There’s a new TV show coming to MTV, based on Scream, the 1996 movie directed by Wes Craven which revolutionised the horror genre with it’s cineliterate, post-modern script written by Kevin Williamson. Neither of those franchise masterminds are on board for this show which essentially looks like the sort of thing that the original film parodied. Other than a mention that making a TV show into a slasher movie is a bad idea (how that will come back to haunt them) there’s no sign of the knowing, sharp wit which was a hallmark of the franchise.
Also missing, is the Ghostface mask which was a mainstay of the films, and usually spin-offs like to exploit all of the icons. Who thinks it’s a rights issue? Also no one asks, “What’s your favourite scary movie?” which is just disappointing.
The final film was Scream 4 back in 2011, which was hoped would launch a new trilogy but it proved to have a somewhat lacklustre box office, despite being a creative renaissance following the mediocre (and Kevin Williamson-lite) Scream 3. Maybe Scream just doesn’t work without Kevin, but he’s too busy playing with vampires to notice.
Scream arrives on MTV 30 June 2015
Be the first to comment