I am a die hard Scream fan; okay so maybe not a die hard fan. But as a person who can’t watch the Horror genre without locking myself up in my bedroom for a fortnight, the Scream movie series is probably one of the only films that I can watch and not want to tear out my own eyes. So imagine my glee when I found out that MTV was turning my beloved movie series into a TV series. I was excited. Love it or hate it, Scream is a classic film. I kept an eye on the film notices, and the casting (some elements I did question), and whilst on my holiday in LA, I saw all the giant billboards, I saw the teasers. I was excited! I watched the recently released 8-minute opener, and let’s just say, excited I am no longer.
First things first, it wasn’t 8 minutes, more like 7 minutes and 55 seconds if we want to get technical. Secondly there just wasn’t anything iconic about it. Nothing jumped up at me and was like “girl you have to watch this show“, I just wasn’t grabbed. Oh and I could have done without the lesbian make-out scene less than a minute in. But as a former media student, I should know teenagers making out is a part of the slasher movie formula, so I can’t be too mad. I could have also done without Bella Thorne walking around in a bikini (the girl is like 2 years old, okay maybe she isn’t two, but to me she will always be a Disney Kid), but some could argue it’s ‘male gaze’ – another part of the formula.
But what really bugged me was the in your face use of social media, it was like we get it, its 2015. There are video streaming sight and people text now, but do we need so much of it. Give me a telephone call, with a cordless brick telephone any day. In a nutshell, the scene had nothing on the Drew Barrymore scene in the 1996 film. Maybe I’m just stuck in the past, and if Scream was released in this day and age, it wouldn’t be as amazing as it was back then, but it truly was and is a cult classic.
Like they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover and to be fair, it was only a 7 minute 55 second clip, so how can I judge the series on that alone. But what I will say is that MTV better be pulling some tricks out of its sleeves, because so far I am bitterly disappointed. Scream makes its debut on MTV on Tuesday, June 30.
#Peace.Love.Scream
