I’m not into horror movies. I’m just…not. It’s not that I don’t like the gore, or the suspense, because when the two are done well it makes for a really exciting experience. But generally horror movies are so flat (or so overdone that they become flat) that I hardly find them worth watching. Of course there are some classics, The Birds, Night of the Living Dead, that practically spawned their own sub-genres with their genius. But I mean…I don’t even know how to properly state my case, because honestly the fact is I haven’t watched enough horror to really MAKE a case. So instead I’ll just shut up and tell you about Scream.
The first ten minutes of Scream are perfect. I had expected to let this movie play in the background while I worked on a project but man, that was not going to happen. This scene, which can only be described as a short in its own right, was so gripping I had to watch. This wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting something between Buffy and, I dunno, Orca or Harper’s Island or something. Cheese and fluff and gratuitous violence. This movie – whatever it was – I would watch.
Unfortunately the rest of the film didn’t live up to the suspense and glamorous evil that the first ten minutes promised. None of the characters were likable, except perhaps the bumbling deputy (played by David Arquette) and the “Best Friend” character (Rose McGowen), so I just kind of sat back and waited, trying to guess what order they’d get killed in.
Is it worth noting there are going to be spoilers? The movie’s fourteen years old already, everyone’s seen it that’s gonna see it, right?
I was surprised at the actual lack of death that went on in this movie. Generally speaking, that’s a good thing, but I felt like half the time was spent running around playing games, and not in the psychothriller cat-and-mouse way but in the “we need to waste time” kind of way. Early on they show us that the killer is clumsy, definitely not a professional, he trips and slips and generally isn’t all that scary except for the mask and the stabby end of his knife.
There are moments in the film that give us a peek at the cleverness of the filmmakers, minor things that could have added up to a better story given the chance. Billy’s “one phonecall” from jail is probably the best example of this. I think (and this isn’t much of a stretch) that the whole thing was dumbed down for teen audiences. I can hear you all now going WELL DUH, THAT’S THE POINT, and I say to you, well then, duh, I guess, that’s why I don’t like most horror movies.
Maybe the movie’s just outdated but it really just felt like everyone was acting on a higher level of stupid than anyone in the real world would. I want to hate it, but I can’t, because it knows what it is and it’s not meant to be brilliance.
4/10