The Thin Meta Line
In my household, any mention of "Scream" is immediately followed by a soliloquy on why it is, if not the greatest film of all time, then something pretty close to it. It was with these expectations that I finally sat down and embarked on a journey into the mind of Wes Craven.
Now before I begin, let me just clarify that I am in no way denying the influence of this film. I am aware that it broke a lot of rules upon its release in '96 and subverted horror conventions at the same time that it paid homage to them. In this sense, "Scream" is pretty revolutionary. For those of you who – like me – have never seen this movie (and in that case, it's 2013; get on that), it tells the story of a very horror-movie-literate killer who begins to slaughter the teenagers of a small Californian town. Throughout the film, we get both subtle nods to past horror classics alongside drunken monologues on the "do's and don'ts" of life in a horror film. Even though most of the characters know their way through the John Carpenter section of the video store, it still doesn't do much to protect them from the masked psychopath on the loose. Sounds clever, right? The honest answer to that is... well, kind of.
To me, there is a fine line between meta-analysis and downright arrogance, one that few movies can successfully tread. For every "Adaptation" and "Cabin in the Woods," there are those that tend to get lost in their own perceived cleverness. Take "Seven Psychopaths" for example. Coming down from "In Bruges," Martin McDonagh flexed his own script about writing a script and while the result was fun and often gruesomely funny, its unceasing winks to the audience came off as a bit of a nervous twitch. It got so caught up in being witty that it forgot to actually be witty. Funny how that works.
"Scream" falls prey to very much the same situation. It wants so much to be seen as a horror movie survival guide that it neglects being a movie in its own right first and foremost. It's a fun, jumpy thrill ride when it actually tries and there are a handful of ingenious scenes (Jamie Kennedy watching "Halloween" is nothing short of cinematic gold), but overall, the pompous overtones prevented me from seeing the masterpiece that my roommates claim it is.
Written November 15, 2013
Now before I begin, let me just clarify that I am in no way denying the influence of this film. I am aware that it broke a lot of rules upon its release in '96 and subverted horror conventions at the same time that it paid homage to them. In this sense, "Scream" is pretty revolutionary. For those of you who – like me – have never seen this movie (and in that case, it's 2013; get on that), it tells the story of a very horror-movie-literate killer who begins to slaughter the teenagers of a small Californian town. Throughout the film, we get both subtle nods to past horror classics alongside drunken monologues on the "do's and don'ts" of life in a horror film. Even though most of the characters know their way through the John Carpenter section of the video store, it still doesn't do much to protect them from the masked psychopath on the loose. Sounds clever, right? The honest answer to that is... well, kind of.
To me, there is a fine line between meta-analysis and downright arrogance, one that few movies can successfully tread. For every "Adaptation" and "Cabin in the Woods," there are those that tend to get lost in their own perceived cleverness. Take "Seven Psychopaths" for example. Coming down from "In Bruges," Martin McDonagh flexed his own script about writing a script and while the result was fun and often gruesomely funny, its unceasing winks to the audience came off as a bit of a nervous twitch. It got so caught up in being witty that it forgot to actually be witty. Funny how that works.
"Scream" falls prey to very much the same situation. It wants so much to be seen as a horror movie survival guide that it neglects being a movie in its own right first and foremost. It's a fun, jumpy thrill ride when it actually tries and there are a handful of ingenious scenes (Jamie Kennedy watching "Halloween" is nothing short of cinematic gold), but overall, the pompous overtones prevented me from seeing the masterpiece that my roommates claim it is.
Written November 15, 2013