Title: Scream TV Series Season 1
Starring: Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna
Language: English
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery
Episodes: 10
When I heard there was going to be a Scream television show on MTV, I was in disbelief and I kinda got it confused with the advertisements for Fox's Scream Queens. Once I deciphered the two television series were separate projects, I wasn't that enthusiastic about it as the franchise was a revival for the horror genre in the 90's. Nonetheless, I checked it out with little expectation and made a first impression video for the premiere.
After a cyber-bullying incident results in a brutal murder, the shocking violence stirs up memories of a killing spree from the past that has haunted some, intrigued others and maybe just inspired a new killer. A group of teens - with two old friends struggling to reconnect at its heart - become lovers, enemies, suspects, targets and victims of an assassin who's out for blood. [source: IMDb]
Much like a few other horror related things I wanted to spam throughout October, it's a bit saddening that the summary I copied and pasted had to be a quick reminder of what happened in this series. Honestly, while I quickly thought over the events that occurred, I almost mixed it up with the partial premise of Unfriended and a bit of Scream Queens, which are both things in queue to be reviewed. Getting back on track, if you've watched my first impression, you might notice that I wasn't particularly happy about the first episode and for the most part, my feelings stayed the same. As per usual, I want to talk about the positive points...which really wasn't much. Despite having a similar name to the Wes Craven film, the show has no connections to the movie whatsoever. It has a whole different set of characters placed in a completely new setting with a change to the villain's mask. The change of Ghostface's mask might've upset some initially, but I didn't find it problematic at all. In fact, it helped further distance itself from its predecessor, which I'll elaborate a little later. Some episodes proved to be quite interesting once the characters became more involved with the investigation and there's a tiny bit of tension when you know the killer is lurking around the corner and whatnot. A couple or so of the kills are alright and the final final scene of the series made me both frustrated, a little confused, and intrigued.
Now for the negative points...which is quite a lot. First problem I had were the characters. Most of them were either unlikeable, forgettable, or plain old unnecessary to the story. There might've been a couple characters I did somewhat care about or even like like Audrey and Riley, but for the most part, I simply didn't care what happened to them, including the main character Emma. Sadly, this series suffered the same character problems as present day horror movies. Scream was a movie that every fan remembers the characters and enjoying their existence. I don't see these characters being in the remembered names of Cindy, Gale, Billy, and Deputy Dewey. Maybe because my friends and I grew up in the nineties, but I don't see too many people talking about these characters and I'm not optimistic that that'll change. Second problem is the killer. I...I just didn't have as much fun with this villain as I did with the original Ghostface. There was a bit of campyness to his character, but also a sense of intimidation as well. He shared some joy and scariness that A Nightmare on Elm Streets' Freddy Krueger had. This one lacks all the fun and fear. The series' killer simply falls flat with many recent horror movie villains. Also the reveal is very underwhelming. Third and most major problem with the series is the story. Oh. My. God. This story was so dull. At moments, it would try to incorporate certain scenes from the original source material, like the very first episode, but most of these recreations didn't leave much emotional impact. For the most part, the story focused more on the teen romance drama of who slept with who than the actual murder mystery. Who cares if this character is gay? Who cares if Emma can't decide on which guy she wants to be with? I can't tell either of them part most of the time! It's just stupid and a waste of time. Focus on the horror at hand! This is why the predecessor was so successful. They know they have big shoes to fill, but they're hardly putting any effort into doing that.
Obviously, Scream TV Series was far from enjoyable for me. I'm glad I had The Whispers, even though that show wasn't completely perfect, and HUMANS to fall back on, but at least it was engaging. Whether you compare this show to the movie or not, it's still not very well executed. The story is frustrating and loses focus on the murder mystery with high school drama, the characters are either unlikeable or useless, and the killer is not that fun or threatening. Unfortunately, MTV will be airing its second season of the show on April 20, 2016. Most likely, I'll be checking it out for improvements and hopefully continuation of the slight cliffhanger ending of the first season, but I have low expectations of it ever being good.
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