SCREAM
Scream was just about the perfect slasher movie. The casting was great (introducing one of horror's best all-time Final Girls in Sidney Prescott and two great supporting characters in Gail Weathers and Deputy Dewey), Wes Craven's direction was great (especially the 52 fake out with the opening murder scene that saw the film's biggest name in Drew Barrymoore being killed), Kevin Williamson's self-aware dialog was refreshing and the twist was a complete shock.
:ebert::ebert::ebert::ebert:
SCREAM 2
Not as good as the original but still a worthy follow-up and a really good slasher film. Scream 2 had a lot of highlights for me from one of my favorite "Doomed Victim Chase Scenes" (Sarah Michelle Gellar's poor sorority girl Cici), a complete gut punch with the death of Randy, and a really cool opening sequence that was almost the equal of the one from the first movie. Sadly, things fell apart in the final third of the film with the overly convoluted reveal of the identities of the new killers.
:ebert::ebert::ebert:
SCREAM 3
The wheels began to fall off with this third installment. It stopped being the irreverent commentary on slasher films that the first two were and instead became just another silly slasher film. This is most likely due to the third film not being written by Williamson. This film made an attempt at being meta by placing the action around the making of a film on the murders from the original Scream but it just felt very rote and paint by numbers. And like the second movie the big reveal of who was doing the killing was a complete mess. I did find Parker Posey's portrayal of a flighty Hollywood star playing Gail Weathers to be really good and probably the single highlight of the movie.
:ebert:
SCREAM 4
Craven and Williamson reunited behind the scenes and the 3 primary characters from the franchise returned with a fresh cast of younger actors highlighted by Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere. Scream 4 also had a really fun intro scene that poked fun at the Scream franchise just as the original poked fun at the slasher horror genre. The biggest issue with Scream 4 was the wasted opportunity to truly jump start the franchise again by doing away with the old guard. Instead all three of the veteran actors survived and the movie suffered because of that inability to be bold which is ironic considering that bold irreverence was the calling card of the first film that started this whole franchise rolling.
:ebert::ebert:
Scream was just about the perfect slasher movie. The casting was great (introducing one of horror's best all-time Final Girls in Sidney Prescott and two great supporting characters in Gail Weathers and Deputy Dewey), Wes Craven's direction was great (especially the 52 fake out with the opening murder scene that saw the film's biggest name in Drew Barrymoore being killed), Kevin Williamson's self-aware dialog was refreshing and the twist was a complete shock.
:ebert::ebert::ebert::ebert:
SCREAM 2
Not as good as the original but still a worthy follow-up and a really good slasher film. Scream 2 had a lot of highlights for me from one of my favorite "Doomed Victim Chase Scenes" (Sarah Michelle Gellar's poor sorority girl Cici), a complete gut punch with the death of Randy, and a really cool opening sequence that was almost the equal of the one from the first movie. Sadly, things fell apart in the final third of the film with the overly convoluted reveal of the identities of the new killers.
:ebert::ebert::ebert:
SCREAM 3
The wheels began to fall off with this third installment. It stopped being the irreverent commentary on slasher films that the first two were and instead became just another silly slasher film. This is most likely due to the third film not being written by Williamson. This film made an attempt at being meta by placing the action around the making of a film on the murders from the original Scream but it just felt very rote and paint by numbers. And like the second movie the big reveal of who was doing the killing was a complete mess. I did find Parker Posey's portrayal of a flighty Hollywood star playing Gail Weathers to be really good and probably the single highlight of the movie.
:ebert:
SCREAM 4
Craven and Williamson reunited behind the scenes and the 3 primary characters from the franchise returned with a fresh cast of younger actors highlighted by Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere. Scream 4 also had a really fun intro scene that poked fun at the Scream franchise just as the original poked fun at the slasher horror genre. The biggest issue with Scream 4 was the wasted opportunity to truly jump start the franchise again by doing away with the old guard. Instead all three of the veteran actors survived and the movie suffered because of that inability to be bold which is ironic considering that bold irreverence was the calling card of the first film that started this whole franchise rolling.
:ebert::ebert:
