director Wes Craven decided to tackle what turned out to be Kevin Williamson's first produced script (and Mr. Williamson has gone on to have a very robust and varied career). The film follows the story of Sidney Prescott, a teenager in high school who sees herself at a center of a lot of noise a year after the murder of her mother, when yet another murder occurs in the area where she lives, Woodsboro (California). The most recent victim is a young woman by the name of Casey Becker, who went to school/class with Sidney. Her father is traveling for work, and Sidney is home alone. She suddenly finds herself as the victim of someone wearing a costume like a ghostface who wants to kill her. While she manages to escape the first attack, her boyfriend Billy quickly and suspiciously materializes at her home, which alerts Sdyney to the fact that he may have something to do with it. Billy is arrested by Dewey, her best friend's brother (Tatum is her best friend), but the killer tracks Sydney once more, which then gives Billy an alibi and prompts his release. The principal of the school decides to temporarily halt classes, and Tatum's boyfriend decides to throw a party to celebrate the event. During the party more attacks occur, including the death of Tatum. While at the party things get out of control, with the deadly body count increasing.
The "Scream" series, which is about to celebrate 30 years since the premiere of this first film, has been lauded for the fact that it pokes fun at the concept of slasher films, and by being aware of the tropes of the genre, including its sequels. This type of meta approach to the narrative and how the characters' awareness of the slasher genre, and how it seems they are living that in real time, makes the film appear to be winking its eye at the audience, as if inviting the audience on the "see what we did here, we know what you're thinking". It then tries to subvert the genre, by introducing these unexpected villainous characters that seem to pop out of nowhere, always for some far fetched reasons. All this to say: the original formula primed for its novelty, and the unexpectedness of the narrative, which Wes Craven was able to bring to his own universe, one where he married the apparent normalcy of the American suburb, of the nuclear family, with a lethal killer who stops at nothing to destroy it (much like "A Nightmare on Elm Street"). The characters in this chapter of the franchise have just enough dimension to be more than apathetic, and overall the film moves swiftly towards it's unexpected final reveal. The cast is uniformly solid, including Neve Campbell in her first lead role, with good support from Drew Barrymore, Rose McGowan, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Skeet Ulrich, and Matthew Lillard. The production team is also uniformly good, with highlighting going to Mark Irwin's cinematography and Marco Beltrami's score. It's an entertaining feature always worth revisiting.
Year of Release: 1997
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Heather Graham, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Jerry O'Connell, Joshua Jackson, Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalf, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber, Rebecca Gayheart, Portia de Rossi, Marisol Nichols, Tori Spelling, David Warner, Lewis Arquette, Elise Neal
Genre: Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review
While "Scream" was still in theaters, Dimension Films quickly decided to move forward with a sequel, a treatment of which had already been crafted by Kevin Williamson. Wes Craven returned to the director's chair, as did the surviving characters, and some of the creative team. This time around the narrative finds Sidney in college. She finds herself the target of the Ghostface killer once more, and her friend Randy mentions that according to the mechanics of film sequels, no one is safe and the stakes are far more dangerous. Sidney is far more apprehensive with the whole situation, since Cotton Weary who had been imprisoned for the killing of her mother, has been freed and doesn't seem to be very content about her. She also suspects of everyone near her, which includes her new boyfriend Derek. As Sidney tries to move on with her life, she and her roommate Hallie attend a sorority party, where Ghostface appears and kills once again. As police intervenes to prevent even more killings, they too find themselves as victims of this unstoppable Ghostface. The final confrontation takes place at the University's auditorium, where Sidney uncovers the identity of Ghostface and why the resurgence at this time.
With the mechanics/architecture of the series exposed in the first film, the second chapter of the "Scream" franchise leveraged Jamie Kennedy's movie buff character to reveal how the sequel was going to function (the characters even discuss the quality of sequels versus the original films from franchises, such as "Terminator" and "Alien"). This sequel brings forth the formula that has since been reiterated across many of the films of the franchise, with the unexpected killers and their motivations being at times flimsy and over the top. This time around the character development is also short-changed, since the lead characters are already well established, and sadly not much attention is given to the new players who are introduced in this new collegial environment where the story takes place. And this sadly also reveals some of the limitations the script has, since Kevin Williamson could have played far more with the fact that the characters are slightly older, have new surroundings, and the fear of the unexpected is also tied with the fact that these are young adults and they're suddenly having to deal with making their own decisions. Not much subtlety occurs here (then again subtlety isn't a defining characteristic of the series), and this film does lean towards a slick B-movie/slasher type that seems to work rather well, even if it is not particularly inspired. By the time the villainous characters are revealed, there's a bit of silliness involved (finding a sounding motivation can be challenging), and a bit of "Friday the 13th" influences. The cast is solid once again, with Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Kennedy all bringing an appropriate energy to their parts. The production team is solid, including Marco Beltrami's score, and Peter Deming's cinematography. It's a paltrier outcome when compared with the original, but still worth watching nonetheless.
Year of Release: 2000
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Kelly Rutherford, Patrick Dempsey, Deon Richmond, Matt Keeslar, Jenny McCarthy, Emily Mortimer, Patrick Warburton, Heather Matarazzo, Carrie Fisher, Jamie Kennedy
Genre: Documentary
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review
The third chapter in the series appeared a few years after the first two, allowing for writer/producer/director Wes Craven to tackle a different type of project in the meantime, namely "Music of the Heart" with Meryl Streep, the same thing going for the cast and the original screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who launched a not very promising directorial career ("Teaching Mrs. Tingle" which was originally named "Killing Mrs. Tingle"), but who also created the very successful TV Show "Dawson's Creek", which ran for 5 years. This chapter of the series finds Sidney isolated from everyone. In order to avoid becoming a target for other Ghostface killers, and avoid additional killings of those near her, she has retreated into a location that is only known to Dewey. Dewey in the meantime has been working as a body guard and advisor to actress Jennifer Jolie, who as it turns out is playing a fictionalized version of Gayle Weathers in "Stab 3", the new installment of a slasher series that has been inspired by the Woodsboro killings. Ghostface in the meantime makes another re-appearance, killing Cotton Weary, who has become a talk-show host, and his girlfriend Christine. Ghostface is looking for Sidney, and starts stalking and killing people on the set of "Stab 3", creating a sense of dread for its director Roman Bridger, and all its players. Sidney agrees to come back in order to avoid additional bloodshed, as does Gayle Weathers, who had a somewhat painful romantic fallout with Dewey. As Sidney, Dewey, Gayle, and Jennifer (who is shadowing Gayle for authenticity), go about understanding what's taking place, Sidney finally has to confront her mother's past, and how everything she thought she knew about her may not be as a idyllic as she once thought.
"Scream 3" marked a slight snafu for the series, as it had less audience, and also the critical appreciation was more brittle than the prior chapters. Kevin Williamson at the time involved in other projects, did not return for the sequel, leaving the scripting duties to Ehren Kruger, who at the time had made a name for himself with Mark Pellington's "Arlington Road", and who would go on to write a series of very successful features, including Gore Verbinski's "The Ring", Michael Bay's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", and Joseph Kosinski's "Top Gun: Maverick" to name but a few. This chapter coincidentally takes the whole meta aspect of the series a step further, by placing all the characters inside a fictional film sequel, one that is inspired by the killings of the original "Scream" film (in this case named "Stab"). Much like the prior sequel, most of the new characters that are introduced, end up being very thinly described, but in this case there are layers of humor that come across, some involuntary (Courteney Cox's puzzling hairstyle), others more deliberate, namely Parker Posey's hilarious performance as Jennifer Jolie, a very eager actress dying to make her mark. The film smartly also brings to life the past surrounding Sidney's mom, and does so by contextualizing it in the mechanics of the unsavory and brutal aspects of working in tinseltown/Hollywood. These meta aspects of "Scream 3" are some of the most interesting ones of the film, as once again the whole reveal of the villainous Ghostface is rendered in a way that demonstrates a slight motivation, but that is also over the top (with a performance to match from the actor playing this character). All the actors do fairly well in this sequel, particularly Parker Posey who walks away with all of her scenes, with additional solid work performed by Lance Henriksen and Emily Mortimer. The production team once again primes for great professionals, including Marco Beltrami's score, Peter Deming's cinematography, and Bruce Alan Miller's production design. It may have its limitations, but it's worth watching.
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