Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 16 of Scream (0:46:48-0:48:47)

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

SCENE 16
Length: 1min 59secs
Primary Characters: Deputy Dewey and Gale Weathers
Pop Culture References:

• Sharon Stone (Gale references her)
  

I know this woman! Didn't she used to host Entertainment Tonight? Something to that effect. Meanwhile, how 1996 is her hair?!? Incredible.

Another brilliant scene coming up though in which we finally begin to see the beginnings of the relationship between Gale Weathers, the "Top Story" correspondent, and Deputy Dewey Riley, the boyish policeman. I like how their make cute can almost be seen as a double between the budding relationship between Courteney and David themselves. Bless 'em!


Watch as Gale Weathers locks onto her target and begins to make her move.


She gets in for the kill.


Bam! She launches at her prey and attempts to devours him whole.


"I know who you are, Ms Weathers.
Ooh, lucky save my the Deputy there. Using his celebrity shield to ward off attacks from vicious wild animals reporters. Good job Dewey. Good job.


"You're not supposed to be here."
"I know. I should be in New York covering the Sharon Stone stalker, but who knew?!?"
Do you think Kevin Williamson had a thing for Sharon Stone when he wrote this movie? Two references to the actress that imply she is much bigger hot shit than anyone else (this stalker gag and the more famous line during the film's climax about Sidney's mother being "no Sharon Stone!"). She would have just come off of Martin Scorsese's Casino for which she got an Oscar nomination, so I guess she was still quite popular. I kinda hope there's a line about Stone and her guest appearance on Law & Order: SVU in Scream 4, I really do!


"Of course, you don't look a day over 12... except it that upper-torso area."
That's really creepy since she makes out with him later in the movie. The seeds of Cougar Town were planted early.


Bird? Plane? Superman? No, just The Fonz over the PA system.


"If I may say so Ms Weathers... you are much prettier in person."
"So you do watch the show!"
"I'm 25. I was 24 for a whole year."
This is probably my favourite Dewey scene in the entire trilogy. He is boyish and adorable and the chemistry with Courteney Cox is amazing. The look of Arquette's face alone makes the scene a triumph. It's a shame this scene doesn't go on longer because the zippy dialogue between the two is so fun to watch.

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

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 15 of Scream (0:44:04-0:46:47)

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

SCENE 15
Length: 2mins 43secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Ghostface, Cheerleader in Bathroom (Leonora Scelfo) and Girl in Bathroom (Nancy Ann Ridder)
Pop Culture References:

• Ricki Lake
  

One thing that doing this series has shown is how fast-paced it is. Scenes are generally very short, very punchy and are over with quickly so we can move on the next. Another thing that has really become evident even more than I was aware is just how much I truly do love this movie. Take this scene for instance, just listening to the rhythm of the dialogue from the two girls and it reminds me of something as classic as Heathers ("suicide is out this year" certainly helps in that regard) and the way it seems to satirise all teen movies, not just horror ones. I definitely see Valley Girl and Clueless in this scene.


Oh Sidney, always looking so virginal.


I gotta admit, I kinda love this chick. She is so high school slasher movie cliché, but she's great value nonetheless and I wish there was more of her. She is played by Leonora Scelfo and was Matt Lillard's Skeet Ulrich's girlfriend at the time. I also kind of like in retrospect how she looks like Jenny McCarthy who is an actress we'll meet when we look at Scream 3. Scream is one of only three roles Scelfo has done, which a shame because she has an immediate presence and even in this tiny role she sums up so much.


I'm just screencapping this for the fun of it.


And again.


Haha, seriously! She's amazing.


I really like this upcoming dialogue exchange for reasons I already said. Kevin Williamson sure did have a knack for this sorta stuff, didn't he? And, just as an aside, I don't think it's a coincidence that Buffy the Vampire Slayer started but a mere one year after this movie, which really popularised this sort of stylised teen dialogue even more.

"Maybe she's a slut just like her mother. Please, it's a common fact. Her mother was a tramp. ... Think about it; her mother's death leaves her stern but hostile in a cruel and inhumane world. She's delusional, "where's god?" et cetera. Completely suicidal, one day she snaps! She wants to kill herself, but she realises that teen suicide is out this and homicide is a much healthier, therapeutic expression."
"Where do you get this shit?"
"Ricki Lake!"
"You are pathetic"
Isn't that kinda amazing? It helps that Scelfo's delivery is so spot on. I particularly enjoy the way she says "cruel and inhumane world" and I have been known to use that line from time to time (or, I did 'back in the day'). How come I get the feeling that, looking at this still, I'm watching a Ke$ha video?

And what about our favourite cheerleader's friend over there, otherwise known as "Girl in Bathroom"?


Played by Nancy Anne Ridder in her first ever role (only Todd Solondz' Storytelling is of any worth in the rest of her limited filmography), Girl in Bathroom is an interesting side-character. Clearly a tag along friend for the cheerleader, merely there to make the cheerleader look hotter, but who has developed a vapid attitude to go alongside her teenage phase of wearing pants, mauve sweaters and cutesy green hairclips. She says things like "bubble-butt boyfriend", which is a term I thought that only gay porn websites used, and has Valley Girl-esque inflections in her voice. She's basically trying to be Cher from Clueless but with bad hair and without the Rodeo Drive-approved credit card (I'm sure).

If Scream were a lesser movie then these two would probably be killed at some point by Ghostface simply to up the gore and the body count, but the film plays hard to get and promptly dismisses them so they can spend the rest of their lives telling how they "knew Sidney Prescott" and how they "survived the Woodsboro massacre."


This is Sidney's upset face.


This is Sidney's did-i-just-hear-someone-whispering-my-name face.


Because the air conditioning system is one of the places you would expect a killer to hang around in in such a deserted, empty place like a high school.


This is Sidney's no-shit-i-really-did-hear-someone-whisper-my-name-or-perhaps-it-was-magic face.


I like how the cape just sorta drifts down over the legs as if by magic (I'm not sure what my sudden fascination with magic is, but let's roll with it for a second). It baffles me that Sidney doesn't immediately try to get the hell outta that bathroom, but whatever man. I like the story about how the filmmakers realised they had to make all the possible killers wear big black boots because that would give away the killer's identity. Even Tatum wears them. That's using your noggin!


Is this the real Ghostface or just another high school student impostor? I think it's fair to say that it certainly isn't Billy, but could it be Stu? I'm not too sure. We established in the comments of this entry that Stu has the tendency to go a bit off the rails and flaunt his status as the killer in ways that could easily get him found out, so attacking Sidney at the school would make sense... but we all know Stu is whipped by Billy and he would not be happy if he wasn't involved in the Sidney slaughter.


The scene ends with this shot, which I think is really great. The way the camera remains flat and still for the first few seconds and then does its little angular spin as Sidney runs down the stairs. Just another tiny, almost unnoticeable, thing that helps set it apart from so many others like it.

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

Review: Savages Crossing

Savages Crossing
Dir. Kevin James Dobson
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 84mins

Savages Crossing is without a doubt a true bona fide contender for worst movie ever made in Australia. Give or take a Footy Legends here or Houseboat Horror there. It features nary a single solitary frame of quality cinema and can boast to having some of the worst acting, directing, writing, editing and sound I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing. Within five minutes I had already guffawed loudly like Edna Crabapple in The Simpsons, stared agog at the names of quality cast-members during the credits and planted my face in the palms of my hands at the ridiculous nature of how the story was already unfolding. It was only the beginning.

Co-Written by husband and wife team of John Jarratt and Cody Jarrett (yes, they have near-identical surnames), directed by Kevin James Dobson (who has worked on A Country Practice, The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years and a movie called The Virgin of Juarez starring Minnie Driver, of all people) and starring a bunch of recognisable, and occasionally quite talented people, names such as Jarratt himself, Craig McLachlan, Jessica Napier, Sacha Horler, Chris Haywood and, strangest of all, Aussie acting legend Angela Punch McGregor. Oh and John Jarratt's son, Charlie. Of course.

Savages Crossing is the sort of movie in which the camera lingers on a sign that reads "ROAD SUBJECT TO FLOODING" as ominous-looking clouds roll overhead. Savages Crossing is the sort of movie in which a character's entire back story can be explained in a 30-second foul-mouthed monologue because it's not really all that important anyway. Savages Crossing is the sort of movie that features a heavy rainstorm that stops whenever the filmmakers could no longer afford the rain machine. It's a terrible movie through and through without a glimpse of hope amongst its, at times, unpleasant and ugly actions.


John Jarratt stars as Phil, a criminal recently released from prison and on the hunt for his wife and son. All he wants is his half of the money she got from... something something. Sue (Angela Punch McGregor) and her teenage son Damien (Charlie Jarratt) escape to the country, but not before a flood halts them in their tracks and forces them to pull into a roadside pub, owned by Mory and Kate (Craig McLachlan and Jessica Napier). Also at the roadhouse are travelling buddies Shae and Mickey (Sacha Horler and Rebecca Smart). Shae's a lesbian in case you needed to know. Soon enough Phil arrives too, as does Chris Haywood's hired assassin character and basically what you have is a "simmering" "hotplate" of "tensions", which slowly turns into a rip-off of The Shining meets Wolf Creek.

Characters do stupid things, stupid things happen to characters, events make no sense and long passages of idiocy make up the scant, and mercifully brief, 84 minute running time. Of course the McLachlan character stops a gunfight that allows Phil to escape into the thankfully not-flooded woods behind the road house. Of course people only think to punch Phil instead of shooting him with the semi-automatic weapons they have on hand and of course people are more concerned with the why of Phil's rampage rather than the fact that he is trying to kill everyone in sight! Some movie characters truly deserve whatever horrible fate awaits them, I swear.

It's quite obvious that this movie was made on the smell of an oily rag since the entire production looks cheap cheap cheap. Sound effects sound tinny and the visuals are continually murky and unimpressive. The writing is frequently cringe inducing with its desire to create stupid catchphrases, while its characters are unpleasant and unworthy of a film. I spent a large chunk of time feeling sad for McGregor and Horler, exceptional actresses each of them and yet stuck here making ends meat in a film so exceptionally bad that it demands its own chapter in Michael Adams' ode to bad movies, Showgirls, Teen Werewolves and Astro Zombies.


It wouldn't be necessarily a bad thing if the movie was at least a bit of trashy fun, but it's really not. After the opening ten minutes I realised that this was all for real. They had actually hired so-called professionals and proper actors who thought they were making a serious horror thriller. As a premise Savages Crossing has a good one and could have been a doozy with a name like Greg McLean behind the camera and someone giving the screenplay a good ol' rewrite. Sean Byrne's upcoming The Loved Ones is an exceptionally well-made movie based around a limited number of cast-members in a single set structure, but the limitations of Savages Crossing's production come through far too loud and clear to be seen as anything other than a waste of time and money.

Whoever saw the final cut of this and thought anybody would want to see John Jarratt recite nursery rhymes in one of the most overblown, overwrought and overacted pieces of garbage performances I've ever seen was clearly kidding themselves. I'm not sure what happened to Jarratt here, but its as if he tried to take his Mick Taylor character from Wolf Creek one step further but ended up coming out on the other side of batshit bonkers. But that goes for most of the movie, really. Consider this before you finish reading this: Savages Crossing is worse than Prey. It's worse than Long Weekend and it's certainly worse than Cut. It is the bottom of the barrel and should've remained there. F

Black & White Friday: Body Double

Brian DePalma uses two "not everything is as it seems" devices within the opening minutes of this Body Double, including this one here right as the title is on screen. He's hardly the most subtle director out there. Softly softly, Mr DePalma. I recently just watched Body Double for the first time and I really didn't know much about it other than what I had, ahem, learnt about from Jason (<-Spoilers), but I kinda loved it. Totally conducive of me screaming "WHAT THE FUCK?!?" several times, but love it nonetheless.


I can't tell if the rear projection here is bad because it's bad or bad because its 1984 meant to look like 1954.



Blah blah Hitchcock blah blah modern day blah blah. I don't care if DePalma is ripping off Hitchcock, paying homage to him or simply being influenced by him, but I love his shots and the way even a blatant "duh! hitchcock!" moment such as this feels uniquely DePalma.


The Hitchcock project that Body Double reminds me of most is, actually, the resurrected Alfred Hitchcock Presents of the 1980s. That series was a modern day (for the time, 1985) update of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series of the 1950s, and that's sorta what Body Double feels like. It's not quite authentic enough to actually pass as Hitchcock, but has all the elements you can see why its called "Hitchcockian". Having said that, I can only wonder what Hitchcock would have done with the 1980s with architecture like this!

Of course, the other thing that pops into my mind when I see this shot is Troy McClure!


The character of "Gloria Revelle", played by Deborah Shelton, is so '80s! She looks like she just walked off of the set of Dynasty via LA Law. It's kinda why I really enjoyed Body Double; in spite of all the "look at me! hitchcock!" stuff, the movie is still incredible of its time and the juxtaposition between the two elements are fascinating. Strange though to discover that Shelton's voice was dubbed!



These two shots actually reminds me of a moment I captured during Shutter Island with its multiple levels, playing with architecture, mind games and ideas of logic. Uh-huh. Of course, no amount of black and white can make anybody believe that first shot is anything other than Rodeo Drive in the 1980s.


Aah yes, a sudden onset of some debilitating phobia. It's hardly done with as much visual panache as Hitchcock did in Vertigo, but not many movies have the visual panache of Vertigo, do they?


This is all I am going to show of the infamous powerdrill sequence because you truly have to discover it for yourself to get the hilarious stupidity of it all (Shelton's "Gloria" is such a wet fish in this scene - damn woman, do SOMETHING!)


This is the first time we (technically) see Melanie Griffiths. It is over an hour into the film! Now that's my kinda Melanie Griffith movie! I'm not as repelled by her as some people, whose idea of a good Melanie Griffith movie is one in which she doesn't appear at all, but she's hardly the most exciting presence on screen, is she? She's not as bad here as she became in later movies - I think it was around the time of Pacific Heights? - but the less we see of her the better, I say!

From here on the film goes... well, you know where it goes if you're at all familiar with Brian DePalma's work. I must admit I was taken by surprise at how suddenly it detoured, but there you go. Of course, all of this was kinda pointless since the three key Hitchcock movies that DePalma was referencing/homaging/stealing from - Vertigo, Dial M for Murder and, most obviously, Rear Window - were all filmed in colour. Hell, Dial M for Murder was in 3D! I think 1984 just missed the mini 3D revival of the 1980s, actually. Melanie Griffith in 3D is something I can live without.

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 14 of Scream (0:43:23-0:44:03)

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

SCENE 14
Length: 40secs
Primary Characters: Principal Himbry, Expelled Teen #1 (Troy Bishop) and Expelled Teen #2 (Ryan Kennedy)
Pop Culture References:

• None
  

I like how this very brief scene continues on the "Principal Himbry is a creep, is he a suspect?" line that seems to go DING! everytime he is on screen. It does, however, make a nifty reference to the possibility of two killers.


Just listen to the sound work during this scene. Those scissors are wild! They make so many SHWING and SHYUSH sounds that you'd think someone got a bit worked up in the sound editing booth. It's like how when a character swings a knife through the air and it somehow makes that very audible sound. Slicing through air is noisy work.


That there is Ryan Kennedy as "Expelled Teen #2" and while I wish I could report that this tiny role was the beginning of a career it most certainly was not. He only had one credit before Scream and that was Francis Ford Coppola's Jack - terrible movie, but when your first two movies are directed by Coppola and Craven you're on to a good thing - but after that appeared in an episode of Nash Bridges and two movies, Abandon which came around during that "Katie Holmes likes making shit teen-thrillers" phase that also included Disturbing Behaviour and Teaching Mrs Tingle, and $windle, which I had never heard of before. Just last year he appeared in the pilot of Trauma, whatever that is, and other than that it's nada.


Now this, on the other hand, is Troy Bishop as "Expelled Teen #1" and he has at least worked a little bit more than Mr Kennedy up there. Some TV series here or there including an episode of Nash Bridges, but not the same one as Ryan Kennedy. Then parts of various sizes in a few movies.


This is just my favourite shot of the scene so I wanted to include it. Love the three levels of focus. Henry Winkler really does go to town with those scissors though, doesn't he?!?

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

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 13 of Scream (0:41:09-0:43:22)

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

SCENE 13
Length: 2min 13secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley, Stu Macher and Billy Loomis
Pop Culture References:

• Candyman (Stu reckons Sid "branded (Billy) the Candyman")
  

I'd like to use this moment to put a question to any Americans out there: Do teenagers really dress that way for school? Perhaps it's because going to school in Australia meant wearing a uniform (even public schools), but the idea of casual clothes every single day of the school year has always amused me. Good gawd, I wouldn't have enough clothes to last longer than than 2 weeks at most of not wearing the same outfit twice. Either way though, I love that Tatum wears this sort of outfit because... well, really, just look at it!


Stu and his mirror, Tatum and her lollipop. These two are made for each other (apart from one of them being a serial killer, but who's paying attention?)



Firstly, that is a really dickish thing to do by donning the costume and running right into one of the killer's potential victims. Secondly, how funny is Stu's face there? I captured this moment completely by accident and yet I had to include it. Hilarious.


"Look at this place, it's like Christmas!"
"Stupidity leak!"
Tatum's Rapid Lollipop Action (RLA) is indeed so rapid that I could barely get a screencap of it. Needless to say, this is one of my favourite little moments of the entire trilogy (I have probably typed that multiple times already and I will not stop!).

Meanwhile, Stu's shirt is fug. Moving on.


"Fuck! Jesus! Shit!"
Sidney's got a mouth on 'er!

And thus begins one of the stupidest character moments in the entire trilogy (although, probably intentional). Seriously, if I were Sidney this would be a DEALBREAKER.

Aside: Sorry, I haven't had a proper chance to use that in a sentence since watching that episode of 30 Rock and I feel it is everyone's right to say that just once without fear of raised eyebrows and muttered utterances of disapproval, okay?

Nevertheless, Billy's spiel where he compares Sidney's mother being brutally raped and murdered to his mother's moving to the next town ("she's not coming back") is both ridiculous and... well, no, just ridiculous. It does however allow Sidney one of those only-in-the-movies-which-is-apt-since-scream-is-a-movie-that-knows-its-a-movie-ya-dig? lines of dialogue.


"I was attacked and nearly filleted last night!"
Filleted. FILLETED! Nobody uses that word unless they're a contestant on MasterChef Australia. Keep on using your words, Sidney!


"Your mom left town, she's not lying in a coffin somewhere."
Ooh burn.


"Talk to the hand!"
"I'm sorry if my traumatised life is an inconvenience to you and your perfect existence."
No 17-year-old talks like this and yet I love it. So melodramatic!


"Stupid!"
Pretty much, Billy!

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