It seems that once a month an Australian film comes along that goes so under the radar that you'd be forgiven for thinking it doesn't really exist without seeing it with your own eyes. I had heard about the production of Surviving Georgia, the first film by Sandra Sciberras since the small, but nice, Caterpillar Wish in 2006, but that was so long ago that I was instantly surprised to see it pop up on the local release schedule for next week (13 October). I haven't had the chance to see Surviving Georgia as I was busy at the time of the press screening, but those who have inform us that, well, it's not very good. Hardly surprising, but you never fully hope for a bad movie so it's a shame when one just lands with a thud. Especially when it features a cast like Pia Miranda, Caroline O'Connor and Shane Jacobson.
Still, get a release it shall (into 8 cinemas, more than some other more acclaimed films) and good on them for doing so. Just getting a film completed and out there is a win in this day and age, and if the cinematic release acts as nothing more than a token gesture before DVD (a much more forgiving arena for Australian films, I assume) then so be it. The film is being distributed, I believe, by the co-director (Kate Whitbread) and co-star/co-producer (Spencer McLaren), although I may be wrong on that detail, and a recently released trailer didn't exactly set the world on fire - two unrelated Twitter followers labelled it "abominable" within minutes of each other. Take a look for yourself and think "would I rather see this or A Heartbeat Away?" Hmmm, that's a tough one!
So far, so ordinary. It may look bad, but not offensive and barely worth a second glance. Sad, but true. Nevertheless, something about this trailer piqued my curiosity at the time (I saw it play before The Help and promptly forgot all about it), but it wasn't until I received an email from a "Jarrod Sturneiks" just yesterday that it really clicked. In between the many moments of inept acting displayed by star Holly Valance ("you've got to be bloody kidding me" is a snorter, that's for sure!), the dunderheaded title cards, grating budget music choices and the entire film being laid out in front of us, there is a moment of unexpected curiosity when a four star review from The Guardian is referenced.
Considering even Australian critics hadn't had much of an opportunity to see Surviving Georgia at the time, it was curious that this tiny Australian film starring Holly Valance (of all people) managed to secure a 4-star quote from a well-known source such as The Guardian website. Alas, what they have done is in fact used a user review posted by somebody on the film's default Guardian page. Looking at the website in question and it becomes quite clear, rather quickly, that this review by "Lutherfilm" is not an official review by any means and that the producers have misrepresented The Guardian as somehow endorsing Surviving Georgia.
How do they get away with it? The same star rating and quote is featured on the poster, too. One must assume that they figured their film is so small that nobody would really notice and that by not including the actual name of the person who wrote "...touches your heart and leaves you with a smile" they can feasibly get away with it. But, then again, that's like saying CNN endorses radical alternative therapies simply because they feature an interview with somebody who does. Who on Earth knows who this "Lutherfilm" person is, anyway. The comment was posted way back on 18 May, which is coincidental since the film's original release date, according to IMDb, was 29 May. This person's profile features no other activity; they may as well be a stock standard Anonymous and be done with it. There's even a typo in there to look unofficial.
It almost feels like I'm criticising a puppy for peeing on the carpet, but this sort of blatant false advertising does nobody any favours. Not the Surviving Georgia filmmakers, nor any other filmmakers who work hard and get their film out there just to see it fail. Australian films are currently doing quite well at the box office, what with Red Dog and The Eye of the Storm, but this much smaller film obviously didn't have the resources at their disposal, which is hardly their fault. Nevertheless, so much Australian film marketing is grass roots, especially for a film like this, and perhaps I was just looking in the wrong place, but I never heard a peep out of this film trying to get itself out there and raising its profile. If they thought slapping a fake quote on their dodgy trailer was going to cure their film's ills then they were sorely mistaken. If they don't even trust their own product then why should we? I like to try and see as many local films as possible, but for Surviving Georgia I'll make an exception. This one I'll skip.
Face to Face Dir. Michael Rymer Year: 2011 Aus Rating: MA15+ Running Time: 88mins
Ten people sit inside a recreation hall fitted with only a collection of sturdy, if uncomfortable, chairs and a table with cups and a jug of water on it in front of an unmanned bar. This is the no frills setting of Face to Face, an unfussy adaptation of the David Williamson play of the same name. Written and directed on a tightly-reigned leash by Michael Rymer (Angel Baby), Face to Face will never be mistaken for the most exciting film of the year, but it’s a bold one nonetheless that rewards viewers with spiky wordplay and tart performances from a cast of big names and lesser knowns.
I've noticed quite a few people this year have sworn off watching trailers and I can only hope enough people have successfully avoided watching the trailer for Face to Face. It's on YouTube if you want to search for it and find it, but I'd suggest otherwise since it is one of the worst trailers of the year. Possibly the worst. I hope people who did see it aren't sufficiently turned off so as to swear off seeing the film as it's really quite good (er, obviously, if you read the review). B
In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!
SCENE 12 of Scream 2 Length: 2min 44secs Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Ghostface, Derek and Dewey Riley Pop Culture References:
None
Going back to the idea of Scream 2 following in the near exact blueprint of Scream - scene for scene, as it were - this is, quite obviously, the sister of the moment in Scream where Sidney gets attacked in her home. Up to and including the suspicious, if convenient, boyfriend and last minute arrival of Dewey.
I get Sidney's curiosity about who's behind the new killings and why they're doing it, but gurrrl, what you doing pickin' up that phone? Get the fuck outta there!
Okay, now this part annoys me. Derek is standing outside - ya know, keeping Sidney safe? - and turns around to ask "you about ready?" And instead of waiting for an answer he just turns back around and walks down the steps. Ignoring the fact that Sidney wasn't only going inside to get her jacket, which he could clearly see she was now wearing. AAAGH!
"Hello Sidney. Remember me?"
See, now the trailer for Scream 2 features Ghostface saying "it's time, girlfriend", but that appears to have been changed to "it's showtime." I prefer it the other way since it does link into Derek as a suspect and Billy from the first film. However, watching the trailer just now (below) you can tell that the voice of Ghostface that appears at the start has been rerecorded specifically. The line "don't you know history repeats itself" is said entirely differently by Mickey during the big climax.
Oops.
Derek: The Great Protector!
I had literally never noticed - which is surprising since I've seen this film so many times - that there's still Cici's blood on the knife. I always thought this was Mrs Loomis attacking Sidney since she only seems to care about getting even with the original Woodsboro clan and we saw Mickey running towards the Omega Beta Zeta house alongside Hallie... so, I guess they're using the same knife? Or Mickey scampered away during the stampede? Hmmm.
Ghostface stabs the front door, breaks a vase, knocks over a chair and tips over several lamps. It's like how they make all the suspect characters where similar black boots, ya know? Except they must make all suspects wearing clothes have cover the majority of their body since the killer must obviously have bruises and scratches all over. Must. Yeah, okay, probably not.
I almost expect Derek to stupidly drop his mobile phone at this moment. I know that Derek ended up not being the killer like originally planned, so I'm glad there's not a lot of stuff that points to him like there is with Billy in the original.
Oh hai Dewey!
The expression of his face here is quite humourous, no? Was Dewey ever legitimately suspected as the killer here? I don't think so. Sure, he could have faked the limp, but... although, yet again, someone trying to protect Sidney ends up deserting her and leaving her by herself to be attacked. We'll discuss this more when it comes to Scream 3, but isn't that just silly?
Silly men. No wonder they each end up maimed. Silliest of all is when Dewey yells out "Sidney, he's in here!" What's she supposed to do with that information? And it's not like Ghostface isn't known to be sneaky and, like ya know, disappear and appear somewhere else with no regard to space or time logic.
!!! I love these two, don't you?
I love that if you look at the wound the blood is just flowing out of it! lulzomg, right? Juicy.
I like to imagine Sidney is saying to herself "Oh crap."
In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!
SCENE 5 of Scream 2 Length: 4mins 57secs Primary Characters: Gale Weathers, Joel the Cameraman (Duane Martin), Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf), Chief Hartley (Lewis Arquette), Sidney Prescott, Randy Meeks, Derek, Mickey, Hallie, Sorority Sister Lois (Rebecca Gayheart), Sorority Sister Murphy (Portia de Rossi), Portia de Rossi's Eyebrows (Themselves) Pop Culture References:
Kevin Bacon ("Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" is mentioned)
Wow! Awesome crane shot! Wow! So cinematic!
Okay, seriously, let's get to that recently released Canadian trailer for Scream 4 before we get carried away with this scene. I haven't blogged about it yet because a) I've had minimal time and b) it keeps getting taken down, but "Steve" left a link in the comments of an entry so now we have one! yeehaw!
We won't talk about it too much, but needless to say I am excited. Reveals more of the characters (both in terms of number and in terms of their actual character traits and so forth) than the last teaser, which I like. My favourite bit is the "do you like scary movies?" gag that Emma Roberts and Hayden Panattiere share in the bedroom. It reminds me of this bit between Sidney and Randy where it really felt like they were a group of friends who had existed before scene 1.
Some of the scares look very good, such as the Adam Brody one at the end and Sidney's rooftop chase looks intriguing. Could she be getting chased by two Ghostface-clad killers at the same time? It's certainly something the franchise has never done before. Or, not done obviously so with two physical Ghostface beings in the same shot. Should be interesting to see. I like that they include a replication of a shot from the opening scene of Scream 2 and, hello, Kirby's (Panattiere) reciting of remakes of "groundbreaking" horror movies. Well, apart from the use of the word "groundbreaking", which just sounds silly. Nevertheless, we'll go with it, okay?
So, in the end, I like the trailer and it just made me even more excited. A new HD version has been released to the Apple website and it's the US version. There are a couple of shots that are different, but other than that it's all the same. Less than four months to go, you guys! Can we wait? No we can't, but we'll have to. Back to "Scream to Scream", okay?
Oh hai Gale! So glad to have you back and looking as bitchy as ever. She looks so feline-like; can you imagine 1997 era Courteney Cox as Catwoman? Now that would be a re-interpretation that I'd be on board for (ahem Mr Nolan!) Of the three hairstyles Gale had throughout the trilogy, this one is by far the best. As Dewey would say, "nice streaks!"
Love the look on Gale's face when her new cameraman, Joel, tells her he "almost won an award" for shooting the local bingo championships. The character of Derek is an interesting one though since he's the only black character in the entire trilogy who does not die (albeit, from a very small number of black characters - what's that about? A point so chin-stroke worthy that they put Deon Richmond on the poster for Scream 3 despite being in all of 3 minutes of the film!) We'll discuss this more later on.
Look at "Debbie Salt" hanging around there in the background. Whosoever idea it was (that'd be Lisa Beach) to cast Laurie freakin' Metcalf in a slasher horror movie deserves a medal. Yet again, one of this series' biggest assets is its ability to cast actors that we all know in unexpected parts. Not just mere cameos, but actual parts. I mean, Roseanne's sister Jackie as the killer in Scream 2 just sounds ridiculous and yet utterly amazing.
"Excuse me, Ms Weathers, could I have a minute? Just one second. I know you must get this all the time, but I just wanna say I am such a big fan of your work. I just finished your book, I couldn't put it down. Insightful, probing, I just really, really loved your book."
"Thank you, thanks."
"Sure. I'm a writer myself, I just write for the local paper. I'm Debbie Salt. I took your seminar in Chicago last year, I was the one in the front row asking all the questions."
"Right, I thought you looked familiar."
"Aw, thank you. Can't wait to see the movie! You know, you must be getting a lot of flak on that, right? What with all the violence in cinema issues. What is your position going to be?" "No comment."
"Mr Weathers, it would be such an honour for me if I could just get a quote from you for my story."
"Okay. Begin quote." "Great!" "Your flattering remarks are both obvious and desperate. End quote."
(from the background) "Ouch!"
This entire bit is gold, from Gale's so-couldn't-care-less almost monotone replies of "thank you" and "Right, I thought you looked familiar", but my favourite bit is the "ouch!" from the press gallery after Gale's big line at the end. It's so sassy talk show host, I love it! Plus, knowing in retrospect that "Debbie Salt" (aka Mrs Loomis, Billy's mother) is the mastermind behind the killings makes you realise how much she must be full of rage at this moment and plotting her revenge.
That would be David Arquette's father - and Courteney Cox's future father-in-law - Lewis Arquette. It really was a family affair on set!
You remember how I said Scream 2 followed a very set structure, almost identical to the original, for the first half an hour or so? Well I guess this is Scream 2's version of the fountain scene where we get to see all of Sidney's crew in one place and suss out the likely suspects. No jokes about gutting, livers in mailboxes and Sharon Stone, unfortunately.
"Sidney, look, it's Gale Weathers. Star of the Gale Weathers press conference, based on the book by Gale Weathers, soon to be a major motion picture starring... Gale Weathers." "Be kind, she saved our lives."
I like that Randy makes a joke about Gale having calf implants. Who has calf implants? Gale Weathers, that's who!
We already discussed the history of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Cici character and how she was originally meant to be in this scene with Rebecca Gayheart, Portia de Rossi and Portia de Rossi's eyebrows. Every time I remember this scene I remember it with Gellar purely of the image found on this page since it was, for some reason, widely used and circulated. It always confuses me because Cici is "Omega Beta Zeta" in her death scene and Gayheart/de Rossi/de Rossi's Eyebrows are not OBZ. Thinking its all one giant plot hole I then remember all the kerfuffle about her character reshuffle and then I go calm again. Although, if you look carefully in the background you can see Cici standing there in her purple top and blonde hair right where she would be saying "Starfuckers" per the original script.
But, really folks, are you read for the big entrance of Portia de Rossi's eyebrows??
"This must be flat out hell for you?!"
Amazing!
"It's really weird, isn't it? To think this fuss is all because of you! I mean, not directly, but in some 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon' way!"
EVEN MORE AMAZING OMG!!!!
Hah. That look of a stunned mullet on the faces of Derek and Mickey always continues my chuckle from Portia de Rossi's supreme comedic prowess.
*explodes* I'm sorry, I have to give myself a minute to pull myself up off the floor from the pits of laughter that Portia de Rossi's cocked eyebrow sends me into. I fuckin' love it!
Of course, how can I get that snobby-looking uptight sorority girl to the right of frame. She's not credited so I don't know who the actress is, but my god would you look at her face. You just know she grew up to be Julie Cooper-Nichol.
"Who's that?" Derek asks... why it's Dewey, of course! Yay! We all love Deputy Dewey, don't we? DON'T WE?
In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!
SCENE 31 Length: 13min 13secs Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Gale Weathers, Randy Meeks and Mr Prescott Pop Culture References:
Psycho (Billy quotes it)
Carrie (Billy mentions it when describing his faked death)
Hannibal Lecter (Billy mentions him during his motive)
Sharon Stone (Sidney's mum is "no Sharon Stone")
Halloween (it continues to play on the TV)
Terror Train (Sidney bites Stu's hand in identical fashion to this film)
And so we come, as we inevitably must, to the big final showdown. I'd be getting misty-eyed if I didn't know we still had two films to cover yet. Alas, we still have a few scenes to go in Scream so let's get straight to it.
This was supposed to be Dewey's swan song, but the makers changed their minds when they decided he was a great character (and that Arquette was great at portaying him). Imagining if they had killed him off can lead you down a rabbit hole of various plot strands, theories and alternate takes on the franchise. What would the other films have been like? Hmmm....
Of course, this is another really poor moment of audio dubbing where Sidney's voice screams "Dewey!", but her mouth says "No!" Bless cheap horror flicks.
The Sidney-in-the-car bit is really quite silly, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I like how Ghostface clearly thinks he has the upper hand. There are so many things he could have done to get Sidney, but instead he (it's Stu again, obviously) acts quite nonchalant about the whole situation, knowing she can't get away and knowing that she needs to be alive for "the big reveal.
That knife tap on the window and the jangle of the keys is so perversely cruel.
And, can I just say, having watched just this small sequence in the cop car over and over in slow motion, I actually think it might be Neve Campbell's best acting moment in the entire trilogy. The looks she expresses on her face are incredible, like when she realises there's no keys in the ignition or when the killer dangles the keys in front of her. Very fine work, Neve!
Of course, that silliness I mentioned is the very reason it works. The way the killer is somehow able to produce phantom like abilities and movie about unnoticed and, my particular favourite, the way lot of horror movie characters seem to have absolutely no peripheral vision. As Sidney reaches over to lock drivers side door, it seems quite obvious that Sidney would notice the big back boot door swinging open and yet, like most horror movie characters who can never notice someone until they are tapping them on the shoulder Sidney doesn't see it. Makes me laugh.
I'd be suspicious, too!
I love this moment of Randy and Stu trying to place the blame on the other. I mean, at this point it's fairly obvious that it's at least one of them and, let's face it, Stu is as obvious a candidate as you can get since we saw Ghostface very nearly kill Randy. But, then, you never could tell since some things defy explanation (like how Billy/Stu knew about Gale's accident... more on that in a little bit).
Now that's some dedication right there! Billy would've been kicking himself if he had injured himself whilst performing this last act of pretending to be innocent.
Now to prove my naivete, when I first saw Scream I thought this was just a really bad gaff on the filmmakers behalf by not having Billy's shirt be slashed. I hadn't noticed it when Billy got stabbed upstairs, but I noticed it this time. Of course, now it's all quite obvious and so instead of thinking I am stupid for not noticing I deflect my stupidity towards Sidney for also not noticing it. Silly woman.
"Stu's flipped out, he's gone mad!"
"We all go a little mad sometimes."
"Oh fuck!"
Oh fuck, indeed, Randy! Also, I hadn't realised how identical the two shots of Randy were until I added them. Oh well.
Love this moment, doesn't everyone? Such a great little moment, made even more perfect by...
"Anthony Perkins, Psycho."
It's the scratching the itch with a gun that makes it. Like, he really has gone mad that he doesn't even care about, perhaps, accidentally shooting himself in the head.
That shot right there is Sidney realising "Oh shit, I just bonked a mad man." Serves her right for having that hair cut, don't you think? Still, if you're going to root around with a serial killing crazy person you might as well make it Skeet Ulrich, don't you think? I mean, isn't it kind of weird how he only gets hot once he's "gone mad"? Perhaps that says something about me...?
"Mmmm, corn syrup. Same stuff they use for pig's blood in Carrie."
Well duh!
No, but seriously, I'm not going to sit here typing away and pretend that I figured it out. I really didn't. Mostly because I had no idea what the fuck I was watching, in all honesty, but I'm sure I was all "no way!" at the big reveal of who the killers were. I mean, as I've kept saying, it seems so obvious watching it now and someone new to the film, but who has had a steady diet of horror films, may be able to pick it, but as one of the first major horror films I ever saw (and probably one of the first where we didn't already know who the killer was, like "Michael Myers" or "Jason Voorhees", my memory is a little fuzzy on the issue) it blew me away.
Of course, Stu (nor Billy) sound anything like the voice on the phone, but what can you do?
Don't they make a nice couple? It's amazing that some people can't see the overt homoeroticism in this movie between Billy and Stu.
"Why? WHY? Did you hear that Stu, I think she wants a motive. I don't really believe in motives, Sid. I mean, did Norman Bates have a motive?" "No." "Did they ever really decide why Hannibal Lecter liked to eat people? DON'T THINK SO!"
I actually think this is one of the best line readings in the whole movie. Skeet Ulrich never really did much for me performance wise through the film, but once he was able to go fully insane it totally clicked. I like this bit, however, because it merges the casualness that he and Stu brought to the proceedings with moments of insanity tearing through as he screams, until he very soon just lets the floodgates open.
"We did your mom a favour, Sid. That woman was a slut-bag whore who flashed her shit all over town like she was Sharon Stone or somethin'." "Yeah, we put her out of her misery because, let's face it Sidney, your mother no Sharon Stone!"
That line is so hilarious and offensive in so many ways, but that's the entire point. And, of course, there's Kevin Williamson's crush on Sharon Stone emerging its head again. It's a shame they didn't carry that joke on through the other movies, actually. I wonder what Billy and Stu would think of Sharon Stone these days. You know, if they were alive.
He's such a nutjob, but that's why we like him! Of course, he telling Sidney that she "gave it up" means that all three of Randy's rules get broken since Randy and Sidney probably drank, Sidney had sex and Gale said "I'll be right back". And yet, at the same time, they were all adhered too.
"It's a scream baby! Hold on, I'll be right back!"
Oh Stu.
There's always been this belief that the end of Scream, this kitchen sequence is excessively violent. Even a lot of the positive reviews at the time mentioned how it got too violent at the climax, and yet this is these are the only direct shots of someone being stabbed by that knife in this sequence. The rest are all off screen. Oh sure, there's a lot of blood - and a lot of that is the fake blood all over Billy - and sounds, but not so much actual on screen violence.
"These days ya gotta have a sequel"? These days? It's pretty much always been like that, especially in the horror genre. I'm glad though that they held off the "sequels suck" discussion until the actual sequel instead of having Billy and Stu muse on what they'll do to make a sequel that doesn't suck.
"You sick fucks, you've seen one to many movies." "Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative."
This quote, I think, actually ties in to the entry I posted yesterday about the relatively weak rating of local horror film The Loved Ones, in which I discussed how - at least in America - violence is seen as a weaker cinematic device than sex. Movies surely make people more creative when it comes to violence and sex! Who could watch something like Lust Caution and not have the thoughts run through their mind of what it would be like to be that creative in the bedroom.
But this line truly speaks to the theory that all violent criminals were already going to be violent criminals and that, say, the kids in the Bolger murder case didn't need Child's Play to set them off. Or the much ballyhooed idea that kids playing violent computer games is going to set them up for a life of gutless thuggery and brutal violence. Would Billy have been a violent person if Sidney's mother hadn't slept his Billy's father, making his mother leave? The dormant violent person in him clearly snapped, but it wasn't because of the movies. So many people try and put film and television and games as the catalyst, but outside of maybe a few isolated cases I think it's very much as Billy put it.
I was always surprised Scream wasn't rated R18+ since the film isn't as polished as other horror films, including Scream 2, and it can be that real grunginess that lends itself to harsher ratings. If a film is seen as "smaller" then harsher ratings are possible. Of course, we've come a long way from the days of horror movies getting slapped with R18+ ratings willy nilly. How about John Carpenter's 1978 original Halloween being rated R18+ when, if released today, it would probably be a much less restrictive M15+ (equivalent, sorta, to PG13). Aah, the many ins and outs of film classifications. Where would we be without them? Probably resting far easier knowing we don't have that silly system to mock all the time.
The sound work of this sequence is really solid. The slashes and the stabs, obviously, but I love this little closeup of Stu's hand covered in blood and you can actually hear the drops of blood dripping from his fingers and landing on the flood.
Gale, you crazy, amazing, badass broad! "Right here, asshole!"
Now, here is what we discussed last time. Billy says "I thought she was dead" and Stu goes "she looked dead, man. Still does." No one in the comments of 30 seemed to be able to explain how Stu was able to not only know Gale had been in an accident with her van crashing into a tree, but also knowing that she looked dead. The positions of Billy and Stu can be pretty well plotted: After Stu killed Kenny the Cameraman, Sidney escaped trying to run away from the house. At this time Stu must've gone back inside the house, at which time Dewey and Gale split up, she going to her van and he inside the Macher house. As Gale drives away Sidney tries to get her attention, she drives off the road and Sidney runs back to the house wherein she discovers Dewey stabbed by Stu. She then hides in the car and is attacked, mere moments later Stu is standing in front of her in plain clothes. At no point would Stu have been able to run down the road, discover Gale's van and check on her, then running back to the house for the whole big reveal shenanigans.
It makes no sense.
Each film in the trilogy has one moment that defies logic, sense, time and space. Scream 2 has the baffling killer-in-the-car-accident-who-disappears-then-reappears-to-stab-Hallie-yet-somehow-neither-she-nor-Sidney-noticed moment and Scream 3 has the scene where Gale check's Roman's pulse only to have him return later very much alive. For the original it is this scene that makes no sense and it bugs me to this very day.
Dewey is meant to be dead in this shot because they hadn't yet decided to keep him alive, but I like that even in supposed death Gale and Dewey would have ended up in each other's arms (well, she in his lap, technically).
You know what I said just before about the sound of blood dripping from Stu's hand? I reiterate it for this moment. That neck crack is just... aagh. Like nails on a chalkboard.
I like that they incorporated the telephone back into the scene since it all started with it. That's always been my one beef with Scream 2, neither the opening nor the closing utilise the phone, which is something that is so ingrained in the DNA of the film.
"Peer pressure. I'm far too sensitive."
Matthew Lillard's improvisation of "you fuckin' hit me with the phone, DICK!" is surely one of the best moments in the entire trilogy, yes? So funny and insane and so indicative of the way their plans are unravelling and how Billy was, quite obviously, far more insane than Stu had probably thought.
I don't think Sidney and her father are hiding in the couch cushions, Billy!
"Did you really call the police?" "You bet your sorry ass I did." "My mom and dad and gonna be so mad at me!"
Without a doubt, Matthew Lillard owns this big scene, doesn't he? He has so many great lines and reads them all with such relish and energy.
Yet again the incorporation of the Halloween soundtrack works perfectly. The way it makes us think "oh the sound was just the TV" and then BOOM out flies another Ghostface.
I'd always found it silly that Sidney decided to wear a Ghostface costume for this moment, but then it dawned on me that Stu must've just had one hanging up in the downstairs coat closet of his house and now I smile and chuckle at the thought of Stu coming home from butchering his principal or his ex girlfriend and then hanging the costume up in the closet. Can't have it creased now, can we?
This punch moment is, strangely, the most uneasy moment of the whole scene. You just don't see movies very often where the heroine gets punched in the face? Although, I recently rewatched David Fincher's Panic Room (which I love) and, again, the scene in which Kristen Stewart gets punched in the face is the most shocking out of everything. Perhaps that says something about me? I'm not too sure.
As an aside, I was never aware that Sidney's hand bite was actually a reference to another movie. Just a couple of weeks ago I actually saw Roger Spotiswoode's Terror Train on DVD. It's one of the videos that Randy brought along to the party and it stars Jamie Lee Curtis who takes a staggeringly odd graduation celebratory train ride through the Canadian mountainside. As she and all her friends are on the train someone starts murdering them all. And then there's David Copperfield, who doesn't really make any sense, but I guess he needed to exposure at the time? I quite liked it as those sort of films go and it has a great twist ending (albeit one that I predicted). Take a peak at the trailer if you've never seen it - I love that opening bit with the train emerging in the night with the steam looking like a blue fog.
"I always had a thing for ya, Sid!" another great line from Stu. RIP Stu, you were a blast! Let's be thankful that you never returned.
