Sunday, April 10, 2011

Top Ten WTF Moments of The Scream Trilogy

Scream 4 is just a mire 5 days away and my excitement for the film continues to grow as we inch closer to the release date! Every single piece of news regarding the new film drives me crazy and this right here is no different. Thanks to scream-trilogy.net we have the "Top Ten WTF Moments of The Scream Trilogy" complied by the site which takes the best scenes from all three films, the one that made you say -- WTF! So, whether or not they were good or bad, let’s look at my Top Ten WTF moments of the Scream Trilogy.



10.  “And the Killer Gives Mercy to….”
Scream 3 has the reputation of being the worst written movie of the bunch and this moment did not help at all. Having the slight tension of being sent faxes by the killer only to culminate in the house blowing up with one of them in it may (and may is a strong word) sound good on paper and having a house blow up in trailers and TV spots may seem cool, but the execution was poor. Why run into a house by yourself? And did anyone find the explosion a bit excessive? Someone would have smelt the gas. Well, as we all know, poor Tom didn't.

9. “Dewey, It’s got our voices.”
Ahh, the voice changer. In our hearts and in our minds since we first saw Scream. The ultimate disguise for any psycho who delights in chatting and slashing. However Scream 3 took it to a whole ‘nother level. Gale and Dewey stumble upon the voice changer in Milton’s mansion and discover that it has their voices along with many others, revealing to the audience just how Ghostface has been changing his voice through the whole story. (I would have said that he’s just very talented.) While this certainly is a cool piece of technology, it certainly seems improbable that anything like this could exist. But at least the idea of it is cool, right?

8. “I’m the Killer in Stab 3!”
Who didn’t love Parker Posey’s Jennifer Jolie? She was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stale movie. Her one-liners and delivery added some great humor to Scream 3, which is something that I enjoyed a lot about these movies. So, when we were nearing the final act and the body count was growing, we all were questioning if she would be sleeping with the fishes by the end. We got our answer as alas, she was stabbed in the secret passageway with Dewey shooting out the two-way mirror revealing her body mere seconds later. It was sad to see her go as I feel her humor was needed during the whole Sidney/Roman fight don’t you think?

7.  “Do as Mother tells you.”
Maureen Prescott. Without her, there would be no Scream. Life as we know it would be totally different. So, as the mystery of Scream 3 began to unfold and Mrs. Prescott’s past was revealed, we expected Sidney to become affected in some way. However, a dream sequence and possible “ghost” sighting later, we were left scratching our heads. Was Sidney supposed to be going crazy? Was it just to add tension to a somewhat tension-less movie? Whatever it was, I’m afraid to say it did not work really well. Having it omitted from the actual movie would not have had much of an effect, in my own opinion. Let’s hope we don’t see anymore “ghosts” anytime soon.

6. “It’s called a makeover, Gale…”
I cannot speak for the whole Scream fan community when I say that I did not really have an idea of who the killer was in Scream 2. Thus, I was very surprised when Debbie Salt turned out to be not only the killer, but Billy Loomis’s mother. The character of Debbie Salt was certainly a peculiar one, however, I felt that she had a place in this horror-comedy. You always need some sort of obsessed fan type in these movies and she fit the bill well. The transition from light-hearted, almost annoying reporter to psycho killer was very smooth, which only reflects the greatness of Williamson’s writing, Metcalfe’s acting, and Craven’s direction. Who would have thought that chick from Roseanne could get so knife happy?

5. “Stupid people go back…”
The police car scene during Scream 2 was one of the most tension-filled scenes throughout the whole trilogy. Having to crawl over a killer’s body, unable to see if he was really unconscious or waiting to strike had us all on pins and needles. When Hallie and Sid escaped, we could finally relax or so we thought. Sidney decided to end it once and for all and reveal the identity of the killer, so the horror would finally end. Alas, we weren’t getting off that easy. The killer disappeared from the car, reappeared and stabbed Hallie, and the rest is history. That shocking turn of events is enough to make us go, “WTF.”

4. “We all go a little mad sometimes…”
Scream had us constantly guessing as to who the killer was, while also keeping some characters at the forefront of our suspicions. Billy Loomis was no exception as it seemed that all signs pointed toward him as the movie went on, even though he was deemed innocent after the whole Sidney debacle. Imagine our surprise when he was stabbed right before our eyes after a hot, steamy “rule-breaking” session between him and our heroine, immediately eliminating him as a suspectLater on, it was revealed that he was actually really hurt, but still very much alive, causing us to heave a sigh of relief knowing that the killer didn’t get everyone Sid loved. Then, he shot Randy and we found out that he was the mastermind all along. The simple fact that Williamson and Craven were able to keep us guessing for so long and that they showed we should expect the unexpected with Scream made this moment a true WTF moment.

3. “Hang up the phone and star-69 his ass!”
There is always that danger of creating a sequel to a box-office smash hit because you are never able to really replicate that success ever again. It is especially hard to create a horror movie sequel since you have the added task of keeping the story fresh and falling into that danger zone of a supernatural killer who lives on for ten or so sequels. With Scream 2, the risk was taken and the rewards were oh-so-good. Clearly evident by the opening scene, Scream 2 was willing to change things up and therefore make for one hell of a movie. Having Stab playing while the murders occurred was extremely creative as it dealt with the self-referential nature of Scream we all know and love, while playing with the idea of life imitating art which came into place much later. The main part that made me go WTF was the fact that the murders happened in a full movie theater! It’s almost too perfect and yet that’s why its so great.  After that whole sequence, we knew that all bets were off and anything could happen.

2. “Showgirls. Absolutely frightening.”
I think it’s self-explanatory as to why this is a WTF moment. I mean, we all loved Randy (If you didn’t, then you have some sort of problem.) and having him go through Woodsboro only to die at Windsor was truly heartbreaking for all. I feel like I’m constantly repeating myself, but I sincerely do feel like this is another moment where we knew that no one was safe and anything could happen. Having a character who was extremely knowledgeable about the horror movie genre die in broad daylight really struck us hard. Knowing that we could lose a beloved character at any single moment kept us on edge and while we are still reeling from the shock of this, it isn’t the top moment that made me go WTF.

1. “What’s your favorite scary movie?”
December 1996. People flock to movie theaters to see the new horror movie that is defying all bad horror stereotypes. Drew Barrymore, an extremely well-known actress, is advertised as a lead in the movie, and this along with the fact that Wes Craven had directed it was enough for audiences to go see it. Those hoping to have a Drew-filled movie were highly disappointed as she was famously offed in the first 10 minutes, but not before being toyed with and tormented by a mysterious cloaked figure. It was so unexpected, so striking, so clever, that we immediately fell in love with Scream. Just the idea of killing off such a highly bankable actress in the first few minutes leaving the rest of the movie to lesser known celebrities (at the time) really made us go WTF. But it worked and that’s all that counts. This is definitely the top WTF moment of the Scream trilogy.

1 comment:

  1. Scream 2 had by far the best scenes. What about when Sidneys boyfriend sings that Top Gun (I think that's the film) song in the cafeteria?! And I absolutely LOVED when Gale was hiding in the sound booth place thing. And when shes quickly walking past these shelves, and you see behind her the killer is looking for her. The positioning of the camera was BRILLIANT and it sends chills up my spines EVERY time I watch that scene.

    All in all, Scream is the best horror franchise.

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