Scream the TV Series.
What a shitfest! And although I
know why I decided to give the series a shot in the first place, I don’t know
why I stuck through it all!
Scream follows a bunch of white teenagers in the town of
Lakewood as they explore and investigate the brutal murders of one of their
friends, a popular and promiscuous girl from their highschool. The murder sparks memories of the town’s
sordid past, that of a previous murder spree conducted by a masked serial
killer. The killings and the style just
seem too similar. As the investigation
continues, so does the body count.
Everyone from the jocks, the lesbian, the English teacher and the mayor
(to name a few), are all suspects. And
behind one or more of those faces is the masked Lakewood killer.
Scream the TV Series is the television successor to the slasher
film series by the late Wes Craven.
Although the two share the same name and general plot structure (i.e. of
a whodunit?), the soul and the spirit of what made the movies work did not
carry over. I should note that the original
Scream movie holds a special place in my heart, which is why I even decided to
give the series a shot in the first place.
I attribute it with fueling (or refueling) my love for horror back when
I was a teenager in the mid to late 90s.
I loved the premise, the witty dialogue, the characters and the
mask! The film was fresh and FUN as a
satire on the slasher genre; a genre that all but disappeared during that
period.
So unlike the movies, the TV show’s story was boring, the
characters uninteresting and the mask looked like shit! Yeah, they changed the mask! Although in hindsight, I’m glad they changed
the mask only so that it’s less tied with the movies.
See! They changed the mask!
But back to the true gripes.
These are some of the worst characters I’ve seen in a TV show. There is just about zero characters that
you’re cheering for. Even the main
protagonist is despicable! I think that’s
the main reason why the show doesn’t work.
If you can’t get behind any of the characters, why would you care that
someone is killing them all off? Why
would you care about any of the history?
The script can be cringe-worthy too.
There is Noah, who plays the geek-centric meta character, similar to
Jamie Kennedy’s character from the films, with some of the worst lines and such
forced name dropping of pop culture references.
However, every one in ten times, he does strike gold, such as when they
are being stalked by the killer and decide to split up: “I did not agree to
split up. I am not retiring in 3
days. I will NOT be back”. Clearly, he understands horror tropes. I think of the whole batch, the only
redeeming character is Audrey, the outted lesbian character. It’s very clear that she’s the best actress
on the show, and although script is weak, she does the best with what she’s
given. She seems less bland than every
other character.
Oh I should also point out the diversity of its cast! There is none! It’s a town full of white folks. Actually, they had one asian person as part
of the teenage troupe… but guess who gets killed early on? That said, I can’t knock the show for the lack
of diversity. I mean, if they’re going
to mock horror movies, then this is apropos.
Typically slasher movies of yore were only filled with Caucasian casts,
so if the show did this intentionally to pay homage to its forefathers, then I
get it… (except, I just don’t think the show was that smart to do that!)
The structure of the story itself follows closely to the
movie – specifically, the whodunit structure.
Characters would disappear at opportune times, only to reappear and
provide a weak excuse. Other characters
would say something offkey, with a dramatic music beat to suggest some evil
intention. There are a lot of dramatic
pauses and a lot of looking out blankly into the distance. All are really obvious red herrings though, weak
attempts to throw off who the killer is.
It’s a tricky game to play actually.
Since the movies already chose certain archetypes to be the killers, the
show has the unenviable task of trying to pick someone new. If it’s the boyfriend and his psychotic buddy
or the boyfriend’s mother and an attention seeking friend, it’d be too obvious. But maybe they went the obvious route! I’m not trying to spoil anything! But I will say when the killer(s) is/are
revealed, it was a huge letdown. In fact
I was like, “huh? Who is that? Oh.”.
Overall, the series just lacked the overall tension that existed
especially in the first movie. I still
remember the very first time I watched it, how tense I felt because I didn’t
know who Sidney Prescott could trust.
They just all seemed so believable!
Who was the damn killer!!!
In the season finale, they tease the direction of the
forthcoming season. They present the
idea that an accomplice killer may still be on the loose. If this is so, this is a complete departure
from the Scream series. With each film,
you never knew going in who the killer(s) were.
If what they’re teasing is true, it would be the first time that they
broke this tradition in the series.
However, as the whole show itself is full of red herrings, I wouldn’t be
surprised if this was just another swerve for the audience.
The show airs and is produced by MTV. So every time there’s a musical number, there
will be a pop-up at the bottom of the screen informing you of the artist and
the single. Apart from that, there’s no
real MTVness to the show.
And on that note, for a show that’s on cable and aimed at
teens, it doesn’t do too bad in terms of blood and gore factor. You never see full blown violence like in
Walking Dead or any number of HBO shows, but they show you enough such that
your imagination can take you the rest of the way. The kills aren’t the most inventive but then
again, the kills were never the reason why I liked the Scream movies in the
first place. It was always based on
story and mystery, never the ingenuity of the kills.
Strangely enough, in a few weeks, Fox is releasing their own
slasher homage TV series called Scream Queens.
It’s a show by Ryan Murphy. Draw your own conclusions. Although I don’t think it will be a deep show, I think it will be all sorts of
fun and acceptable for what it is. Just
watching the trailer shows that it’s a bit more self-awareness and overall fun!
That said, don’t watch this show. Don’t buy it’s DVDs or Blu-Rays. It’s not worth your time. If you’ve never seen them, you’re better off
watching Scream 1 and 2… (3 and 4 weren’t that great). Until next time, later geeks!
(Which one looks more fun to you?)
(Which one looks more fun to you?)
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