I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Kevin Williamson can do no wrong. The creator of Scream came up with the plot and reinvents and reimagines (without forgetting to still poke fun at) the “slasher” portion of the horror genre. With a cast of believable high schoolers getting picked off one by one by a masked killer (pictured below), what’s not to love? The pilot episode captures the music and social media craze of the moment, sparking a series of murders that are only just beginning, giving a few nods to the original film along the way. (Who among you familiar with the first movie didn’t cringe a bit with that garage scene, even if it didn’t play out exactly like we thought it would?) The disturbing backstory introduced by the mother is reminiscent of both the original film and A Nightmare on Elm Street (the first directorial financial success of series producer and movie director Wes Craven) is enough to add suspicion to the adults, which is a nice way to build an atmosphere of distrust. After all, as pointed out in the original film: “Everyone’s a suspect!”
Hyper-self-awareness and breaking of the fourth wall are commonplace in almost every movie in the genre nowadays, but they are rarely done well, especially with movies. As my current favorite character in a cast of already likeable characters (pictured below in a truly creepy promo image), Noah, states almost immediately after being introduced: “You can’t do a slasher movie as a TV series. Think about it. Girl and her friend arrive at the dance, the camp, deserted town, whatever. Killer takes them out one-by-one. Ninety minutes later, the sun comes up and survivor girl sits in the ambulance watching her friends’ bodies being wheeled past.” And if that’s not enough to make you question his motives, he has that really weird “fake out” drowning scene. And then there’s that blood on his forehead…
Needless to say, after just one episode, I’m hooked. Any TV show that’s brave enough to kill off the main character in the first eight minutes (and actually do so in a way that’s disturbing, funny, and all sorts of scary at the same time) has me for at least an hour. But there are enough loose plot threads and suspects to fuel my interest. And that promo for the whole season? So many unanswered questions… in a good way. My money’s still on Noah as the killer, but as any good Scream fan knows, there’s never just one. See you next week!
My Rating: 5/5
