31 Horrors: Ghostwatch (#18)

Wherein I attempt to watch 31 horror films over the course of October. 31 horror films that I have never seen before, from obscure to acclaimed classics. We'll see how well I go in actually finding the time to watch and then write about them in some way.

It's like Paranormal Activity in Prime Time!

Imagine Lake Mungo, with it's investigative Dateline/Australian Story/60 Minutes approach to a family's haunting, but done live to air. In 1992, before "found footage" was a term used to identify films of its kind. When the prospect of national celebrities portraying themselves on a BBC special event wasn't even entertained as fiction, but rather a very real documentary. Such is the idea behind Ghostwatch, a British television program that would become one of the most controversial of its time and scare almost an entire nation into believing that ghosts were real. That is, until those involved were forced to apologise for misleading the public even though the program's credits don't leave much in the way of ambiguity. Such is the rabid hysteria of the public.

Man oh man, did I love Ghostwatch! Relatively obscure outside of Britain I should imagine, but its ten year ban by its own network, the BBC, suggests it should be held in higher regard. Playing the ol' Orson Welles/War of the Worlds trick on unsuspecting British TV viewers on Halloween night resulted in thousands of calls and even a controversial implication in the suicide of a mentally unstable man several days after it aired. Ghostwatch, beyond its scary surface and spine-chilling revelations, digs deeper into the national psyche than, say, Paranormal Activity, by also working as a tell tale sign of society's more gullible nature and the domination that television has (well, had) over them.

Ghostwatch was supposedly a special event piece of television, broadcast on BBC1 and heralded as live reality. Cameras and reporters were placed in the scene of a house on Halloween night that had, before then, become known as a hub of poltergeist disturbances. Hosted by famous chat show personality Michael Parkinson, featuring several well known British identities (including Red Drawf's Craig Charles), and including actors portraying psychic professionals as well as the very haunted family of mother and two daughters, Ghostwatch takes its time to really get going, but those who are paying close attention will get chills out of the entire enterprise.

By the time the film's final 20 minutes or so comes around, I was already well and truly intrigued and had experienced a couple of very decent frights (my suspicions were right when I thought I'd caught a glimpse of the mysterious "Pipes"). What I didn't expect was the level of almost paralysing fear that the climax would throw at me. Rigid with fear and audibly gasping on a high frequency, Ghostwatch worked spectacularly well and more than justifies its reputation as an oughtta be eminent Halloween classic. The final image especially of a dazed Michael Parkinson - remember, he's a huge star both in the UK and Australia - mumbling about the BBC set before creator Stephen Volk's last chilling utterance made getting to sleep a harder task than I'd expected.

Readers would be aware that I am very much a fan of the Paranormal Activity features as well as The Blair Witch Project and the aforementioned Lake Mungo. When this type of film works well there's almost nothing I find scarier. Ghostwatch is another stellar example of it, made even more provocative by the project's history and the way its makers went about it. I watched it nearly 20 years to the day since its British premiere (it's never played since) and it's very much as effective now as it was in 1992. It's also the best thing I've seen during my month-long horror trek. A

31 Horrors: The Stone Tape (#2)

Wherein I attempt to watch 31 horror films over the course of October. 31 horror films that I have never seen before, from obscure to acclaimed classics. We'll see how well I go in actually finding the time to watch and then write about them in some way.

The Woman in Black this ain't.

Being such a fan as I am of Herbert Wise's 1989 British telemovie adaptation of The Woman in Black (of course, recently remade with Daniel Radcliffe, but nowhere near as good), I thought it of interest to go back a decade or two and watch another scary British teleplay that I had always heard good things about. The Stone Tape is directed by Peter Sasdy, but it shares a screenwriter with The Woman in Black in the form of Nigel Kneale. In fact, The Stone Tape is credited as "The Stone Tape by Nigel Kneale". This 1972 teleplay screened on BBC2 and follows in a tradition of "Christmas ghost stories" that aired on British television during the 1970s. It's a novelty of British 1970s television to read about especially since none of the features - of which The Stone Tape is only an unofficial member of as it was actually produced and (I think) screened under the banner of another anthology production, Dead of Night - have anything to do with Christmas. Would somebody care to explain?

Alas, as I have already said, The Stone Tape isn't exactly The Woman in Black. That one is, just quietly, one of my favourite scary movies. The Stone Tape as it turns out was more interested in being a sci-fi flick before a horror one, but even though I got some chills from that high pitched re-occuring scream - as well as that rather discombobulating final terror sequence with all the flashing lights - it left me more or less unmoved.

I'd be curious to see this film picked up for a remake. Like The Woman in Black and Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (another TV movie that I've never seen, which I need to rectify at some point), I can easily see it working in modern context. Although, it would probably be reframed as a found footage horror movie. If somebody does cough up the change for remake rights then can they cast Lucy Punch in the role of Jill, originally played by Jane Asher. The two look awfully alike, although her current IMDb photo looks like Mary Steenburgen. I'm also waiting for Lucy Punch and Anna Camp to star as sisters. I'm gettin' ideas, folks... also getting off topic.

So, umm, The Stone Tape? Average. It's definitely a British television production of the 1970s though and there's a lot of nostalgia in that aesthetic. Shame it wasn't particularly scary. C+

Equalize This!

So, they're rebooting The Equalizer. Or, more to the point, they're adapting the original CBS television series, which ran from 1985-1989, into a new feature film. We're already off to a bad start as it is by pure virtue of this movie being made in the first place, but then consider that it's not a period piece, it's going to be filmed in Boston, and it already has 8 (EIGHT!) producers listed. While the chosen star, Denzel Washington, doesn't quite fit the same mold as Edward Woodward's original grey-haired baddie slayer, I can actually at least see him in the role as a modern day equivalent. Shame that "The Equalizer" of The Equalizer is just one quarter of why the original series worked so well.

Completely by coincidence I have actually been watching series one of The Equalizer for the past week. I've always had a particular fondness for the series, without ever being able to recall much about it other than it was set in New York City and starred a man with a really funny name. I remember being a wee tyke and when I should've been in bed I was spying on my parents watching The Equalizer in the living room. The images stuck. It's curious that this show was surely the first known existence of New York City and I happening upon one another and yet I grew an instant love for the city. I mean, The Equalizer doesn't exactly paint the rosiest of portraits for the greatest city in the world, and yet still something about those analogue city lights must have really gotten to me. I have distinct memories of the images, if not the stories. Of course, there is that blue fog shot from the opening credits that strikes me as rather iconic, too.

I'm not sure if The Equalizer could be made as a series today. The fact that it deals with rapists, murderers, kidnappers, fraudsters and stalkers certainly seems like prime time material in 2012, but the filming style and the evocative sense of time and place is - quite frankly - something that can't be replicated. The New York City of 2012 is a much different one to that of 1985. Sure, there are still all sorts of nasty crimes and villainous creeps out there, but the city, from a purely visual standpoint, had an aura that makes for some truly skeazy viewing. The opening credits (below) alone are a thrilling piece of decaying Manhattan imagery. It's just not going to be the same to see "The Equalizer" (whatever back story he may take) cleaning up the human trash of a city that's actually really sparkly. A city where a late night stroll down the street - hell, even under the Brooklyn Bridge! - is a picturesque night out rather than a terrifying, traumatic experience for all. The Equalizer in a city where looking behind you ever thirty seconds once the sun as set doesn't quite make sense. He was essentially cleaning up a dying city one scumbag at a time, but does the city need him that badly anymore? Wait, are we talking about The Equalizer or Christopher Nolan's Batman movies? In episode four a character walks through Times Square passed a theatre that is playing Bordello starring Linda Lovelace!


Similarly, one of the great aspects of the series is its frequent and recurring use of New York locations. Within the pilot episode alone we see the following shots. It's a glorious show to look at if, like me, you're a bit obsessed with New York City of all eras. Could a current television series even afford to do this? Girls is mostly Brooklyn, the Law & Order franchise don't make much use of big New York imagery, nor do any others that I can think of. There's a car chase on the Brooklyn Bridge for crying out loud!

Sorry, I got carried away. But what character, what atmosphere. That blue white light that the buildings have in the night sky is entrancing.

After Woodward, Manhattan, and 1985, the final element that truly made The Equalizer what it was was the music of Stewart Copeland. I think we can all agree that his work on this series was by far the greatest thing anybody associated with The Police ever did (okay, maybe "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge!, but oh my lord how much do I hate Sting and The Police? SO MUCH!) Much like Jan Hammer's work on Miami Vice before it, and Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks afterwards, Copeland's score was the pulsating, electric beat that kept this dangerous city moving. And yet despite all of the blaring synthesizers and electric drums, there are unique and surprising instruments scattered about to make it really interesting. Love it.


"The Equalizer Busy Equalizing" | "Lurking Solo"
This new spin on The Equalizer being filmed in Boston is just crazy. Perhaps this new version, based on a script by Richard Wenk, will be set in Boston and they can utilise that city's look to their advantage, but then why bother even calling it The Equalizer? I know the series has a cult following, but I wasn't aware of it being all that much of a brand. Certainly not as much as some other series of the time that have already been turned into modern day features.

It's always good to see a classy thriller, and with a budget of just $50mil (Washington apparently getting $20mil of that so you can do the maths) it will fall into that mid-range sweet spot that studios seem to be finding themselves attracted to more and more as the budgets for their action blockbuster tentpoles skyrocket leaving less money to be spent elsewhere. Washington usually delivers the goods in these type of projects and perhaps whoever they assign to direct will be able to lend it a visual style that works in harmony with the memories of the original series. One name brought up in the linked article up top is Nicolas Winding Refn and I think we all know where I stand on him and his own retro masterpiece, Drive.

The odds, as Robert McCall might say, are certainly against them.

MIFF Blogathon: Day 6 (Tomboys and Film-Noir in Oregon)

This blogathon is an initiative of MIFF for their 60th anniversary year. I am one of six bloggers given the mission of seeing 60 films in 17 days and writing, reporting, reviewing and wrangling my way through the tiredness and hunger to bring the festival experience to your computer.

If you've missed other days just click the "MIFF" tag at the bottom of the entry. I also wrote a dispatch for Trespass Mag on the first four days of the fest.

The Third Man
Dir. Carol Reed
Running Time: 104mins

Carol Reed's masterpiece The Third Man was released two years after his exceptional Odd Man Out, and together the two make a rather stunning double. The chance to see The Third Man, the story of Harry Lime and his mysterious death in a road accident outside his Vienna apartment, on the big screen was far too good to pass up. Even more so when I knew it meant not necessarily having to watch the film with my critical brain on. Having already seen it and thought of it as one of the greatest films ever made, I was able to simply soak in the beautiful Italian locations (yes, even the sewers are beautiful!), the perfect Oscar-winning cinematography by Robert Krasker, the crackling chemistry between all four lead characters, the dazzling looks of Valli and revel in the excitement and thrills of the final 40 minutes, one of the greatest chase sequences ever put to celluloid.

Unlike Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy on day one of the festival, there is no need for me to request my dear readers hail The Third Man as a newly minted masterpiece as it has been hailed as one since the day it won the Palme d'Or in Cannes (or, as it was known in 1949, the "Grand Prize of the Festival"). I can only suggest you watch it (or watch it again) and agree with the masses. A

I Wish I Knew
Dir. Jia Zhangke
Running Time: 138mins

This peculiar film comes from the director of Still Life, which reminds to this one of the two or three greatest films I've ever seen at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Perhaps that's why I keep going to his films - perhaps? it is - but neither of the subsequent Zhang films have been, well, good. While this long, meandering testimonial documentary is certainly better than Useless, I Wish I Knew failed to grab me and resulted in a long series of walkouts. I was never offended or truly annoyed by the film to walk out sooner, but I did have to leave several minutes before the end due to another session. To be honest, I don't think I missed much.

The film follows an unnamed woman as she trudges about the city of Shanghai. As she does nothing of note, we are greeted to lovely footage of citizens of Shanghai going about their daily routine: mahjong, a young child running around looking for a fight to show off his "muscles", shopping for produce at a market. Throughout the movie are dozens or interviews with subjects ranging from the recognisable (Hsiao-hsien Hou for instance) to the not (I'm not sure if they were all supposed to be famous. were they?) as they recall memories about the city of Shanghai. Occasionally these interviews produced some wonderful stories, but others (like one man who talks about moving a sofa lounge? I admit to probably dozing off during that one!) are unfocused and uninteresting.


My favourite interview was Wang Tung/Wang Toon who directed the 1997 film Red Persimmon. The film is interlaced with film clips and locations sequences of Shanghai are gloriously lensed by Ke-Jia's frequent cinematographer Nelson Yu Lik-wai in his trademark colour palate of sea green and smoggy whites. The heavily synthesised score by Giong Lim is a highlight, but eventually becomes repetitious. Like I said, it's hardly offensive enough to my sensibilities, but there lacks any serious bite to really engage. C-

How to Die in Oregon
Dir. Peter Richardson
Running Time: 107mins

To be perfectly honest with you, I'm not sure I am quite ready, willing and able to discuss this documentary about dying with dignity. Peter Richardson's deeply moving How to Die in Oregan follows a few cases of people wanting to die with dignity after contracting debilitating terminal illness, as well the Washington state's proposition to legalise it like it is in Oregon. Richardson mainly follows one case, however, and that's the beautiful Cody Curtis, a mother and wife with liver cancer. After the movie I tweeted this, and it's entirely true:



It knocked me out.

I don't really want to use my blog here to get into a big theological discussion about whether dying with dignity is a basic human right or not (I think it is, ahem), but I honestly don't know how anyone could watch this documentary and not be moved. There's a sequence in the film that shows religious protesters who believe when we die is the matter of God and God alone, but it's probably quite easy for them to say that when they're not the one dealing with crippling disease and pain. Hmmm. A-

Tomboy
Dir. Céline Sciamma
Running Time: 82mins

"Sweet" is the word that I - and I presume many others, too - keep coming back to when deciding what to write about this French childhood comedy, the first film by Céline Sciamma since Water Lilles in 2007. Tomboy follows a young girl, Laure, whose family has recently moved to a new area. She has a younger sister and her mother is pregnant. Laure, as played by the wonderful and touching Zoé Héran, does "the boy thing" - cuts her hair short, wears boys clothes, and actually passes for a boy in the presence of others.

The performances by Héran, Malonn Lévana as sister Jeanne and Sophie Cattani as their mother are uniformly excellent. Héran especially gives a beautiful performance and one that goes deeper than the rather shallow waters of the screenplay. It's one of the finest child actor performances of recent years. Unlike many other viewers though, I suspect sweetness is Tomboy's major thematic virtue. Does Sciamma's screenplay have much else to say on the matter of androgyny and even, though never explicitly discussed but certainly raised, homosexuality in young children? I'm not too sure. In fact, I happen to think that Tomboy works best as a look at sisterly bond than anything relating to a girl dressing up as a boy. B

MIFF TALES
Today was the first day of the festival where I didn't feel like I really wanted to just stay in bed and take flu-fighting drugs. I actually felt like perky today. Perhaps I've got the initial wind that most people had on the first day of the festival? That or I'll wake up tomorrow feeling like crap again and I'll wanna punch myself in the face for jinxing myself.

It's gotten to the stage of the festival where I truly, honestly, don't know what day it is or even what time it is. It's also gotten to the stage where I start to see and hear things. During yesterday's films I couldn't help but watch boring paedophile drama Michael and see Buster Bluth! Today, as I was watching The Third Man I routinely got the theme tune to Curb Your Enthusiasm in my brain! That zither music does weird things to the brain, I swear!

Review: Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids
Dir. Paul Fieg
Year: 2011
Aus Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 125mins

“The female Hangover!” is what people are calling Bridesmaids, a description that’s both apt and thankfully not all true. They’re similar in that Paul Feig’s “raunchy” comedy involves a group of women getting into “comical adventures”, but where it differs are that its finest moments are those that are handled with a poignancy and sweetness that leave the unlikeable man-children of The Hangover in the dust.

Read the rest at Trespass Magazine
Let it be known that I enjoyed the first Hangover a lot, but those characters were indeed vile. The sequel, however, was a shithouse and the characters less unlikeable than just pure boring. Oh well.

I was writing this review while drinking a glass of red wine and i really did occur to me that I fully anticipate being as pathetically depressed as Kristen Wiig's character is in Bridesmaids in no time at all. That moment where she looks at her pay slip and I pretty much went "yeah, that's me." Still, Annie can join a long line of amazingly awesome pathetic mildly alcoholic characters played by fantastic comediennes: Jules (Courteney Cox) in Cougar Town, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) in 30 Rock, Old Christine (Julia Louis Dreyfus) in The New Adventures of Old Christine... may this newfound comedic cliche be the gift that keeps on giving!

Review: I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four
Dir. DJ Caruso
Year: 2011
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 109mins

People say that we are currently in a golden age for television and that is probably true, but for a teenager the golden age was 2000. It was great being a teenager back then – well, sure, it’s never truly “great” to be a teenager in any given year, but to have such rich and insightful television like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell and – mock if you will – Dawson’s Creek reaching the height of their craft in that year was something that the 15-year-old version of me relished.

I mention this because DJ Caruso’s new science fiction action movie I Am Number Four feels like a mash-up of all three, but without the valuable series-long format that would allow it to expand upon its themes in any deep way and it falls short of the mark that all three of those series reached in their prime. What it does succeed at, however, is some fun action and some impressive technical aspects that lift it up above the been there done that nature of its story.

I Am Number Four is, essentially, Roswell meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a definite detour through Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause. With added glowing teal cinematography. Alex Pettyfer (or is that “Prettyfer” because, my gawd, is this boy awfully attractive in a bland sort of way that recalls the likes of Jason Behr in Roswell – are his nipples ever not erect?) stars as “John”, a refugee alien living on Earth with his minder, played by Timothy Olyphant in the Anthony Stewart Head role. He falls in love with the pretty-but-vacant girl Sarah (Dianna Agron from Glee, Katie Holmes would have been cast ten years ago) and becomes friends with a small, unpopular kid at school named Sam, played by an Australian kid named Callan McAuliffe. Needless to say, interplanetary monsters are after him and to explain much more would make the word count of this review would go through the stratosphere.


If this were a television series – and from my understanding of the book and its proposed sequels, I think it probably would have – then Sam’s domestic violence subplot would be expanded and not feel like a dramatically neutered afterthought (Roswell’s similar plot line proved to be one of that series’ bigger triumphs) and the central plot wouldn’t feel so rushed. And speaking of television, isn’t it curious that for a show that celebrates “outcasts”, it’s the plain jane blond Dianna Agron that has gotten the first lead role out Glee?

Perhaps if all these pretty people weren’t so, well, pretty, I Am Number Four would feel more exciting – or, perhaps, if “number four” was the geeky Sam rather than the gym bunny John – but fans of this sort of material should come away with a minor appreciation for it. It’s just unlikely to inherit any of the slavish devotion that a television incarnation may have developed. C+

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 9 of Scream 2 (0:28:51-0:34:41)

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



SCENE 9 of Scream 2
Length: 5mins 50secs
Primary Characters: Cici Cooper, Ghostface and Dawnie (Marisol Nichols)
Pop Culture References:

• Party of Five (Cici watches it on TV)
  
• Nosferatu (Cici watches it on TV)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (By extension of Nosferatu as Sarah Michelle Gellar plays the titular "vampire slayer")
• Friday the 13th (Cici's friend jokes with the Ft13th theme music)
  

And so we come to the first post-opening death scene and the first major diversion from the original Scream. I actually love this sequence and it remains one of my absolute favourite scenes of the whole trilogy. There's something so simple and unabashed about it. It has plenty of film references and it plays with what we've learnt before (Cici runs up the stairs when she should be running out the front door), but it's just a good ol' fashioned taunt and chase slasher scene.

The fact that is features Buffy herself probably helps.


"I love those guys. Are they still together? I haven't seen it in, like, three weeks."
"No, they broke up again."
"Really?"
"Mmhmmm, Sarah found out that Bailey slept with Gwen. She dumped him, like, two episodes ago."
"I wish she'd get her shit together."
My memory of Party of Five isn't that strong - I wasn't much of a fan, but I watched it a bit because my brother was a fan. Tuesday nights on Network 10 if I remember correctly - but Bailey and Sarah are definitely characters, but IMDb is not showing me who Gwen was so maybe I've been wrong in assuming Cici is discussing that show.

However, the links to that show are both obvious (Neve Campbell) and less so (Jennifer Love Hewitt starred in the "rival" slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer with Sarah Michelle Gellar). And, furthermore, Jamie Kennedy who plays Randy would go on to feature on TV series The Ghost Whisperer with Jennifer Love Hewitt. I think they were even engaged at some point, yeah? And while it's not a Party of Five reference, the voice on the phone is Selma Blair who would go on to co-star with Gellar - and earn and MTV Best Kiss award! - in Cruel Intentions.


"Who are you calling for?"
"What if I said you?"
"What id I said goodbye?"
"Why would you wanna do that?"
"Why do you always answer a question with a question?"
"I'm inquisitive."
Teehee. Doesn't this just kinda ring like Buffy the Vampire Slayer dialogue? I've always felt it does.


"Do you want to die tonight, Cici?"
Love this moment! What with the big, bombastic music in the background (is that Marco Beltrami's music or is it taken from Nosferatu, because either way it's great.) One thing I've noticed is that the voice is much more placid in Scream 2. The voice is generally used less here than in the original, but where there was obvious anger in the voice during the Casey death scene and Sidney attack scene, the voice is never angry in Scream 2. Maybe Mrs Loomis is zen? Perhaps that's why she becomes so bug-eyed crazy in the big showdown at film's end?


We don't get an explanation for the noises Cici hears, do we? Or are we meant to assume it's Dawnie who makes her way downstairs whilst Cici is outside talking to campus security on the phone?


Gosh, remember when landline phones would crackle when you walked outside? Although not even my old home phone was as bad as this one appears to be. Silly Omega Beta House, choosing a residence with really poor reception if just a recipe for disaster!


Several reasons to love this moment.

1. It continues the entire franchise's close attention to framing. As with scenes in Casey Becker's and Stu Macher's house, as well as the Randy scene coming up soon and the Woodsboro set sequences of Scream 3, Craven and his team have a real knack for pushing the edges of the frame with stuff that keeps our eyes darting around.

2. Dawnie!

3. Thinking about Ghostface. The general theory goes that Mrs Loomis is outside with the video camera (the footage is seen later in the media class room with Gale and Dewey) and the telephone as Mickey waits for a way to get inside. Since Ghostface entering has no phone there's your proof that there were two killers. I love the look on Cici's face, too, as the phone rings and she's terrified. If only she'd picked the phone up instead of Dawnie, who knows what would have happened to her?


"You wish it was Ted. 'Don't forget to set the alarm'!"
I love that line reading; so taunting and evil. Having just said that it's Mrs Loomis outside on the phone, that voice really doesn't sound like it. The reveal sequence of Scream showed that not even Billy or Stu truly sounded like "Ghostface" as we hear him in his telephone calls, and when Sidney speaks through the voice altering device as she hides in the closet she doesn't sound anything close to the actual voice of Roger Jackson, so... hmm... look, let's just acknowledge it as "movie magic" and move on. Although, note that we never see Laurie Metcalf talking into the device, only Mickey, and yet we know she does in fact make telephone calls like the one to Randy. Oh plot holes!


I love the way the Nosferatu music creeps back in again at just the right moment. Just like Scream did with Halloween so that that film's legendary score ended up becoming the score of Scream.

And, of course, the in joke of Cici watching Nosferatu being the slayer and all. I think Buffy could take down Ghostface, don't you? She took on Dracula and one, right?




You know, earlier on in this very scene dissection, I said that this sequence in Scream 2 is the first that really diverges from the original's blueprint of opening scene -> intro to Sidney -> campus scenes -> Ghostface impersonations -> Gale being a bitch -> etc, but now that I think about it the scene shares a lot of similarities with scene 18 of Scream in which Principle Himbry bites the dust. Both are tide over scenes, meant to add horror oomph to a film that features a lot more story than most. Both feature the death of a character that doesn't have a personal connection to Sidney, and which hasn't had a major part to play in the film. Also features Ghostface playing seemingly innocent taunting games before bringing out the big guns knife. Plus, both feature obvious nods to their primary actors' most famous role (Happy Days and Buffy the Vampire Slayer respectively). I guess, if anything, it's like Sidney's attack scene, but with a murder payoff. Actually, yes, let's go with that.

One thing I like - and that mirrors the Himbry death scene - is that wherein Principle Himbry checks in the closet instead of behind the door, where Ghostface is hiding, Cici checks behind the door instead of inside the closet (which you can see behind her in the top shot), which is where the killer is hiding. It's this sorta stuff that makes the Scream movies smarter than most.


"Hello?"
Oh, Cici! Behind you!






Well this was never gonna work out well for poor Cici there, was it? Running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door (it's insulting). And, per the film's nudgewink style, the way that door is framed in the background all but screams "the killer is going to jump out of here, we're gonna make you wait for it." And then tada!


Close.


Not so close.

Hmmm.


Where did she think she was going? If she'd really tried she could've made a go of jumping off the balcony. It's only three storeys off the ground after all.


Even more pop culture references! Characters watch this scene in Halloween: H20, which stars Michelle Williams who was one of the stars of the Kevin Williamson created Dawson's Creek. Also, Smidge was originally cast in a similar blonde-who-dies role in Urban Legend, released one year later, but pulled out due to scheduling conflicts. She was replaced by Tara Reid. Hmmm. Make of that what you will.


Why hello there Mr Oops I'm In Shot and Nobody Noticed. I love that this blooper is so noticeable. It's like the wheelie board under Drew Barrymore as she's being dragged along; i can't not notice it! It helps distract from the silliness that is Cici's ridiculously long fall. She's falling from the third floor, not the tenth!


Splat! Goodbye Cici Cooper. It was great knowing you.

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