Scream Series

While Halloween is not even close to the top of the list of my favorite holidays, it does bring about some of my favorite types of movies: horror films. The horror genre has had some tough times and has lost fan bases as more sequels are made. Which brings to light the question: Do you like scary movies?

A horror film series starting in 1996 got its reboot April 15th 2011 with Scream 4. The best thing about the Scream series was that they never take themselves too seriously. Every film references other horror movies and plays on the horror clichés and pokes fun at itself, making them all incredibly entertaining to watch.

Starting in Woodsboro in 1996 Scream introduces us to Ghostface and Sidney Prescott, America's favorite innocent victim. The opening scene throws the viewer into the action with Drew Barrymore responding to questions about her favorite scary movies by Ghostface. From there the rules of a horror movie are explained as they come up. The ironies start piling up as do the bodies. Characters say things like "She runs up the stairs when she should be running out the front door" and not ten minutes later that same character cannot leave through the front door and has to run upstairs. The twists and turns in the first installment of this series keep you guessing until the end. While we may follow Sidney, Gale, and Dewey for much of the movie, one of the most important characters in my opinion in Randy, the movie nerd. He lays out the rules for the characters as well as the audience and makes it clear what is to be expected.

Scream 2 released almost exactly a year after the original Scream revisits Sidney at college two years after the events of of Woodsboro and three years after the death of her mother (whom the original Ghostface claimed to have murdered). Instead of just playing on the clichés of horror movies, Scream 2 takes it one step further and plays with the rules of sequels with Randy again explaining the reasoning behind them as they come up. The three main characters, Sidney, Dewey, and Gale, all step up their game and improve their acting. Sidney this time around has been attacked and is a survivor so she knows the ropes a little better than the first time. The writing is just as good and creates an actual great sequel to an outstanding first film.

Scream 3 was released in 2000 and takes place three years after Scream 2. This time the rules have changed again. With Randy being killed off in the second movie (quite gruesomely) who is going to explain the rules this time around? It's simple. Randy from the grave! The killer in the third movie brings the characters together in Los Angeles around the set of the fictional Stab 3. It turns out that Randy, who figured he was going to die, recorded himself explaining the rules of the third act of a trilogy: mainly how everything goes back to the beginning. The third time around Sidney is no longer an innocent victim. She is fighting back though she may be terrified. While much of the acting has deteriorated in the supporting roles, Dewey, Gale, and Sidney are still giving powerhouse performances.

The writing of these two films is excellent! Kevin Williamson was rumored to have locked himself in a cabin for two days to write it and he based it off of a serial killer preying on college students, whether this is true or not the scripts for the three films he wrote were great and suited to the genre and style of films. For the third one, Williamson jumped ship and did not pen the screenplay. Unfortunately it really shows. Some of the twists are messy and seem to have been rushed. The dialogue is less revolved around other movies and more revolved around the shallow plot and supporting characters. Thankfully, though, Williamson got on board again for Scream 4.

New decade. New rules. This is the hook and the main idea in Scream 4. The opening of this Scream is fun to watch every time. The fourth film takes meta-reflexivity (the idea, in this case, of making a movie within a movie and referencing many other films) to a whole new level. Characters even explicitly say "how meta can you get?"; irony at its' finest. While Scream 4 may follow some rules similar to its predecessors new rules are rampant. The unexpected has become the expected. Somehow the fourth installment fights through the obstacle of just meeting expectations. It creates a very entertaining movie to watch and somehow, Kevin Williamson keeps you guessing until the end. The three main actors reprising their roles 10 years after the events of Scream 3 give even better performances this time around. My favorite part of this film is the fearlessness of Sidney. She fights and fights because she wants it to stop. She doesn't bat an eye when she gets attacked.

Overall, a great horror franchise, my favorite to be exact and I hope they keep making them, only if Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson keep teaming up, and as long as the three main characters keep reprising their roles as Sidney, Gale, and Dewey. They're fun to re-watch every October or when you're just in the mood for an entertaining scary movie.

Scream: 9/10

Scream 2: 8.5/10

Scream 3: 7/10

Scream 4: 8/10