Review: MTV's Scream: the series - Episode 1

Full Disclosure up front, I am not the biggest fan of the Scream series overall. I do genuinely love the first one and still remember fondly the night me and my friends went to go see it for the first time. It was a refreshing horrific blast and everyone was into it. It at the time saved horror as well as damned it in a sense that everything that followed, stuck to the Scream template. The sequels at the time of their release were certainly enjoyable for what they were and there is no denying that the Ghostface costume itself is a horror icon even if it's rep has been tarnished by the goofy appearance it takes on in the Scary Movie films. Still as much good as I can say about the first film, there is twice as much bad as I can say about the 3 sequels that followed. With each sequels killer reveal growing increasingly silly, they lacked the excitement and even care that the first was handled with. They each certainly had their moments, but overall I find them to be not so great. Still with that being said, I have no problem with any horror fans loving them. I can totally see why fans of the series like it, regardless of my appreciation or lack thereof for it's sequels. The one thing the Scream films always had going for them, were characters you could relate to and or root for. Whether you were a fan of Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott, Jamie Kennedy's film geek Randy, David Arquette's bumbling yet heroic police deputy Dewey or Courtney Cox's bitchy yet somehow still likable reporter Gale Weathers, there was someone you could grasp on to and take interest in to see how they would deal with the events that were unfolding. Even for myself, as a person who doesn't hold the series in high regard, I like all those characters and was always interested to see what they would be up to in the next installments. They were the heart and soul of the series and you didn't want to see them get offed by Ghostface. Which brings us to my thoughts on MTV's SCREAM: The Series.

When it was announced that MTV would be bringing Scream to the small screen, I originally thought to myself, well that can't be a good idea being that it's MTV yet it can't be any worse than Scream 4 was, can it? To provide you with further context let me provide you with my thoughts on part 4. I was actually pretty excited when it was announced, I was there opening day to see it and was supremely let down, mostly because I really was hoping for something that would help align it with the grimmer style of horror that had become so popular, and was hoping to see a slightly more serious and menacing take on Ghostface, as I felt there is still alot of potential with that costume,character and setting. What I got was nothing at all like that, it was bloody sure, but it was also extremely goofy and too cute for it's own good with all the excessive focus on being meta and webcams, etc. I totally get the intention and the statement they were trying to make with it, I just feel it was handled so clumsily and the ultimate reveal was so underwhelming and "silly" that I just checked out. So part of me probably thought maybe THIS will be the way to get the Ghostface and Scream story I was hoping for in part 4. Well, I could not have been more wrong.

As much as I disliked Scream 4, at least it had a few real new characters who's personality, in addition to the series stars of Campbell, Arquette and Cox were interesting. Which brings us back (finally) to this new TV incarnation of Scream. The first GLARING problem with his new series is the characters, I didn't buy them at all. I did not buy them as high schoolers, I did not buy them as friends and I did't even buy them as actual people. Aside from probably the one character Audrey (who for some reason carries a video camera with her like the kid from American Beauty) played by Bex Taylor-Klaus, the rest of the bunch are just a terrible collection of way too old, one note cliches, who as of this first episode couldn't even breathe any new life into said cliches. Granted nobody in the original film really screamed high schooler either, and whomever was responsible for assembling this cast might have been forgiven for casting far to mature looking had they actually got some actors with personalities that stood out. I cannot recall a more bland, unlikable cast, which is funny as the Randy-esque character Noah goes on a diatribe about how we are supposed to care about these cliche'd characters for a horror tale that revolves around them to work. Well I certainly did not, not in the least. It is the cast that was the major failure for me in this show, nothing felt real or organic and thats a problem that can come with an MTV production.

I haven't even touched on the actual STORY of Scream the series yet. No longer is Woodsboro the focus or main setting and I would have been okay with that since the sequels ventured outside of it before returning home in 4, but I watched the episode and still can't remember where this new story takes place, I DO remember some bizarre inclusion of a backstory of some deformed killer with an elephant man complex who terrorized this new town many years ago. It was such a weirdly out of place concept to throw into the mix and I am not sure I will be sticking around to see how it pays off or plays out, but we do get a "someone grabbed me from under the water in the lake scene" that would feel much more at home in Friday the 13th than Scream. There are some threads set up to try to make us wonder who the killer may be and that is done successfully enough aside from the fact that I honestly didn't even care because everything else that accompanied it in this episode was so damn dull. I can't leave out my thoughts on the new killer who I don't even know if we can refer to them as Ghostface because well, they have a brand new mask that is not Ghostface, but still doesn't look quite as bad or as blow up dollish as it did in the promo photo it released. It wasn't bad, but their "voice" was a poor man's impression of the orginal Ghostface voice which is iconic in it's own right. Still this new killer didn't do enough in this episode either, except ripoff the Drew Barrymore murder from the first one in a sequence that in all honesty was probably the highlight of the show, yet still was not anywhere near as effective as the original scene it was ripping off. Not to mention there is a big loose end from that scene that is never mentioned again and I am hoping that is on purpose because if not, it is simply laughable how that could be overlooked.

Overall I was skeptical on this new take on the Scream concept, especially with it being an MTV production. I went in with zero expectations and turned out to be still disappointed. To give you an idea of how much I disliked this show, I generally never bother to write negative reviews for the site, to me it's just a waste of time. However "SCREAM" is a big deal for horror fans, and a show based on that should be as well. There is plenty of potential for a GOOD and REAL Scream series, but I am pretty certain this won't be it. Time will tell if it gets better, but I am pretty sure by that point I won't care or bother to find out.