Scream-Trilogy

The thought of a remake hitting our screens, billed with the title “Scream” sends a chill through me, as I’m sure it does the rest of you. I can see the trailer now: a shot of a modern-day starlet from some Vampire Diaries/Secret Circle/Glee/Gossip Girl/90210-type show answering her phone (a tiny cell phone rather than a clunky white cordless house phone) and hearing that familiar question, “what’s your favorite scary movie?” – but not in Roger Jackson’s familiar drawl, instead possibly voiced by the Dad from The OC! Then we see a clip of someone who is now playing Sidney. And then Dewey. Then Gale. A re-vamped version of new-Tatum stuck in the garage door, or perhaps some other modern electronic home appliance; a shot of new-Randy pausing a DVD (not video) of Halloween (Zombie, not Carpenter) and explaining “the rules”. A headline flashing up on somebody’s I-Pad about Cotton Weary’s trial.

I think to us lot, who are fans of the existent, original Scream series, the thought of a remake is sacrilege. Right here, right now, in 2012, when the original Scream was only made about 15 years ago, it absolutely seems too soon to think about remaking it. But a major issue with Scream 4 not being as popular at the box office was that it’s a continuation to a series that stood still for 10 years before resurfacing. We all loved that it happened, of course, but I guess lots of people had forgotten about the series or the “kids” of today didn’t really understand it.

Don’t get me wrong, I am so gunning for Scream 5 to happen, and then Scream 6. As long as they do it properly, they can keep them coming. But thinking outside the box, a remake wouldn’t be THAT horrendous if it appeared way in the future. I’m 27 but when I’m, say, 57, Scream is going to look outdated and there’ll be a whole new generation who will see it as an old film, like we see films from the 70s now. So if they remake it in, say, 30 years time, that new generation probably won’t have seen the original and it will be totally new to them. Someone commented on Scream4Fan’s article about the pointlessness of a remake, as we would know who the killer was going to be and already know how Casey Becker’s scene would materialize etc. But the new set of people watching it won’t have a clue and to them it will probably be amazing (as long as the filmmakers replicated it excellently). If anything, a remake in the future might simply bring the original to the attention of the younger generation in years to come. They would probably then dig it out of the archives and appreciate it for its brilliance.

I saw the recent Friday The 13th remake and consequently made an effort to watch the original series from 30 years ago, and appreciated them more. The same thing could happen with Scream. I personally also think Rob Zombie did a decent job with Halloween – the original Halloween will always be the king, but he made it his own by focusing more on Michael Myers’ childhood and directed it from a different slant, and, as a separate film, I thought it was good. Likewise, I like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Hills Have Eyes remakes. What I’ve enjoyed about these (and Halloween) is that their consequent sequels (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, H2 and The Hills Have Eyes 2) have then been totally new stories, allowing the same franchise to be modernized and developed with new ideas – it has allowed them to grow.

Look, I know a lot of diehard fans may very well be reeling at some of my comments here, as so many people HATE remakes and I know there’s a lot of hate for the Zombie Halloween series, but I’m trying to look at it objectively from the viewpoint of a future, younger audience. I absolutely, 100% do not want a Scream remake anytime soon. I am pro-Scream 5 all the way. But if in 30 years time one surfaced, I wouldn’t hate it – nor would I be surprised. It could even, in the style of the Halloween, Hills…, Texas… remakes veer off into a series of new, original stories. We may one day, as a result, have an alternate Scream 3, which betters the original Scream 3, which is widely criticized as the weakest of the franchise (much like the two different versions of Stab 3 – art imitating art).

Another of the comments made on Scream4Fan’s article suggested that Scream 4 should have been a kind of remake of Scream but with different characters and a new plot – just the common trend of Ghostface. This is something I would loathe to see happen, personally. One of my pet-hates in a franchise is when a “sequel” has absolutely nothing to do with the original story. I don’t understand the point of it and feel that it is a pathetic excuse to make a film – almost as if the studio couldn’t be bothered to come up with a new creative idea and so instead ride on the coat-tails of another successful series. Prime examples are several of the original Halloween films which did not feature Laurie Strode (and in the case of Halloween 3, not even feature Michael Myers) and I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, which to this day infuriates me. I want desperately for someone out there to greenlight a remake of that movie but with Jennifer, Freddie & Brandy and a fisherman who is not an invincible zombie! I want to know what happened to Julie when she was dragged under that bed, not what happens to some random group of kids in a different town who have nothing to do with the original plotline.

Another suggestion from a reader was to stop calling Scream sequels 4, 5, 6 and so forth and instead try out a Scream: Resurrection type style. I say please Lord no – especially if the title reflects the horrendous quality of film that was Halloween: Resurrection.

The prospect of a remake, way in the future, COULD be an exciting opportunity to develop things that were perhaps, dare I say it, underdeveloped in the original. Like Zombie developed Myers’ childhood, and the Friday The 13th remake brutalized and re-invented the deaths from the original, Scream: The Remake could throw in new characters to be gloriously killed off; we might actually get to see Principal Himbrey strung up on the goalpost; what if Casey gets to her parents in time, but Ghostface horrifyingly kills them in front of her before finishing her off; what if he doesn’t kill them but instead we get to see their reactions beyond the opening sequence; the remake might choose to open the movie instead with Maureen Prescott’s backstory – the new Scream opening might very well be the night she was killed, rather than opening with Casey Becker – perhaps she was killed after a taunting phone call; there might be opportunity here to foreshadow the Roman Bridger/brother development that later came about – we could see Bridger influencing Billy and Stu; could one of the killers perhaps survive and be sent to jail, to return in a new remake version of Scream 2?

I’m sure plenty of you are hating my written butchery of the original Scream. But understand that I am in awe of the original as much as the rest of you. I’m just elaborating on the possibilities that a remake, way in the future, could bring. Let’s hope that if it happens, we can reconvene in 2042 and dissect a new Scream that has done the original justice and not torn it to shreds. Perhaps wishful thinking, but you never know…

Perhaps not.

After Scream 4 was in theaters for a month and tanked the money, some people said it would have done better in the Box Office if it was a Remake – since hearing “Scream 4″ after a 10 year gap, people would think it won’t be entertaining especially with the “4″ in the name. Others think it would have done better with advertising.

The Weinsteins are already working on a storyline for Scream 5. So would you prefer seeing a Remake of Scream or seeing a continuation of the new trilogy?

Myself, I prefer Scream 5. Having a Remake of Scream would annoy me and it would disrespect all the fans out there who love this Franchise. It has that element that makes us love Scream.

Many of us know that Kevin tweets daily and that he is starting a new Serial Killer show that starts next year. When Kevin was writing Scream 4 he tweeted about it and if you remember some of his tweets it sounds very similar to what he is tweeting about now (very Scream-ish).

His recent tweets:

Fun speculation of course, but is it possible he is referring to Scream 5?

Written by Liver Alone for Scream-Trilogy

So I’m casually browsing the web when I hear that Paranormal Activity 3 garnered a smashing $50 million opening weekend at the North American box office, and as a Scream fan, all the bitterness and swallowed pride from six months prior came rummaging back up.  You see, in the run up to Scream 4‘s release I had gotten my hopes up that the movie would bring back the series’ box office glory days and be the first unambiguous horror movie to smash the $50 million mark on its opening weekend.

It didn’t happen.  It really didn’t happen.

In fact, Scream 4 became arguably the biggest surprise disappointment in recent box office memory.  What’s worse, it seemed like the movie would always fall just short of any kind of silver lining, as if there were nothing we could point to in which we could say, “well, at least it’s doing that well.”  Maybe it’ll at least get a $20 million weekend, that still sound somewhat impressive, right?  No, the estimate turned out to be $19 million.  Well, at least it’s practically $20 million, right?  The actual number turned out to be $18 million.  Well, maybe it’ll have legs like the first Scream!  Instead, the film wound up closing at $38 million, which is about how much most people predicted for its first weekend.

The three films in the Scream trilogy are still the biggest slasher films ever at the box office.  Scream 4?  #20.

The aftermath is almost as bad.  When films bomb, support gets pulled, and Scream 4 is no different.  Despite a generally favorable critical reception, Scream 4 was passed over in awards it should have been up for (the recent Scream Awards snub being the biggest sting, I mean come on) and generally wound up being quietly dropped from the media consciousness.

Paranormal Activity 3‘s success may have brought back these bitter feelings for a bit, but it helped when I recalled what helped me get over them in the first place.  First off, it’s good to have a bit of perspective: as disappointing as its takings are, Scream 4 was still seen and appreciated by millions of people worldwide.  Even more than that, though, there are possible good things to come out of even this situation:

Scream 4 has the makings of a cult hit.

It’s weird to think of the most mainstream horror series having an entry that could be considered a ‘cult’ favorite, and perhaps it’s not the best descriptor.  But it has the qualities of a film whose reputation in the long run overshadows its tepid box office reception in its infancy: think Blade Runner, The Thing, or The Shawshank Redemption.

The majority of reviews for Scream 4 were positive, and what’s more, the positive reviews were a lot more enthusiastic than the negative ones.  Add in that the negative reviews seemed like they weren’t sure what to make of the movie (the most common complaint was that in the end, the movie hadn’t really shaken things up cast-wise, even though that was kind of the whole point of the movie).

Generally, when a film gets mixed reviews, the most passionate response is the one that sticks.  Believe it or not, Star Wars Episode I was not nearly as poorly received as you might think: it’s just that the portion of the audience that was disappointed was much more passionate in their opinion than those that liked it.  The result? Years later, Episode I is mostly remembered as a near-disaster.

This bodes well for the future of Scream 4, as its advocates are a lot more fervent than its detractors.

The Scream saga is fine as it is.

I never really needed a Scream 4. I was happy that we got one, and a part of me always assumed that there would be one someday in a Halloween: H2O fashion, but it wouldn’t have bothered me if it didn’t happen.  The story of Scream had wrapped up in the prior trilogy, and we got to see our characters enter “happily ever after.”

Had Scream 4 been a smash, the Weinsteins would have immediately greenlit a Scream 5.  But if I didn’t really need a Scream 4, I really don’t need a Scream 5 or 6.  Scream 4 is a fine reunion movie, an epilogue to the series.  What place is there for a Scream 5?  Where do you go from here?  How do you justify the same events happening over and over again without it getting ridiculous?

It’s telling that a lot of casual moviegoers’ first reaction to the Scream 4 marketing was, “Scream FOUR?”  I think for many people Scream was the “smart” horror movie. It’s the series that knew better than to overstay its welcome: no characters came back as a zombie, Sidney and friends didn’t get launched into space, and–this one a fact celebrated and flaunted by Scream 4 itself–it didn’t get rebooted.  Even Scream 4 was a bit much for many to swallow, let alone a fifth or sixth iteration.

Especially considering Wes Craven’s ideas for the future include possibly killing off the main characters (because dumping on a prior movie’s ending worked well in other series, right?), it seems, now more than ever, we should leave Scream be with its dignity intact.  If it takes Scream 4 bombing in order to achieve that, then so be it.

Scream‘s coronation

My favorite thing about Scream 4‘s release, beyond even the film itself, is that it brought about a collective cultural retrospective of the original trilogy, especially the first film.  Not only did we get two awesome documentaries about the series, the plethora of marketing for Scream 4–the TV interviews, the magazines, the blogs–doubled as a look back at the movie series that redefined horror and shook up the film medium 15 years prior.

The veneration of Scream is something that isn’t marred by Scream 4‘s box office upset.  In fact, Scream 4‘s release helped bring it about even earlier.  I think Scream fans had always known the film would one day be considered a bona fide classic.  That day has come.

“Liver Alone” is the alias of Scott Kessinger, who is the author of the book Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized Analysis.

Information’s been scarce on the upcoming nonfiction Scream text… until now.  Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized Analysis has an official site now that lays it all out.  The book is set for an October 25 release and will be available exclusively (at least for the time being) through Amazon.  In fact, it’s already availble for pre-order.

The site includes a chapter list that gives us an idea for what topics the book goes into:

Part I-  Scream
What the Hell is it?
The Disrupted Deconstruction
Sex and the Final Girl
Billy’s Reel Life and the Battle of the Sexes
A Ghostface in the Machine

Part II- Scream 2
A Stab in the Black
The Walking Question Mark
Derek and Mrs. Loomis: The Sexes Strike Again
Mickey, Cotton, and Sidney’s Media Matters

Part III- Scream 3
Roman’s Hollywood Horror
Dewey and Gale: A Real Life Movie Romance

Part IV- Scream 4
The State of Horror in 2011
The Unexpected: The New Cliché
Kill Jill
Meet the New Media, Same as the Old Media
Surviving in a Post-Scream World
Scream Echoes

As well as the book’s specifications:

Specs

Authored by Scott Kessinger

First Edition

Publication date: 2011

5″ x 8″ (12.7 x 20.32 cm)
Black & White on White paper
160 pages

Stinger Books
ISBN-13: 978-0615545790
ISBN-10: 0615545793
BISAC: Performing Arts / Film & Video / History & Criticism