Ash_Williamz

Where to start... Right from the beginning when they announced a TV show instead of a new movie, my heart sank deep. I've been begging and hoping for a fifth movie to conclude the Scream series once and for all, but 4 years after, the master himself has passed away and Bob Weinstein was a stubborn moron, who missed his chance to earn big money… I love the Scream series, and I've been a huge fan, ever since I first watched the movies all the way back in 2008. I've watched most of Wes' movies, and he's by far my favorite horror director. Both "Scream" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" has made a huge impact on me, more so than any other horror series. But this… "show" is just a giant middle finger to fans' faces everywhere, and a disgrace to the late Wes Craven.

Like I said, I never really anticipated this series. But I occasionally read up on news & rumors, just in case it turned out to be an ambitious project after all. Rumors that it would have super natural elements and that the killer might be super natural, instantly turned me off and the news that it would be a MTV show just ruined it for me... I can't stand any MTV show, with their incredibly low-budget, amateurish cinematography and overall general artificial "modern" style, product placements and actors, all cater to brain-dead teens who thinks maps didn't exist before Google was invented. However, I decided to give it a go, once I found out about the unfortunate passing of Sir Craven a couple of weeks ago.

Well, first of all, this isn't ANYTHING like Scream AT ALL! It takes place in a COMPLETELY different town, which is not okay at all! It's like if the "Nightmare" films all took place anywhere else but Elm Street! Secondly, the Killer doesn't even wear the iconic Ghostface mask and robe, but instead a 5$ cheap plastic mask, that looks like something bought from Toys 'R' Us, and a freakin' RAINCOAT! Could it possibly be any more ridiculous and further away from anything "horror" like. It would be like if Jason Voorhees didn't wear his iconic hockey mask and machete, but instead a chainsaw and a skeleton mask. It wouldn't be anything like Friday the 13th! You can't just make a show called "Scream" and not have it have the characteristic defining franchise elements, such as the iconic Ghostface costume and the iconic Ghostface VOICE! I absolutely HATE the new voice, it isn't anything like Roger Jackson's. His voice was genuinely terrifying and you instantly knew that something was about to go down, once you heard his distinctive voice!

The whole "mystery" ordeal (whodunit?) is gone too. They tricked the viewer into believing that the person who was revealed to be the killer in the finale, couldn't be him (what is "he" called anyway? He isn't Ghostface!). But not in a clever way like the movies, more like a really lazy way. The final reveal/showdown was the most anti-climactic moment in the franchise's history. I mean, even Scream 3's reveal was pretty climactic! The Killer is anything but scary, the persona is as far away from the spirit of "Scream" as can be. The show is more like a teenage drama, it doesn't even contain horror elements at all. The directorial style is also very unfitting for horror movies/shows, but it fits perfectly with the drama-queen style of MTV shows. It's like watching Twilight the TV show (not the Twilight Zone, but the vampire movies). Constant unnecessary teenage BS drama, that the viewers couldn't give two $hits about, and no horror or suspense whatsoever during the ENTIRE show! The only thing horrifying about this show, is the acting and unintentionally comical deaths and complete lack of plot. It's as if the writers couldn't figure out where they wanted to go with the story, so they wrote a bunch of random things on a piece of paper and put it in the word blender. Literally nothing was interesting about any of the episodes at all. We didn't care for any of the characters, unlike in the movies, so whether they died or not was completely pointless.

The new Sidney Prescott was just slightly below average and the new Randy was tolerable at times, but still overall annoying. It was nice with the homages to the movies and a couple of "Elm Street" references were also thrown in, but it still felt forced and didn't really fit in. Overall, unless you're a hardcore fan of Wes and in particular his "Scream" movies, don't bother with this. The show is not just bad, it's seriously awful. My hopes for a fifth Scream movie, will never be fulfilled. Without Wes, this series is nothing. If only Bob Wienerstein wasn't such a greedy corporate bastard, he would've been able to see past his ridiculously high expectations for the box office gross, and realize that it was because the series had been dead for over 10 years, and Wes would've gotten to make his real final chapter, to close this milestone franchise. But it's too late now. Wienerstein is an incompetent idiot for purposely holding back this franchise and loose out on hundreds of millions of dollars with new films.

R.I.P. "Scream"... We will always have the movies, but we will never get full closure...

To the late Wes; you were a legend. You were one of the most influential film makers of all time. You single handedly pulled a "Nintendo" and revived the horror genre back when I was born in 1996, and you forever changed the genre with many of your movies. You gave us Freddy Krueger, Ghostface and Johnny Depp. You will forever hold a special place in horror fans' hearts, you will never be forgotten in the vast world of cinema and your legacy will live on.

R.I.P. Wesley Earl Craven; 1939-2015

This is a movie about every mother's worst nightmare; the fear of having your baby taken from you. A relatively taboo subject, that get's tackled masterfully in this flick. I was thoroughly surprised at how intense and beautiful this movie was, given that it largely takes place inside a house. This film is disturbing, violent and bloody but it isn't without artistic value. This is extreme art house cinema, with lots of symbolism.

The high- and low-key settings is used beautifully and really draws in the viewer and encourages you to think about what you see, while forcing you to concentrate about every scene. The colors are used so excellently, so subtlety and yet not so subtlety if you know about movie symbolism. It directly affects your mood and sets the tone perfectly, along with the intense and sad music. This is a movie, that makes you feel something that you don't want to feel, but that it reminds you, that you are alive.

Even though I didn't understand a word they said (watched it without subtitles), I understood everything as it unfolded right before my eyes. That is no easy task to accomplish for a movie, spoken in a language you do not understand. After waiting many years to watch this film, simply because I thought the plot sounded incredibly generic, my only regret is that I can't unwatch it. Not that I thought it was too extreme, but simply because I haven't watched a movie yet that holds up to this amount of artistic value, and certainly not in the horror genre. I have watched a few art house cinema, but I thought they were boring. I have yet to watch any of the other movies from the New French Extremism, but I can't wait to get started.

This is not a movie for the faint of heart or pregnant women. But if you like extreme, thought provoking horror and films, that isn't extreme just for the sake of controversy, then you're gonna love this. I will definitely buy this movie to add to my collection sometime soon.

Shot on a shoestring-budget, you can clearly see it is rather amateurishly shot (which is also excused by the fact that this is Jackson's directorial debut), but the gore effects are pretty impressive considering the low production values, even if it was made nearly three decades ago. The amateurish acting (except for the alien leader), along with the cinematography and special effects were done in true 80's style, back when movies didn't rely on CGI but instead on "real" special effects, which adds to it's charm. If this was made 10 years ago, it would've been much less charming.

The movie is pretty simple, which means you can just turn your brain off and enjoy the movie for what it is; A comedy splatterfest with no gimmicks, or hidden messages. The gore is so over-the-top that you can't help but find it hilarious every time brains gets splattered all over the place. The film doesn't try to take itself serious in any way, which just further adds to it's comedic values. The character of Derek is the funniest one in the film, and he has some pretty hilarious one-liners; "I'm a Derek and Derek's don't run", "The headshot's the only true stopper", "I'm born again" (the last remark should be taken into context with the climax).

Overall, not a bad movie, even though it may at first glance look like one. It's understandable that this movie has gained a cult-following. I would definitely recommend it to fans of gore and horror, if they haven't already seen it.