Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 12 of Scream (0:38:20-0:41:08)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!

SCENE 12
Length: 2min 48secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers, Tatum Riley, Deputy Dewey, Kenny the Cameraman
Pop Culture References:

• The Exorcist (Linda Blair cameo as "Obnoxious Reporter")
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (Tatum wears a shirt with the same jersey number as Johnny Depp in the original Elm Street film)
  

Another amazing scene because it is the first in which Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers truly takes centre stage and that, dear readers, is a cause for celebration.

But first...


"So how does it feel to be almost brutally butchered! People wanna know, they have a right to know! HOW DOES IT FEEL?"
That would be Linda Blair of The Exorcist fame. I think it's quite incredible to have someone like that in a movie such as Scream. If it were Scream 2 or the cameo-heavy Scream 3 then I'd understand, but what possessed the makers to even attempt to get Linda Blair for this movie that, at the time, was hardly a big popular brand. "Yeah, let's get Regan from The Exorcist for a cameo!" Then again, it would've have been hard since Blair made her post-Exorcist career out of making movies with titles like Roller Boogie, Hell Night, Chained Heat, Banished Women (aka Savage Island), SFX Retaliator, Prey of the Jaguar and the sequel to Zapped! entitled, ingeniously, Zapped Again! as well as TV appearances on shows such as MacGyver, Murder She Wrote and The Love Boat playing a character called "Muffy". She clearly used that childhood fame and put it towards passion-filled projects, didn't she?


I really like this moment. Don't ask me why, I just do.


"Stop right there!"
I know I can't keep mentioning how great Gale Weathers is every single time she shows up in a scene - although I have done that for Rose's Tatum, so... - but, really, when she keeps providing amazing moments like this (hell, the entire scene is a Gale tour de force) then how can I help it?

And how about this exchanged between Sidney and Gale? Great stuff.


"I'm not here to fight, I just need to talk."
"Kenny. Camera. Now."
"Off the record, no cameras. Please. You owe me"
"I owe you shit."
"You owe my mother!"
I love how in the following exchange, where Gale defends Cotton Weary, she actually sorta kinda nearly almost comes off as a decent person who's actually interested in the wellfare of another human being.

Until...


"An innocent man on death row, a killer still on the loose... do you know what that could do for my book sales?"
Blessed are the angels who... somethingsomething I LOVE YOU GALE!


Meanwhile, backtracking ever so slightly, there is of course the revelation of what may indeed be the truth behind the death of Sidney's mother on year earlier. I must say, if I was following the story on the news I'd find Cotton's story hard to swallow: getting drunk and accidentally leaving a jacket behind at the house of the married woman you're having an affair with to then have the jacket leave on the back of someone else who in turn left it in Cotton's car. Sounds awfully far-fetched, don't you think?


"Nice welt, Sweety!"
Seriously. Tatum. Amazing.


"I'm sorry I mangled your face."
One of my favourite Sidney lines, probably because it sounds so unlike her.

Lastly, I did a search for Scream bloopers on YouTube and found bloopers for the two sequels, but not the original! Disappointing because the bloopers from this scene (featured on the DVD) are really funny. Courteney Cox spends about 5 minutes getting one line right. Naturally it's funnier to actually see it than have it described to you. Although while we're speaking of bloopers here are Scream 2's and Scream 3's. Why not.


'til next time
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11

Black + White Friday: The Exorcist

William Friedkin's The Exorcist has always intrigued me. Apart from the obvious things - well-made, scary, though provoking, etc - there has always been this feeling with me that the movie feels more intimate than it really is. It reminds me of a British horror movie of sorts, with it's gloomy weather and with its use of art direction. So I wonder what it would look like if done like a small British movie like Seance on a Wet Afternoon? We shall see.


This looks more like something out of Ingar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, actually.


The Exorcist is a good example of a ouija board. I remember there was a British horror flick from early in the decade (maybe even earlier?) about a bunch of kids who release a demon via their ouija board. It was a bad example.


This attic sequence is, actually, my favourite scene in The Exorcist. No surprise that it is the most similar to the old sort of fright flicks that the movie reminds me of in look.


You know what? This moment is scary no matter what the colour scheme. Whoever thought to put that in there - whether it be the screenwriter of the director or the editor - they deserve a prize. A big shiny prize. Hopefully one that isn't possessed though.


God, I really do love Ellen Burstyn. I think the screencaps of her, especially, feel like actual shots from old ghost stories.


If this movie were made in the '50s what child actress would have been cast as Reagan? Of course, this movie wouldn't have actually been made in the '50s, but that is besides the point.



Love the cross shadow across her face. There is so much fascinating imagery in this movie that even a scene in which the power goes out can be taken as much more. And I just wanted to include the smaller image because it's such a great moment too, but doesn't really play as anything different when in black and white.


Oh you knew I was gonna do this moment, didn't you? Looks even better in black and white, too! See, doesn't this just remind of you a scene from some old Jack the Ripper movie or something?


Such a great moment and a nice little play of the camera. I actually think the way the room is lit makes it quite astonishing in black and white.


And so I said to myself, "I should get a cap of the 'spider walk', but I don't remember where it is" (the DVD I have is, obviously, the Version You've Never Seen) and I just randomly clicked on the playbar and what scene should pop up? I do believe it's magic that made it happen. Or Satan. ONE OF THE TWO!

Also, I want this: