Welcome back. Happy Scream Day. It feels like it's a bit like Christmas in the horror community as Scream (2022) is seeing its release. I'm pretty excited for it. I have made sure to successfully stay away from any of the articles that are out there. For me, that's a pretty heavy accomplishment as there have been films in the past where I immediately jumped to those - the Star Wars sequel trilogy being the best example. The plan is to hopefully go this weekend. Originally, I did have a plan to do my ranking of the films but am holding off till seeing the newest installment. So stay tuned for that and for my review on that.
Yesterday, I strongly felt like it was fitting to share my article on the impact that Wes Craven had on my life. The Legacy of Ghostface was another fun article where I got to explore each of the different killers in the franchise. It led me to thinking bout the outliers in the franchise: Dead by Daylight and the TV Series. Both are their own thing and can stand apart from the films, but they are a part of this franchise.
When MTV first announced they were going to be bringing Scream to the small screen, I was confused. I immediately raised my eyebrow and questioned it. Why? Why is this something that needs to happen? We were 4 years out from Scream 4 at that point. Why couldn't we receive a sequel? But then I immediately laughed to myself, Scream 4 was a solid entry but it kind of made it difficult to do another film. It was a fitting coda to the trilogy of films. Okay, so bring on the TV Series.
At that point, I had seen Teen Wolf. I enjoyed Teen Wolf quite a bit. Stiles is an amazing character. But that's a whole other thing entirely. The thing that Teen Wolf had managed to do though, it gave me a small bit of hope. It made me believe that MTV could do something different with this series. I mean Wes Craven had signed off and wanted to help as Executive Producer with it. That's a pretty big sign of faith in it. Unfortunately, we ended up losing Wes too soon. I decided that I'd give the show a chance and go in with an open mind.
Now, I'm sure there are a lot of people that don't want anything to do with this and that's okay. This wasn't entirely everyone's thing. It seems like a lot of people didn't like it because it wasn't like the films. For me, I think this is why I appreciate the series. It's not specifically trying to be a carbon copy of the films. Yeah, it's trying to do things a bit differently.
Gone are any connections to the films and that includes Ghostface. That's honestly a bit okay. What we have is a little interesting with the story of Brandon James. It built up an idea of who he was and why he could be the one responsible for the murders. It also gave us a new mask. That was one of the biggest things I remember hearing bout when the show was releasing: "It's not Ghostface. It's a whole other mask entirely.". But honestly, at least they gave us a good in-world reason for why the mask is the way it is. They could have easily just chosen to ignore it entirely. But instead, it was used as a post-operational mask to keep Brandon's face in place and to protect from infections. That's a very solid reason to me.
Outside of Brandon and the mask, the show was a bit shallow. I will give it that. It was heavy on the teenage drama. But come on, it's an MTV show. There were some of the characters that did hit (Audrey and Noah) and some that were annoying as hell. The main character of Emma was a bit of a wish-wash. There were times where she was a bit strongly written. But for the most part, it felt like maybe they missed the casting as she is a bit of a bar of soap.
There were even times where it would go in a certain direction that felt out of place completely. I chalk up those random tangents to a high episode count. Honestly with the first season, it felt okay at ten episodes. Could it have been trimmed down to maybe eight? I'm sure there probably could have been a way to do that somehow. But it didn't feel completely like it was overstaying its welcome. It was the second season where they decided to give us 13 episodes - 12 episodes and a Halloween Special. That's where my issues with the random tangents and plot contrivances were starting to come to the forefront. It didn't help at the time that MTV was in a bit of flux with releasing the episodes consistently. Overall, I stayed with the show to see it through. I was very curious as to where they were going to take a season 2 and figure who was responsible. Not a surprise, the reveal in Season 2 was a bit lackluster. However, the ending of Season 2 set up a very intriguing idea as it was signaling a return of the Brandon James character.
Season 1 was a bit solid. But Season 2 missed the mark due to network issues and trying to capitalize so hard on the success of Season 1. Season 2 should have been a bit bolder. It felt like they were trying to much to play things safe. This is especially felt with characters surviving for so long. It felt like you had a basic feel of who was safe. There were risks. So all suspense there could be was a bit nonexistent.
There were some solid kills in the show. They were not afraid to let the blood fly at times. The biggest example is in the second half of season 1. It may have felt a little like something out of a SAW film with its trap feel. But it worked really well and then it showered the screen with red. There were times where it felt like they were thinking a little more outside the box of just having all the kills be typical stabby stab.
After MTV released Season 2 and saw the response, they realized that they had messed up. They had betrayed the fans of Season 1 with a bit of an inferior product. Quickly, they chose to rework things with Resurrection. Resurrection left behind everything that had been shown in the first 2 seasons. We were thrown out of Lakewood and dropped into Atlanta. Then on top of that upheaval, Resurrection would be dropped by MTV and picked up by VH1.
It had now become an anthology series, akin to trying to capitalize on the American Horror Story love at the time. Something everyone thought would lure fans back in was the return of the Ghostface mask. For the cast of Resurrection, I appreciate RJ Cyler. He delivered a super solid performance. We also saw Tony Todd make an appearance. The story was a bit generic overall. I don't mind it to an extent. It's different to the previous 2 seasons. But one could say that it was a knee-jerk reaction of trying to right the ship. If the first 2 seasons were on one side, this would on the other end of it. It was a season that was emulating the films a bit too much at times.
There has been mention of another season. I'm not going to say that it's an absolute thing. But there is a small possibility of returning to the world of Lakewood and finishing the that was set up in Season 2's cliffhanger. If that happens, okay. I will check it out. Maybe there's a way of finishing it out. It could be nice for those who enjoyed the series. Just don't let it overstay its welcome - keep episode count down. It'll allow them to focus the story instead of the filler and plot contrivances that effected Season 2.
In the end, Scream the TV Series was an interesting experiment. It did prove that it could come to the small screen. Could elements of it be seen as a cash grab from Those-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Hollywood Brothers? Sure. Is it a part of the franchise? Yeah. I honestly will say that it's not that bad of a remake.
For some people, they may give it a shot and like it. For one man's trash could be another's treasure.
Happy Scream Day. Enjoy the new movie and here's a special note.
Follow BlazinBlue's Horror Review on Facebook and Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment