Halloween: H20 and the Unofficial Scream Sequel

I was watching Steve Miner's Halloween H20 the other night for the first time in many a year - let's face it, John Carpenter's 1978 original is the one most people, myself included, would go to when wanting to watch Michael Myers going chop chop - and recognised that it's actually as much a pseudo entry to the Scream franchise as it is to Halloween. The backstory to Halloween H20's screenplay is somewhat murky, but I think it's known that Kevin Williamson, hot off of the success of Scream, and the in-production I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2 and The Faculty (still the Weinstein company's golden boy), was asked to write the screenplay, but that was thrown out except for the bare bones, but then he was brought back in to rewrite parts and... well, it sounds a bit complicated. Nevertheless, Williamson's influence on the film is unmistakable and, really, is far more obvious on the finished product than John Carpenter. In the end. instead of noticing the similarities between Halloween H20 and Halloween (of which there are indeed many: the classroom discussion about fate; "everyone's entitled to one good scare"; etc etc), I was noticing the similarities between Halloween H20 and Scream.

The obvious connections begin right from the opening scene which, besides adopting the new hot "opening victim" trend of the time, utilises Marco Beltrami's music cues from Scream! At first I thought it was just a comical bit of pay back since Wes Craven quite clearly appeared to be doing the same thing with Carpenter's classic score at various points in Scream, but as the film went on it just got more and more noticeable with Beltrami's score reappearing time and time again, and in very obvious ways. Even the way Beltrami's music weaves throughout the action is the same. Sidney Prescott goes to open a door? So does Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the same music cue. It's truly baffling. The long dormitory chase scene between Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett and (Young Artist Award nominee for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress) Michelle Williams, as well as the final van chase, is scored entirely to pieces from similar scenes in Scream. I also think I hear cues from Tatum and Cici's death scenes from Scream and Scream 2 respectively, as well as Gale's chase scene through the soundproof studio in Scream 2.

Add that to the frequent inclusion of Carpenter's original theme (or variations of it), more Beltrami score, but this time from Mimic, and even a moment of Bernard Hermann's Psycho score during the scene with Janet Leigh, and it's hard to pick up any original music by the film's supposed composer, John Ottman.

Apparently Ottman's music was sparingly used, but that the producers wanted music "more like Scream". I guess coming from the same studio made actually using the music from Scream much easier and probably cheaper. Still, disappointing considering Ottman's score is very good (it was eventually released under the name "Portrait of Terror" and is available on iTunes).

However, it's more than just the music that brings about echoes of Scream. Much like Kevin Williamson's screenplay for Scream has characters named after famous horror icons ("Loomis" for instance), Halloween H20 has characters like "Casey". There's even a line of dialogue where Jamie Lee Curtis' longtime victim tells her son and his girlfriend to "drive down the street to the Beckers". This, of course, reflects upon the opening scene of Scream where Casey Becker's father told his wife to "drive down to the McKenzies", which was of course a reference to the same line being spoken by Curtis' Laurie Strode in the 1978 Halloween. Sheesh, are you still with me? Furthermore, the characters played by Adam Hann-Byrd and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe are clearly photocopies of Stu Macher and Tatum Riley from Scream, plus a large part of the focus being on the more adult characters is similar. I mean, for crying out loud, they even watch Scream 2 here!

Perhaps even more obviously a Scream artifact is the appearance by Janet Leigh. About eighteen different jokes in one, Leigh's appearance alongside her daughter (duelling scream queens if you will) as a character named "Norma" - oh yes - who drives the same car from Psycho while that film's music plays in the background and she recites lines from the original Halloween. That's even more twisted than the opening of Scream 4!

Thankfully, the LL Cool J character is just an original travesty! No erotica authoring security guards in the Scream franchise as far as I can recall! Still, I like Halloween H20. Sure, it's more of its time than the original, which was revolutionary to not just the horror genre, but cinema as a whole. It reminds me of that period of horror that coincided with my own growing love for cinema. The era may be decried by horror enthusiasts, but I will always view titles like this and Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, Urban Legend and so on with a tad more of a forgiving nature. Scream 4's failure to revitalise the slasher was that film's biggest disappointment. As for Michael Myers and his butcher knife of fun? Well, a 3D sequel to Rob Zombie's reimagined remakes is on the way. I think I'll stick to H20.

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 4 of Scream 3 (0:12:02-0:12:27)

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



SCENE 4 of Scream 3
Length: 25secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott and "Female Reporter" (Nancy O'Dell)
Pop Culture References:

• None

"Hollywood is reeling today from the news of the murder of controversial talk show host Cotton Weary. Weary had only recently finished shooting a cameo as himself in the film Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro, the third and final part of the famous horror series based on the famous Woodsboro and Windsor College murders. Before his rise to television fame Cotton had been imprisoned and was later exonerated for the murder of Maureen Prescott, his former lov-"

That's a whole lotta news reporting as exposition right there! And by Nancy O'Dell, featured in Scream 2, Scream 3 and Scream 4.

Meanwhile, I love that instead of having Sidney drop a plate or a bowl and have it shatter all over the place, they had her drop a bag of dog food. Does Sidney like doggy chow, too?

Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14. Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, End Credits

Scream 3
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3

Review: Warrior

Warrior

Dir. Gavin O'Connor

Year: 2011

Aus Rating: M15+

Running Time: 140mins

Let’s face it – Rocky has been done to death! And yet its simple underdog tale gets routinely trotted out due to its unwavering success at moving audiences, most notably big manly men, to tears. Director Gavin O’Connor tries sprucing up the material by swapping out boxing for mixed martial arts, but it’s still the same old story told the same old way. At least Real Steel had robots.


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And just in case that review doesn't make it clear enough? I'm on Team Edgerton. For everything.

Yes please.

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 3 of Scream 3 (0:10:21-0:12:01)

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



SCENE 3 of Scream 3
Length: 1min 40secs
Primary Characters: Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox Arquette), Detective Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey), Student (Richmond Arquette) and The Moderator (Julie Janney)
Pop Culture References:

• None

And thus begins what will become a Gale Weathers ritual during Scream 3 in which we ruthlessly insult her horrible hair. This current version of her hair isn't even the worst of it! When he lets it out it just... well, yeah. This was the first image released, if I remember correctly, and we were all like "what has she done to her hair?!?" And it's not a Scream 3 specific wig, either, since she had the same hair on Friends. What was going on at that time? Why did she think this was good hair? And after her awesome red-streaked bob from Scream 2, too!

That young man right there rolling his eyes is Richmond Arquette, David's brother and Courtney's brother-in-law. In this franchise's ongoing desire to become the unofficial Arquette family album (remember Lewis Arquette was in Scream 3 and I fully expect Coco Arquette to be in Scream 12: Ghostface in Space!) we get another of the Arquette clan. Where was Alexis though? Could Scream 3 not fit in a hot transsexual anywhere in it's two hour runtime? What's Jenny McCarthy got that Alexis Arquette doesn't? ...Wait, don't answer that! Patricia Rosanna Arquette, on the other hand... well, she's probably still busy trying to find Debra Winger to make an appearance in this franchise. Wouldn't that be a hoot thought! Did Dewey have a secret sister he didn't know about? Ooh aah!

"Excuse me! So you're saying that we should be ready to go out and cut each other's throats because that's what you did?"

"Metaphorically, yes."

"So tell me Ms Weathers... was it worth it?"

There are so many red herrings thrown about in Scream 3 that they were even making the glorified extras into suspects! This little exchange between Arquette and Cox Arquette (...) is clearly meant to be a "ooh, who is this character? i bet they're the killer, ooh!" moment and yet this unnamed character (known only as "Student" in the cast list) never returns. Lovely.

Looking at Richmond Arquette's filmography, I'm actually quite surprised at the number of movie's he has under his belt including several David Fincher movies (Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Fight Club and as the delivery man in Se7en!) and Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween.

"That's quite an impressive resume."
"Thank you. I assume you're not here for an autograph."

I love that they make Gale Weathers' career a running gag by now. In each film she's worked for a different television news program and I'm sure when the detective says "impressive" he means "long and undistinguished."

Speaking of the detective, I love that Patrick Dempsey is in Scream 3. I like to think that if it weren't for Scream 3 then Dempsey's career revival wouldn't have panned out the way it did and without it Grey's Anatomy would've have become such the hit that it did (that show was very good for, what? two seasons?) Basically, Patrick Dempsey has Scream to thank for everything he has right now. ...okay, perhaps that's a bit of an overstatement, and he was quite good in his brief Will & Grace tenure, too, and I was certainly surprised to see him pop up in Sweet Home Alabama. I was secretly disappointed that he didn't return in Scream 4, but we'll discuss that later.

And, of course, I love the Scream 2 photo shot used on her press tour marketing. She'd never looked better!

"I'm here because Cotton Weary's been murdered."
"Someone killed Cotton?" "And his girlfriend. Someone who left something he wanted us to see. I'll show you this because you're the Woodsboro authority and because you knew him. I promise you, if you share this with the world it's you I will be arresting."

"I swear on my Pulitzer Prize, which I plan to win one day, detective."

Oh Gale! Forgetting the lack of any sustained grief at the news that her early career pet project had been murdered (after Scream 2 I suspect they soured when his career get sky high and she had a failed gig at 60 Minutes 2), I do love her reaction here. In Scream she was going for the Pulitzer and she still is! We can never say that Gale Weathers rested on her laurels.

Also, gosh Patrick Dempsey's hair is amazing.

"This is Maureen Prescott, Sidney Prescott's mother!"

Dun-dun-duuuuuunnnnn.

The Scream films were always much more interested in being a whodunnit than traditional slice-n-dice slasher flicks, but Scream 3 really took it to a new level. I've already noted the lack of traditional slasher movie chase and kills, instead choosing less gore and more exposition. The whole Maureen Prescott story... I ultimately don't think it works as well as they wanted it to, but it was a gallant effort at making a more grandoise stand for these films being taken more seriously, even they were always considered amongst the higher class of the teen horror craze.

Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14. Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, End Credits

Scream 3
Scene 1, Scene 2

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 2 of Scream 3 (0:08:21-0:10:20)

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



SCENE 2 of Scream 3
Length: 2mins
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell)
Pop Culture References:

• None

Again with the gorgeous California location work. Whoever did the location scouting these films really did a great job. While Scream 3 doesn't make good use of these newfound open surroundings (remember in Scream when we saw Stu's house seemingly in the middle of nowhere and yet it was somehow more claustrophobic because there was nowhere to runaway to?), it's still nice to look at.

Aw, hi Sidney Prescott! Long time no see. Meanwhile, why does this movie dog get no credit?

I'm getting the sense that Sidney doesn't feel particularly safe anymore. What with the "Beware of dog" sign and the multiple security entry locking systems. How does the system work in that second picture? Is it electrified? What's to just stop a killer climbing over that fence? Hmmm. Meanwhile, the security password is 1-2-8-8... is that a horror reference? I feel like it must be. The address of a famous horror movie house? Something?

I like that she has The Fall of Troy poster on her wall. Probably a reminder of Derek and that her college drama department had really bad flyer-making skills.

Aw, she has Dewey on speed dial! Bless.

Ya know, despite all the killing and dead boyfriends and the raped mother and all of that, Sidney seems like she has a nice life. Beautiful surroundings, working as a counsellor helping women (albeit under the fake name of "Laura") and a pet dog. Stupid Ghostface, always with the calling and the killing.

Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14. Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, End Credits

Scream 3
Scene 1

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 1 of Scream 3 (0:00:00-0:08:20)

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



SCENE 1 of Scream 3
Length: 8mins 20secs
Primary Characters: Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), Christine Hamilton (Kelly Rutherford), Ghostface (voice of Roger Jackson) & "Female Caller" (voice of Beth Toussaint)
Pop Culture References:

• Are there any? Only broad stuff like a similarity to The Shining in the knife/door sequence. Where are they all?!?

For all the talk of Scream 3 not adhering to it's own "all bets are off" idealogy - and, in certain respects (mostly those regarding the three lead characters) that's true - this film did quite a bit that was unexpected. Beginning with this opening scene, for instance, we have a male central victim, the new voice dynamic and a huge location change. By changing the setting from the original "return to Woodsboro" idea (after the Columbine shootings, Scream 3's return to high school killing spree idea was mooted) to Hollywood the filmmakers gave themselves a much larger scale upon which they could work their magic. Some people think that "magic" was a load of ol' tosh, but I happen to love Scream 3. As we'll see, Scream 3 is beloved by me for, at times, being a sort of bizarro world comedy that just happens to have a few killings in it (a few?), but there are times when this film is just as good as it's predecessors. We're back in the saddle, folks!

Oh hai, Cotton! The way I remember the lead up to Scream 3's release panning out is that we'd all kinda figured out that Cotton Weary was going to die and that it'd be great if he were the opening victim. I think all just Scream obsessives eventually (wait for it) cottoned on to the fact that he was going to get the chop very early since, for obvious reasons, all the clips and images of him seen in the trailers and stills featured him wearing the same costume throughout. It's just science.

"You sound a lot like that guy on TV. Uh... Cotton Weary."

The introduction of this new voice curveball was, for a while, quite great. They never really came through with a big payoff with it (unless you count the bed sheet mother scene, which I don't), but for something like this it works well. The only major problem is that by the third film in this franchise we know that whatever's going on on the other end of the line isn't quite right. The moment the switch happens isn't so much a surprise as it is a "yup! i guessed that" sorta moment.

"So, why don't you tell me who you are?"

"You're a naughty boy, Cotton. Now what would your girlfriend say?"

"What makes you think I have a girlfriend?"

*click*

"I know you do. I'm right outside her bathroom door."

Scream 3 takes all of one minute and 52 seconds to get to the ominous, threatening tone. Ghostface is clearly not as interested in playing cat and mouse this time. It's an issue through the entire film, actually.

I do like the parallels to the Casey Becker/Ghostface chat from Scream's opening scene. "Do you have a boyfriend?" "No, why? You wanna ask me out on a date?" and so on. Speaking of Casey Becker... I'll sure we'll discuss it at some point in the future, but I remember I and many others were very disappointed that Casey's house (or, more to the point, the Stab set of Casey's house) wasn't used as the opening or closing scene of Scream 3. It would've been perfect!

And here is Kelly Rutherford. She was a disappointing name for the Scream 3 opening scene then, but I have definitely warmed to her as I'll discuss a little bit later in this piece. Nevertheless, I think she does a good job in making the secondary victim more of an identity than either Steven Orth of Phil Stevens were before. In other news: Why don't Americans use the god damn fan in their bathrooms?

I like how cheesy all the billboards are in this film, whether they're this for Cotton Weary's television chat show or those for Stab 3.

As you probably saw at towards the start of this entry, under the "references" title, Scream 3's opening sequence actually doesn't use any outright. Instead, it takes most of its cues from the first two Scream films. Whether it's the similarity to Casey Becker's dialogue or this shot that mirrors the Heather Graham shower sequence in Scream 2. Thereby making Scream 3 an even more meta; it's referencing its itself.

Oh Hollywood, what the hell is this?

Stab 2 tagline: "EVEN TRUE STORIES HAVE SEQUELS..."

Okay, that Stab 2 tagline is incredible. I'm surprised nobody thought of it sooner for an actual horror sequel. It's stuff like this that makes this project endlessly fascinating; I'd never seen that (the tagline) before! It's so golden that I feel like it's wasted on a brief one second cut away shot. Still, I see it there now!

"Cotton, is that you?"
I like this little tracking shot of Christine. Craven was definitely trying to go with a more voyeuristic look during Scream 3's opening, I think. Trying to get under the same skin that the original did with that brilliant moment when you know Drew Barrymore's Casey is being watched. As great as the Scream 2 opening is - and boy, it is! - it did miss this part of the equation. Meanwhile, the shot of Christine's feet as she walks down the corridor is a reference to something, I am positive of it... I just can't put my finger on it. Can you?

"Okay Cotton, you know I don't like your 'stab' games."

I kinda love this line because of the images it alludes to. The idea that Cotton Weary, a man whose story was morphed into the series of fake slasher flicks known as the Stab franchise uses those very stories for roleplay sex? Does Cotton wear a Ghostface mask? Does Christine pretend to be Maureen Prescott? The mind boggles.

Bam. Helllloooooo Ghostface! It really didn't take long, did it? And, of course, Ghostface's theme song - the one that seems to play whenever he arrives at parties - is that improbably shwing sound effect that happens whenever the knife cuts through air. I don't think knives make that noise outside of being sharpened. I swear that knife gets bigger with each passing instalment, too. By Scream 4 it was positively machete-esque!

Review: The Thing

The Thing

Dir. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Year: 2011

Aus Rating: MA15+

Running Time: 103mins

Enter any debate about “original versus remake” and John Carpenter’s The Thing will inevitably arise. It’s a proverbial trump card in any argument with anybody who says remakes are never better than the original. Carpenter’s 1982 remake of The Thing from Another Planet is a pulse-racing, terrifying, claustrophobic horror-thriller that featured (quite literally) out of this world make-up and visual effects that remain as gruesomely effective today as they were then. So, in this day and age of ad nauseum remakes it’s a pleasant surprise to see the filmmakers of the latest version of The Thing have actually gone down the road of making a prequel rather than an out and out remake.


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