Tonight's marathon is all about celebrating a film that essentially took a dying franchise off the ground and made it reach for the stars again. In the case of this evening's marathon, that genre is horror and the film that redefined all the possibilities in the late 90's was Wes Cravens 1996 blockbuster titled Scream. Scream was a monumental miracle to the horror genre because it took a concept that was considered obsolete and heading towards direct to video status and made it a huge genre again in the market. Scream was so huge of a film that it spawned three more successful sequels even though none of them reached the heights of the first movie in terms of being revolutionary and having a large impact on pop culture. The film also spawned several different copycat films that tried to imitate it's success with mixed results such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legends. Tonight is a celebration of the impact Scream had and continues to have on horror movies today. We have on the following menu for this evening:
Scream 1996, I Know What You Did Last Summer 1997, Scream 2 1997, Urban Legend 1998, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer 1998 and Scream 3 2000
Now this feels perfect as a celebration of the kind of unprecedented success that Scream inspired and had on the horror genre in the mid 90's. Wes Craven was one of the best filmmakers in the game who created unimaginable terror and suspense not just with Scream but also with Nightmare on Elm Street. Along with Freddy Krueger and Ghostface, Craven is also the brains behind the original Hills Have Eyes and The Last House On The Left. Upon ending the Elm Street series, the horror franchise essentially was being putting to bed with iconic movie characters such as Freddy Kruger, Jason, and Michael Myers experiencing lackluster sequels that performed poorly both critically and financially at the box office. It wasn't until a young up and coming writer named Kevin Williamson wrote a script for a movie called Scream within a period of just 3 days and sold the script for millions immediately afterwards in a bidding war between major hollywood studios. Craven, being bored of horror films and considering moving away from the genre at the time, saw tremendous potential in this script and reinstated all the hardcore violence and gore in the film that the studio forced Williamson to cut out deeming it to be impossible to sell. With the combined forces of these two geniuses, they created a film that became a reckoning upon audiences in the Christmas of 1996.
The first movie of the evening to no one's surprise is Scream. Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courtney Cox, the story centers around a young High School girl named Sidney Prescott who struggles to cope with her mothers murder while her horror film-obsessed group of friends are being stalked by a killer who uses movie trivia questions in a deadly game with them being the prey. With the character of Sidney, the killer uses the past with her mother as a way of drawing her closer to a similar fate. What Scream does that separates itself from all other horror films at the time is it takes all the old rules of the horror genre and throws them out the window within minutes of it's run with the film's triumphant opening involving Drew Barrymore playing the deadly trivia game initiated by the films antagonist. It was the reboot the horror genre didn't ask for but the one that it needed.
The second movie of the marathon is Kevin Williamsons thriller directly inspired by the success of Scream titled I Know What You Did Last Summer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Philippe. Marketed upon it's release as being from the writer of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer focuses on a group of four teens who accidentally hit a stranger with their car and end up tossing his body into the water. A year later the same four teens are being stalked by the same person they killed in a vengeful act of violence. Although what made Scream appealing to audiences was not just its concept and intelligent writing, but also the strong cast that the material spawned. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, and Drew Barrymore were a pair of fresh faces that were on their way to becoming some of the more popular stars of the 1990's. I Know What You Did Last Summer followed the slasher formula of Scream while incorporating the high school appeal into the story with another batch of fresh faces. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Philippe, and Freddy Prinze Jr's careers all began with this film which became a success but not on the same level as Scream.
The third movie of the marathon is Wes Craven's blockbuster sequel to Scream titled Scream 2. Bringing back many of the key players from the first movie including fresh new faces such as Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Liev Schreiber, and Timothy Olyphant, the film is set a total of two years after the murders from the first movie with a new copycat killer using the same Ghostface costume beginning a new string of killings in a path that leads him slowly towards Sidney Prescott once again. Out of all the sequel to Scream, Scream 2 is the closest that any of the sequels come in regards to achieving the same kind of critical and box office success that the first film spawned. Scream 2 also continued to rewrite the horror film genre with it's take on how horror sequels initially play out and how it goes against the stereotypes and grain like it's predecessor.
The fourth movie of the marathon is another direct spin off of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer titled Urban Legend. Starring Alicia Witt, Jared Leto, Rebecca Gayheart, Joshua Jackson, and Loretta Devine, the story centers around a female college student played by Alicia Witt suspecting that a series of bizarre deaths occurring on campus are being connected to certain urban legends. Urban Legend is generally regarded as being the least successful Scream spinoff when comparing it to how I Know What You Did Last Summer performed but still did well enough to earn a inferior sequel that got even worse reviews years later. Urban Legend utilized the same concepts of it's past two franchises such as fresh batch of new faces, unique concept with killer tying the murders to the past, and playing the good old fashioned game of guessing who did the murders. What it borrowed from other strong horror films, it lacked in thrills, suspense, and intelligence making it a product of a genre that was undoubtedly flourishing at the time.
The fifth movie of the marathon is the much anticipated but critically panned sequel to the first I Know What You Did Last Summer titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Brandy, Mekhi Pfeifer, and Freddy Prinze Jr. The story takes place a year after the events of the first film with the lead character Julie and her friend Karla both played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Brandy Norwood winning a contest that sends them to the Bahamas for a vacation. When they get there they slowly realize that the contest was a set-up as bodies begin piling up all over the island. Julie's boyfriend Ray narrowly escapes with his life after an encounter with the killer and begins a journey to the island to warn the others about the nature of the trip. Given the sequel was immediately fast-tracked after the immediate success of the first film like Scream and Scream 2, the sequel received far less critical acclaim than it's predecessor but still made a dent in the box office during the crazed Scream phase. Even though the sequel paled in comparison to the original, it did inspire an episode on Brandys show Moesha to promote the movie, something all horror movies should aspire to do...that's a joke.
The fifth movie of the marathon is the much anticipated but critically panned sequel to the first I Know What You Did Last Summer titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Brandy, Mekhi Pfeifer, and Freddy Prinze Jr. The story takes place a year after the events of the first film with the lead character Julie and her friend Karla both played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Brandy Norwood winning a contest that sends them to the Bahamas for a vacation. When they get there they slowly realize that the contest was a set-up as bodies begin piling up all over the island. Julie's boyfriend Ray narrowly escapes with his life after an encounter with the killer and begins a journey to the island to warn the others about the nature of the trip. Given the sequel was immediately fast-tracked after the immediate success of the first film like Scream and Scream 2, the sequel received far less critical acclaim than it's predecessor but still made a dent in the box office during the crazed Scream phase. Even though the sequel paled in comparison to the original, it did inspire an episode on Brandys show Moesha to promote the movie, something all horror movies should aspire to do...that's a joke.
The sixth and final movie of the marathon is the final chapter in Wes Craven's widely successful horror film trilogy with Scream titled Scream 3. Set a total of almost four years after the events of the original Scream, Sidney and her friends are forced into visiting the Hollywood set of Stab 3, a film based on the Woodsboro murders from the first film after the sudden murder of Cotton Weary played by Liev Schreiber in the first two films. While doing so, a new Ghostface appears that not only terrorizes them but connects the murders of all three films together with the ultimate secret behind the murder of Sidney's mother. Although the film was a box office success, it failed to generate the same kind of critical acclaim and pop culture influence that the first two films in the trilogy inspired. With the main criticism drawn towards Scream 3 that it ultimately becomes the film it was spoofing, it does a solid job of wrapping up what can be considered the definitive horror movie trilogy of it's time. The final shot of the movie with Sidney staring at a door that's open and walking away fearless is a triumphant finish to not just a powerful trilogy but a spectacular marathon setup.
So what are these movies all trying to say about Scream when you put them all together? The message is that originality in horror films is not dead and all it takes is a bit of determination and imagination to create something that ultimately becomes special. As for the films themselves, true friends will stick together no matter what and face the threat head on. If everyone sticks together than the chances of survival will increase. An accident such as the event in I Know What You Did Last Summer should always be reported to the authorities no matter how bad it looks and who chooses to take the blame. There's always the possibility that someone out there will try to duplicate or copy the work started by someone else in regards to killings or making sequels.
Our characters for this evening:
For Wes Craven
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