As we all know by now, this Sunday horror legend Wes Craven
passed away at the age of 76 and with it the genre community was left with a
giant void. Losing him felt like losing my favorite uncle, you know, the one
who would always come over with a twelve pack of your favorite pop and a movie
your parents would never let you watch under their own supervision. Rather than
mourn his passing however, I have been celebrating his life by going through
his filmography and watching whatever I can get my hands on. The Last House on the Left is absolutely
brutal and A Nightmare on Elm Street
changed horror cinema but it was while I was watching through the Scream series for the hundredth time
that I realized what he had actually done. After going out in 1984 and kick starting
one of the most popular and profitable franchises of all-time he went on to do
it again, and better.
Forget Haddonfield, forget Elm Street, forget camp Crystal
Lake, Woodsboro is the setting of the greatest horror franchise of all-time.
Not to detract from any of the other three, the Halloween franchise is one I completely adore and the other two
have popularized the genre, but the Scream
franchise is the only series to come out and deliver on every single movie.
Yeah, it may only be four films while the others make it into double digits,
but these four films define a generation of horror. Not only that, but Craven
himself directed all four films, something he wouldn't do with the Elm Street franchise, and because of
that the movies grow off of each other and keep a clear narrative throughout.
The series follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as her
family history, and poor choice of friends and significant others send her down
a rabbit hole of sadistic, psychopathic murder sprees enacted by a mysterious
killer in a ghostface mask. Each movie the motive becomes more elaborate and
insane, and each time Sidney is the center of the killers plot. Take down all
of her friends and family in the area and then turn the knife on her. No matter
where she goes she can't escape her past and through four different movies you
never once question how these horrible events could happen to one person, over
and over again.
The franchise's success stems directly from the star Neve
Campbell as Sidney. Unlike any other horror series, this one keeps her on for
all four installments. The easiest way to keep your audience invested and
attached to the movies is to keep the original star in it as long as possible.
This has proven true for both the Elm
Street and Halloween franchises
as the most successful films have brought back Jamie Lee Curtis and Heather
Langenkamp. Neve Campbell's presence as Sidney throughout all of the films
gives audiences a familiarity to the other movies and allows for some
carry-over story from the past, which would become crucial for future stories.
Aside from Sidney, Craven keeps just enough consistency
throughout to root it in the original world while continuing to expand the
universe with each new film. The addition of Deputy Dewey (David Arquette) and
Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) in each as the "killed but not really"
characters keeps the audience thinking of the original masterpiece even when
watching a sequel. He also builds off of the previous storylines to keep it
calling back to where it all began. Even when the movies leave Woodsboro they
still feel like they are in Woodsboro, whether it be the set design or bringing
in character with connections to the past, it all fits together somehow. This
is the rare horror franchise that takes the time to keep continuity in line and
it does it in a wonderful way.
They key to it all though is Ghostface, and through four
films the man (or woman) behind the mask(s) is always as human as
possible. This is huge, while the other
big horror series tend to have supernatural and inhuman killers Scream opts for
something as simple as a man in a mask. Halloween
began like this but by the end of the second film Michael Myers had exceeded
the boundaries of human existence and became a literal monster. Ghostface is
always a human, whether it's a single killer or multiple working together, it
is always apparent that whoever is wearing the mask is as real as the people
they are killing.
This is what makes these movies terrifying, even with all of
the meta/self-aware humor poured on throughout. As a kid, I found the humanity
of the killer to be a bit silly as I was used to a more supernatural threat as
in most other movies of this nature. When Ghostface was falling over chairs or
fumbling with the knife I thought it was cheap but as I have grown and watched
this films over and over I have comes to actually love that aspect of the film.
Seeing Ghostface fall over himself or miss a strike with his knife and fall
through a window reminds you that this isn't some force of the supernatural
coming after you but a human with a hunting knife who simply just snapped.
These movies have a reality to them that is terribly unsettling and much like
Elm Street, it brought that terror into the suburban homes of millions of
people.
Most of the time a great film is judged over time by its
ability to transcend its decade and feel relevant no matter when you watch. Scream is the rare instance when the
exact opposite of this is just what is needed. This franchise serves as a time
capsule that defines an entire generation of movie geeks. Wes Cravens use of
meta self-awareness and social commentary create a movie world where the geeks
at home who live for this kind of entertainment (like me!) can sit back and
feel good knowing that they aren't the only ones around who feels the way they
do about this amazing art form.
The fact that this franchise was able to keep Craven,
Campbell, and the enormous fandom coming back film after film just shows how
amazing the franchise truly is. Instead of shooting for a quick cash grab with
the sequels they kept setting out to make quality films and after four of them
they never failed. Scream 1-4 are all
well-made, thoroughly entertaining and truly scary movies that remind us why we
love this genre in the first place.
You are lucky to find four good films within the pantheon of
Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, or Michael Myers movies yet Ghostface managed
to bring the pain all four times. Am I saying that Scream is better than the
original Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street? Not
necessarily but when looking at the franchises as a whole it is clear that no
other keeps the success and quality that Wes Craven kept with Scream. I find it fitting that the final
directing credit to Craven's name is the final of four Scream films, capping off an incredible career of genre filmmaking.
Most filmmakers would be lucky to make one film as good as any of the four in
this franchise, for Wes it just seemed like another day on the job.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches
Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
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