NOTE: This post contains spoilers for the first three Scream films.
So I watched the Scream trilogy on the recently released Lionsgate Blu-rays over the weekend as I’ll be seeing Scream 4 next week. I’m mildly excited to see the new film considering the first Scream was a definite favorite of mine, but if it’s anything like the two sequels you can count me out right now.
There are two things the first Scream and its sequel have in common: 1) a ghostface killer and 2) some satisfying one-liners. You could add a third and say the principal cast, but I don’t think that’s worth mentioning. What the first Scream had that the sequels didn’t was a cohesive story, developed characters and a solid ending using all the films strengths to bring everything together.
As I watched Scream over again — it was probably the first time in about eight or nine years — I was enjoying it. Probably more for nostalgic reasons than anything else as I could still almost recite the dialogue word for word. I did, however, begin to wonder why I had enjoyed it so much when I first saw it 15 years ago. Then I got to the ending.
The great thing about Scream wasn’t the frights or Rose McGowan’s nipple shirt. It’s not even the mystery surrounding the identity of the killer(s), though that’s a part of it. The charm in Scream is the fun being had at the end while it all comes together. It’s the only instance where Jamie Kennedy has been entertaining rather than annoying and Matthew Lillard’s performance as Stu is perfectly campy and quite funny. I particularly enjoy when Stu iss bleeding to death but still takes the time to say “Hello” to Sidney on the phone and begins to cry because his parents are going to be so upset with him for slaughtering all his friends. But overall, the ending sticks to the plot, it’s humorous, a lot of fun and, admittedly, the mystery surrounding the killer(s) identities lasts for quite a long time. Even if you guessed one you probably didn’t guess both.
Then the sequels arrive. They follow very similar storylines. One kills people off based on their names in the order of those killed in the first film. The other kills people off based on the order they die in a movie script, which is based on the goings on in the first film. And instead of developing new characters we have the three surviving characters from the first film running around amongst a bunch of fillers trying to solve what are essentially the same murders all over again. The mystery is lost, the endings are atrocious, the reveals are embarrassing. All that’s left are the one-liners, which there are a few good ones, but it’s not enough to sustain the two hour running times.
I have managed to stay clear of a single Scream 4 trailer so far and things look good for that to continue until next Tuesday, so I don’t yet know what to expect. I just sincerely hope there is an effort to get the audience interested in a new group of characters rather than rely on the same trio to advance the plot to an inevitable conclusion. Even Drew Barrymore had a better developed character in the opening minutes of Scream than any of the other characters in the sequels (perhaps outside of Parker Posey in Scream 3, but she seems to be an exception to most every rule).
I just hope we won’t be witness to some character we’ve hardly seen claiming some sort of loose connection to Sidney and her family giving them some lunatic motive for killing a ton of people with all intentions of pinning the whole thing on Sidney. Been there. Done that. Boring.
Hell, make Sidney the killer and let her get away with it, introducing a new variation on the Michael Meyers/Jason/Freddy character that can continue through what has been proposed as a new trilogy. She lives in 4 to kill again in 5. Is killed in 5. Rises from the dead in 6. Sounds fun to me.
Whatever happens I just hope I’m not yawning by the 60-minute mark.
I’m particularly hoping that with Rory Culkin, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody and Marley Shelton in the film there will be a large dose of straight-faced dark humor and that David Arquette isn’t asked to play Dewey so over the top that he becomes a parody of himself, as if he wasn’t already.
For more on Scream 4 you can browse some clips here. The film hits theaters on April 15.
