With Halloween coming up and all the cable stations offering their versions of Fright-Fest Horror Movie-thons, I took the opportunity to record and watch some movies that I’ve been aware of but never actually watched. For example, the Scream films- the boomers version of what they thought 90s kids were like growing up on 80s horror films.
Scream was a horror film nerd heaven, with pop culture references flying faster than sharp knives. The twist? Having the two craziest characters, BOTH be the killer. That was nice but they did as much scenery chewing as body stabbing even before the big reveal. Ultimately, the real villain was the press, pushy reporter Gail Weathers, who annoyed everyone trying to get her "big story," but winds up saving the day in the end and then cashes in on her fame in Scream 2.
All the classic horror movies are represented; Psycho, Halloween, Friday the 13th, to the point the final confrontation in Scream is scored by the music from Halloween because that’s the movie playing in the background when all the plasma hits the fan. But it does poke at the trope that the killer seems to be in two places at once, because here he’s two people.
I noticed one unusual thing about their take on the killer; while the Jasons and Michael Meyers of the movies were unstoppable supernatural lugs who just bulldoze their way through the mayhem, Ghostface is a klutz. He’s easily flipped, thrown and knocked out. A beer bottle to the groin stops him cold. He slips, crashes and stumbles. So at least the victims seemingly have a chance which adds to the suspense.
Scream was a horror film nerd heaven, with pop culture references flying faster than sharp knives. The twist? Having the two craziest characters, BOTH be the killer. That was nice but they did as much scenery chewing as body stabbing even before the big reveal. Ultimately, the real villain was the press, pushy reporter Gail Weathers, who annoyed everyone trying to get her "big story," but winds up saving the day in the end and then cashes in on her fame in Scream 2.
All the classic horror movies are represented; Psycho, Halloween, Friday the 13th, to the point the final confrontation in Scream is scored by the music from Halloween because that’s the movie playing in the background when all the plasma hits the fan. But it does poke at the trope that the killer seems to be in two places at once, because here he’s two people.
I noticed one unusual thing about their take on the killer; while the Jasons and Michael Meyers of the movies were unstoppable supernatural lugs who just bulldoze their way through the mayhem, Ghostface is a klutz. He’s easily flipped, thrown and knocked out. A beer bottle to the groin stops him cold. He slips, crashes and stumbles. So at least the victims seemingly have a chance which adds to the suspense.
