Scream

The next franchise that I will be looking at in this year’s “Halloween Month” is the “Scream Franchise.” I understand there are fans of this franchise, but personally, I didn’t like any of the entries. The reason being was that the plot was predictable, the characters were obnoxious and you could predict who the killer was every single time (or some of the times). If you want to know what I mean, let’s take a look at the first entry in the franchise, “Scream,” released in 1996.

The great director, Wes Craven, is on familiar territory with this movie. It takes place in a small town, the main characters are high schoolers and there’s a murderer on the loose. Leonard Klady stated in his review, “But he may have gone to the trough once too often, attempting an uneasy balance of genre convention and sophisticated parody. The pic’s chills are top-notch, but its underlying mockish tone won’t please die-hard fans. That adds up to no more than modest commercial returns and fast theatrical playoff.”

The film opens the usual way. A teenage girl named Casey Becker, played by Drew Barrymore, is alone at home making popcorn when she answers the phone and an evil man is on the other side. This psychopath starts to quiz her on a horror movie trivia just to taunt her. Eventually he jumps out in front of her and this meeting is Casey’s death.

The next person on this person’s list is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) whose mother (Carla Hatley) was murdered by a similar murderer a year before. Actually, aggressive reporter Gale Weathers (the hot Courtney Cox, also a veteran of the bad show “Friends”) believes it’s the same man and the man (who is on death row) (Liev Schreiber) that Sidney framed for murdering her mother is innocent.

Klady stated, “Craven and scripter Kevin Williamson have worked hard to gussy up well-trod territory. And though the material is more intelligent than the norm and has an unusual third-act twist, it also employs some very clunky stereotypes.”

Klady goes on to say, “The fictional community of Woodsboro, Calif., is normally a sleepy hamlet populated by callous teens and ineffectual adults. The kids have been shaped by the movies and can quote chapter and verse from Craven’s “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Halloween” and “Prom Night” to explain the killer’s gestalt.” The horror movie rules, which are described by a blockbuster worker (Jamie Kennedy), make Billy (Skeet Ulrich), Sidney’s boyfriend, one of the candidates and also gives you a long list of potential people dressed up as the murderer.

Craven, in this film and “New Nightmare,” gives an interest between reality and film. “New Nightmare” told if Freddy Kruegar was an actual person in the real world. “Scream” simply thinks mocking killings, something that happens too much onscreen than in sleeping towns.

I agree with Klady when he said, “There’s no question that the filmmaker knows how to put an audience on the edge of its seat. But this yarn isn’t content with visceral delight, and its attempts to instill irony and social perspective just slow down the proceedings.”

Along with a strong exterior, Craven put together a strong cast that is led by the charming Campbell and Ulrich. Cox has a nice rebel side as the determined reporter, and Henry Winkler (who you might remember as Fonzie from “Happy Days”) is in here as the principal of the high school.

Klady ended his review by rightfully saying, ““Scream” is an interesting stab at altering the shape of horror. But it’s one experiment that needed more lab time before venturing into the marketplace.”

Like I have already stated, this movie was bad. If you are a fan of it, go ahead, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, I personally think this movie was just horrible from beginning to end. Watch the movie if you want, and if you like it, great, but if you don’t, I’m in the same boat as you.

I don’t see why the creators think that they needed to make sequels to this movie, seeing how I didn’t like the first one. However, since this is “Halloween Month” I feel that I owe it to you, my online readers, to let you know what I thought of this stupid franchise. With that said, stay tuned tomorrow when I review the second in the “Scream franchise.”