Review: Scream: The Series s01e01 Pilot
Scream: The Series
Episode 1x01: Pilot
Released by MTV Production Development Distribution: The Weinstein Company
Cast: Willa Fitzgerald Bex Taylor-Klaus John Carna Amadeus Serafini Connor Weil Tracy Middendorf Jason Wiles Mike Vaughn Special Guest Bella Thorne
I have a confession to make. I am a horror fan, I've loved it since i was little (though surprisingly not okay with haunted houses). I must also confess that I am a horror fan who doesn't think Wes Craven's Scream holds up as well as it should. Don't misunderstand, I still think it's first half is legendary, but to me (and i stress this is just my opinion) the back half just doesn't live up. I still watch it whenever it comes on, and as a whole I like the movie series as a fun 90's romp. Except for the fourth movie... it knows what it did.
So when I heard that Scream was being turned into a TV series, with Wes "the Legend" Craven and the Weinsteins back as producers, I was intrigued. Then I started to think about it. It would have to be an anthology,because the same slasher story over a full season would be too padded out and slow. The best slashers do what they do in about an hour and a half, otherwise you start to see the seams as it streches out unnecessarily. It would have to be a new group each episode, which is good, you can showcase a lot of young talent that way. Then reality slapped me in the face. It was going to be one story told through ten episodes with a main cast. Then they showed a still of the mask, and my heart sank a little more. Then they showed a trailer, and I almost lost hope. However I was determined not to judge this thing until I at least saw the pilot. Having seen the pilot episode now, I should have just lost hope.
The pilot is bad, so bad it made furious about a franchise I'm only a casual fan of. It looks slick, but its nice look is hampered by how vapid and shallow it is. I feel myself about to ramble, so I think its best just to cateorize all of the problems.
The Story: A teenager and her boyfriend are murdered, and an unrelated group of teenagers... Throw a kegger in honor of the murdered girl? I don't know if that's the main story, because this episode was so padded out with B plotlines that it was hard to tell what was the main focus. A girl named Audrey(Taylor-Klaus) who likes to film everything is filmed kissing another girl in a local make out spot, then that video goes viral in an instance of cyber bullying. It is hinted that the first victim, Nina (Thorne), is responsible but its never made clear. The main girl, Emma (Fitzgerald), befriends Audrey, but something drives a rift between them. The Kids think the killer might be a copycat of a local legend with ties to Emma's family. Most of the other plot points involve the main cast being horrible to each other. Speaking of...
The Characters: The characters here are part of a problem with horror that started in the late 80's but didn't become a full fledged epidemic until the late 90's, what I like to call "NLC Syndrome" or No Likeable Characters. Likable characters are the cornerstone of horror, and why slashers from 1978-1986 are so good. In almost every classic slasher: Halloween 1-5 (there is no 3), Friday the Thirteenth 1-6, Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3, Terror Train, Funhouse, they all were populated with mostly likable characters, and the suspense grew from us not wanting anything to happen to them because we like them so much. In one hour I counted Emma as the only decent human being among the bunch. That's a real problem for the character of Audrey, since she's being cyber bullied and we are supposed to feel for her, but she comes off as standoffish and petty, and when an empathetic guy like me can't sympathize with a victim, there is a problem.
The Acting: First off, Willa Fitzgerald and Bella Thorne were really good for what the poor writing gave them, so i'm going to put them in a box and say that nothing in this paragraph (except that they are supermodel good looking) applies to them. The acting in this show is awful across the board. There is not a believable line or snappy delivery to be had. Here's the problem, this being MTV, they didn't even really try to hide the fact they actors were hired based on looks and not acting ability, like the girls got a set of measurements and the guys got a picture of people from a Calvin Klein catalog, and the first one in got the job. Did they screen test these people? Not one conversation feels natural, not one joke comes off with timing or inflection that would make it funny. What happened?
Bottom Line: Don't watch this if you are a horror fan, or just like the movies, you'll die a little inside. Its funny that there are only two deaths in the first episode, within the first ten minuets, and the series died with the first episode.
Score 0/10