It's been a little while since our last outing. I know there is a little bit of continuity error since our last chat, but I tried my darndest to find the words to pen for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, 5, and 6, so let me just sum up my thoughts for you before we continue:
I didn't like them. On one hand I was simultaneously impressed and appalled by the writing in the three movies. The plots and weak excuses to bring Freddy back were awful. Absolutely awful. But the dialogue, especially Freddy's, was great. The imagery was also fantastic. But I wouldn't watch them again.
OKAY! On to Scream!
So way back when when they first announced the series and its concept everyone was angry. Not just skeptical, mind you, because its the internet. They were fuming. Which I thought was strange, because most horror fans I know hate Scream and consider it the end of classic horror instead of it being a revitalizing of the slasher genre. But people were mad, all the same. And why were they mad? Because Scream: The TV Series was announced to have nothing to do with the films from which it borrows its namesake.
The TV series doesn't have Ghostface or Sidney or Dewey or even connections through characters as small as Randy's distant distant distant relative. No, everything about the series is original. Original killer, original mask. Original heroine, original movie geek. Original original original--which makes people mad.
Don't get me wrong, I think they had a little right to be mad. Everything fans loved about the movies was being discarded to bring in something new, and its hard for people to accept that sort of change sometimes. But Scream The TV Series has managed to be something new while successfully translating what made the movies fun to a TV audience.
Because it's a TV Series it's going to take longer to establish who characters are. It's not like a movie where they have to cram character development quickly and you get that immediate satisfaction of knowing who these characters are. Scream takes its time, but unfortunately at first you have to be subjected to MTV levels of drama while you wait to learn the big stuff. That is pretty much the only big adjustment you will have to make as a member of the audience.
The rest of the show is good solid Scream fun. It's actually kind of like a remake of the first film, with the second season bringing in elements from the second film.
You have Emma--new Sidney--Noah--new Randy--Brooke--new Tatum--Will and Jake--Billy and Stu, though with a twist, and then there's Piper, the new Gale...it's all very familiar, but different. Consequently there is a new Ghostface character: Branden James. James has a very Ghostface-esque mask, and the killer who comes to Lakewood wearing that same mask borrows a lot of familiar elements from the old Ghostface character: creepy Munch-esque mask, creepy voice to make phone calls with, etc.
I was surprised when I was watching just how well they put the movie concept into the TV show, and despite having no familiar characters the show manages to follow the beats of the first movie really well. And then its even more fun when you're following those beats and the show does something to go against what you thought you knew.
Give Scream: The TV Series a shot, if you're a fan of the movies. Just have more patience for a ten episode show. You should already be a patient person anyways.
I give Scream a B+. Solidly entertaining. Don't expect a masterpiece.
