Scream Franchise

[thecolorsblend]

Poked around a bit before starting this thread. Could've sworn we had at least one thread about at least one of the Scream movies. But apparently we don't.

So, even tho I'm not fond of starting new threads (as my posting history probably demonstrates), it seems we need a Scream thread.

Why? Because I just watched Scream (2022). And... meh.

[Spoilers]
For starters, there's never been a Scream sequel that remotely approaches the original. That has been my contention since Scream 2 and nothing has changed in the intervening years. The charm and sophistication of the first movie isn't exactly a repeatable thing. Scream 2022 is part of the "proud" tradition of Scream sequels that don't measure up to the original. The glass ceiling remains unbroken.

Something else? Look at the Kill Count on this movie some time. Vince, Judy, Wes, Generic Security Guard, Dewey, Liv, Richie and Amber. Golly, what do they all have in common? They're all white! The alphabet soup characters may take their bumps and bruises. But they all pull through in the end. The whities tho? Not so lucky. Now, Liv is borderline, admittedly. She's debatable. But otherwise, the rest of the victims are all white bread.

Separately, as we all know, Scream movies are part-slasher and part-commentary. The first movie comments on slashers, the second comments on sequels, the third comments on trilogies, the fourth comments on reboots/remakes and the fifth... comments on fandom.

This is the part that bugs me the most. The "clever" Hollywood trick of putting the other side's talking points into the mouths of villains (as if that magically refutes something) is employed here.

Honestly, why? It's generally known that Scream fans adore the original but tend to have mixed opinions about the sequels. But, afaik, no significant number of Scream fans have ever gone on the warpath about it. They prefer the first movie and that's that. So, Scream 2022's attack on fandom is completely uncalled for.

I wouldn't have even posted about this. I would've just watched the movie, probably thought "Meh, not as good as the original, but still decent" and left it at that. But the swipes at fans provoked me, I guess. Hence, starting this thread.

Would Wes Craven have allowed the criticism of the fans? Maybe. But maybe not. His career was due in no small part to fan loyalty. At a minimum, I don't think he would've allowed the fans to get broadsided as badly as they did in this movie. A passing joke, maybe. Maybe. But not a go-for-the-jugular attack.

In the end, I don't recommend watching this movie if you're ANY kind of fan. Which is unfortunate because there are some pretty effective moments going on here. Dewey's death, Skeet Ulrich as "Billy Loomis", Sam going berserk on Richie, Richie and Amber's sick and twisted relationship, etc. There ARE good ideas going on here.

But the good just plain doesn't outweigh the bad.

[thecolorsblend]

Over in The Flash thread, there's been a lot of discussion about fan edits.

In the main, I sort of look down my nose at fan edits. For every Maple Films edit of The Hobbit trilogy (which is actually good), you get dozens more fan edits that are incomprehensible at best or damage the original at worst.

But when it comes to the Scream franchise, I've found something where a fan edit might be an actual improvement. Scream 4.

Now, I enjoy the film overall. I consider it to be a worthy addition to the franchise. But there's a pretty big problem with it:

All or most of the scenes have some kind of weird color grading going on that shifts the pallet to gold spectrum. I have no idea what creative purpose that's supposed to serve. But every scene has that color grading going on.

It gets to be distracting at times, where Kirby sometimes looks like she's a serious case of jaundice going on.

This is something a fan edit could actually improve without changing anything else with the film. Leave the film alone exactly as it is. But simply fix that piss yellow sheen that everything seems to have and you'll probably elevate the film at least half a point in my book.

[thecolorsblend]

'Scream 7' Faces Full Creative Reboot After Losing Jenna Ortega; Neve Campbell and Patrick Dempsey on Wish List (EXCLUSIVE)

Not even Ghostface could see this twist coming.

The "Scream" franchise lost two stars this week, putting the seventh film in the series in a creative conundrum, according to sources familiar with the project.

Variety broke the news that Melissa Barrera was fired by Spyglass, the film's producer, in recent days over social media messages that it deemed to be antisemitic (specifically, posts regarding the Israel-Hamas war). That decision was made after the company was notified that Jenna Ortega, whose star has risen considerably since she joined the beloved Wes Craven horror series, would not return due to a scheduling conflict with the second season of her smash Netflix hit "Wednesday." Barrera and Ortega play sisters in the films.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/scream-7-eyes-neve-campbell-patrick-dempsey-to-return-1235805929

Try as I might, I just can't see how this isn't a fatal blow to Scream 07. Recasting both roles seems unlikely. Or at least, it seems unrealistic.

At the same time, I don't see how the narrative can organically shift back to Sydney Prescott considering the direction that Scream 05 and 06 took.

Honestly, Scream 07's best choice might be to retcon the previous movies out of existence. Fittingly enough, Halloween did the exact same thing with its seventh film.

So, maybe now is the perfect time for that? Of course, you have to wonder what would get retconned. 05 and 06 for sure. But maybe 04 too? Then again, do you actually want to retcon a Scream film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven? I'm thinking probably not.

Anyway. That's the best idea that I've got. At the bare minimum, it looks 05 and 06 have go to go since there's no real way to complete that storyline now. At least, not with those characters.

But if any of you have a different angle, lay it on me.

[The Joker]

If they shift back to Sydney, which is looking likely right now as they have to do something to salvage losing not one, but two of the leads in 5 and 6, they are going to have to be extremely clever in doing so. Don't really know how that could be pulled off though? At least in a satisfying manner that doesn't come across as incredibly hamfisted considering what the previous installment was clearly pushing towards. I guess you could just say that Samantha Carpenter has decidedly defeated the inclination to submitting to the darkness of the Loomis family tree, and went off somewhere, but that just comes across as a Scream 6 Sydney redux hackneyed explanation.

I don't really think retconning 5 and 6 is going to happen (though that would be hilarious), but again, they are going to have to be extremely clever in trying to make chicken salad out of this predicament.