Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 29 of Scream (1:16:06-1:21:30)

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


SCENE 29
Length: 5min 24secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Ghostface, Billy Loomis, Randy Meeks and Kenny the Cameraman
Pop Culture References:

• Halloween (Randy continues to watch it and the chase sequence resembles it in some ways)
• The Spiral Staircase (some say the way Sidney bangs on the attic window is identical to this movie)
  

This scene is title "The Chase" on the menu screen and, well, that's what it is. I think this is one of the best chase scenes of its kind; it covers so much ground and space and really just kicks everything up a notch with everybody getting their part. Well, except Stu who, in retrospect, was probably the only feasible suspect at this point alongside Sidney's father.


The way Craven constantly puts telephones in the frame is great, isn't it? The audience sees one and is immediately on guard for terror. Watching the Scream 4 trailer this past week (over and over again) and I can't tell you how happy I was to hear and see a good ol' fashioned landline phone. Scream 3, if I remember correctly, relied too much on mobiles and while I am sure Scream 4 will have its fair share of them (iPhones, as also seen in the trailer) it was just refreshing to see traditional phones as well. Random observation, I know...















I'd like to be all smart and say that I figured out that Billy was the killer during this sequence (because it's so obvious just looking at these images,) but I wasn't. I remember cottoning on to it during the staircase sequence, but we'll get to that later. As for now... Billy?

My favourite shot is the second last one where Billy reaches out to Sidney and the way it's framed makes it appear that their hands are touching in what Sidney would have thought of as one last embrace. Of course, we all know better, don't we? Yup!


I have gone on and on about the art direction of Scream, but Stu's house is a marvel all its own. I'm not even sure how the design of this house makes sense with the places Ghostface emerges from at times, and this moment is an example of that.


One of my favourite shots. Don't ask me why, it just is.



I like Scary Movie. It doesn't work as a spoof so much because, well, Scream kinda already is one, but I still think it's funny and has some great gags (the sequels, not so much). However, one thing that it did have the smartness to mock was the way the Scream killer, at least in the original, is a big ol' klutz that gets hit by a lot! I know they couldn't do it due to the need for surprise, but it's amazing Billy and Stu didn't have big welts before the final confrontation. Also, I remember finding Anna Faris' run, where she flails her arms around like Neve Campbell does here, to be hilarious. Oh, to be 15 again...


I think this shot is good at giving a better look at the layout of the property, but I find it humourous that Gale and Kenny were trying to be inconspicuous and yet the van is really actually quite close and out in the open for anyone to see.



That second shot is an incredible one, don't you think? It's that shot that makes me think they definitely modelled it a bit on Psycho with the focus being on one little upstairs window.






We briefly saw that boat earlier in the movie, so we know what's coming. Meanwhile, cue the "looking back to where you were only to discover the killer is no longer there!" cliche being roundly mocked. It's always struck me as such a silly thing as well. Like, what are the odds that the killer moved?



I'm glad they showed Sidney discovering Tatum, it again just adds another dimension to her plight. I also like how this movie parallels the moment in Halloween that Randy is watching inside.

Speaking of which...


"Watch out Jamie, you know he's around."
No, you watch out Jamie!


Oh Kenny! While everyone else is running around getting murdered or stalked or running about trying to stop people being murdered or stalked, you're there dozing away in your van after pigging out on Doritos. And that's why we love you!







And with that we say goodbye to Kenny to Cameraman (well, we see him again very soon, but he's hardly the same Kenny we all came to know and love, is he?)

Lastly, note how in that second last shot he points to an exit that Sidney can use at the back of the van? That's one of the many shots that could go unnoticed, but I really like it. Bless Kenny the Cameraman, just trying to earn a buck and as his last act on this Earth he helps poor Sidney Prescott out. You will be missed.

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

Review: Summer Coda

Summer Coda
Dir. Richard Gray
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 108mins

Delicately handled, exquisite to look at and charmingly acted, Richard Gray’s debut feature proves to be another lovely addition to the roster of quality Australian films for 2010. Gray’s film has been gestating ever since coming in second on the Australian Project Greenlight five years ago, and that passion is evident in the finished product, but the film is perhaps too laid back for its own good and mirrors the calm, breezy vibe of the Mildura region where Summer Coda is set, a little bit too much.

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Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 28 of Scream (1:14:28-1:16:05)

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


SCENE 28
Length: 1min 37secs
Primary Characters: Deputy Dewey and Gale Weathers
Pop Culture References:

• None
  

Writing about this scene today is quite bittersweet in a way, because it's the scene in which Dewey and Gale's connection truly starts (for real, not in a I'm-gonna-flirt-for-information kinda way) and where they (and, one presumes, Arquette and Cox) share their first kiss. And now that these two actors have split it, their relationship really is a kind of crazy parallel with this franchise. I know it's pure tabloid to talk about it, but it's true. They met on Scream, confirmed it all by getting engaged during Scream 2, got married just before Scream 3 and Cox has said Gale is "bored" in her marriage in the lead up to the events in Scream 4 and then, almost like clockwork, out comes the news that they're separating and all that mumbo jumbo. It feels cheap to pry into their lives, but... really! It's life imitating art. Or art imitating life. Or art imitating life imitating art or whatever.


Aw, just look at those two!

Of course, Gale is saying she thinks the nickname "Dewey" is much better than his real name of Dwight. Is one really better than the other?


"What about Gale Weathers? Sounds like I'm a meteorologist, or something."
That is kinda true, Gale, but I do the name.


I've said multiple times before that this film has such a good eye for depth. Whether it be the length of corridors in Casey's house or the way a simple wide shot in Stu's house show how close Tatum was to help in the garage. This is another instance, with the car lights in the background, watching as they get closer.


I like how it's almost as if they've just walked so far from the house that they might've even forgotten what they were trying to find (a car that someone spotted in the bushes... reckon Billy/Stu made that call to get Dewey and his gun/police radio away from the house as they started their rampage?)


I like how Dewey tells the drivers to "slow down" and to "freeze". Perhaps that's why the town doesn't take you seriously as a police officer, Dwight!


I know I should be groaning and rolling my eyes, but no. NO I WILL NOT! This is cute. I don't care what anybody says. I wonder if they have any kissing scenes in Scream 4, because that'll be awkward! People are going to look into that movie like it's a documentary!

By the way, speaking of Scream 4, have you seen the latest official image that's been released? It's a reunion!


Back to business!


"Is that what you're looking for?"
"My whole life..."
Is Deputy Dewey a virgin? Is that why he survives getting knifed in the back?


Uh-oh! Neil Prescott's car! I wonder who put that there? And who was it that pointed the finger at Mr Prescott? Hmmm.

One of the reasons why I enjoy these movies so much, and more so than many other slasher films, is that it has as much interest in, affection for and time paid to the adults as it does the teenagers. It's fun watching these two investigate because they seem much more likely to be able to figure things out rather than having the screenplay make these plucky 16 and 17 year olds far too wise beyond their years. There's a reason why all the teenagers are so knowledgeable about films and little else.

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

Review: The Town

Ben Affleck has returned behind the scenes with The Town, his second directorial effort after 2007’s Gone Baby Gone. What his latest film may lack in nuance and originality, it gains in sheer scope and technical prowess. While he never quite got the respect that he occasionally deserved as an actor, as a director, Affleck has quickly become one of the most exciting and interesting names in Hollywood.

Read the rest at Trespass
If I had more of a word limit I would've gone into the individual moments that the cast members did well at. I really liked Affleck's brief moments of levity in his performance. The jokes of the laundromat scene or the way he, as director, has fun with the various costume changes that he and his heist crew switch through. Renner's cheekiness at the lunch sequence and, despite not liking the rest of the performance, Blake Lively has a moment at the very end of the scene between she and Hamm in the bar where so many things rush across her face. I, too, enjoyed the ever-constant idea that Hamm's FBI agent was perhaps a little bit sexist or, perhaps, a little bit infatuated with Rebecca Hall's hostage victim just like Affleck was.

One of the other bits I bring up in the review, but which I couldn't elaborate on too much, were the similarities to F Gary Gray's Set It Off from 1996. Having only just watched that movie recently, it was obviously fresher in my mind than anyone else, but I was still surprised at how similar the two were. That all-female heist movie is more flawed than The Town, but is ultimately more enjoyable because of the vivacious talent of its leading quartet; the other two actors in the crew of The Town, Slaine and Desmond Elden, aren't given much to do.

Prince of Thieves, the book by Chuck Hogan that The Town (what's up with that dud retitling, by the way?) is based on, was written in 1995 so it's not like Gray's film took its inspiration from Hogan's book. Nevertheless, the similarities are numerous. The heist crew of four from an impoverished neighbourhood, one of which has an innate knowledge cars and another who dates the manager of one of the banks they rob. They both feature similar sound tricks - loud design followed by quick alternate shots in silence - and visual hooks. And the final heist? Very similar, again. Both include one member of the crew driving towards the cops as a decoy, both feature the toughest member of the crew making one last stand and both - big SPOILER here, so highlight to read - have one member of the crew die early in the heist while another gets away in the end, fleeing to somewhere where they won't be found. END SPOILER


Still, it's a good movie, don't you think? And, dare I say, Ben Affleck is a more interesting person right now than Matt Damon and I am so glad. I've always been on Team Affleck (although, as even I can admit, those Gigli does her ROUGH!)

Review: Let Me In

Let Me In
Dir. Matt Reeves
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 115mins

Hollywood’s tradition of taking foreign-made films and remaking them for local filmgoers has been around since sound was introduced and audiences realised they had to read subtitles in order to enjoy international cinema. Let Me In is a remake of Let the Right One In, a Swedish vampire film from 2008 that gained a critical and cult following. Matt Reeves’ (Cloverfield) remake is a good one, but sadly fails to emerge out of the towering shadow of the original.

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Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 27 of Scream (1:10:01-1:14:27)

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

SCENE 27
Length: 4mins 26secs
Primary Characters: Randy Meeks, Stu Macher, Sidney Prescott, Billy Loomis, Gale Weathers, Deputy Dewey, Kenny the Cameraman and the various party guests (including Expelled Teen #1 from Scene 14)
Pop Culture References:

• Halloween (They watch it at the party)
• Trading Places (A discussion on Jamie Lee Curtis' breasts references this movie)
  

I like how this scene acts as a bridge between one generation to the next. Not only are they watching Halloween, one of the most iconic and the obvious inspiration behind Scream, but talking directly about the cliches and formulas that people have learnt in the 20 years since it came out. Laurie Strode wouldn't have known any of this stuff in 1978! And I like how it shows Halloween in a loving light and yet does things to make sure the audience is still with Scream and never drifting off into daydreams of "I wanna watch Halloween." The telephone there in the foreground is a good one since it immediately brings you back to the Scream universe, hoping someone in the house gets "the call" very soon.


What is Stu doing? It's not like he can't stand the sight of blood! And look at our lil Kristen Bell lookalike sitting in the corner there, looking like she walked in off the set of The Secret World of Alex Mack.

Do you want to see Jamie Lee's breasts?


"I want breasts! I wanna see Jamie Lee's breasts! When do we see Jamie Lee's breasts?"
"Breasts? Not until Trading Places in '83. Jamie Lee was always the virgin in horror movies. She never showed her tits 'til she went legits ... That's why she always outsmarted the killer in the big chase scene - nly virgins can do that. Don't you know the rules?"
It's like poetry, isn't it? But I do love that it sets up the loophole for Sidney (as she is about to break one of the cardinal rules of a horror movies.) Nevermind, what are these rules you speak of, Randy? I am intrigued...

1. "You can never have sex." (The sin factor. Sex = Death)
2. "You can never drink or do drugs." (Continuation of the above sin factor)
3. "Never, ever, ever under any circumstances say 'I'll be right back'" (Because you won't be back.)
   

Now, I'd like to bring up the fact that Randy's introduction to "the rules" includes the line:

There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.

I find it interesting that in the original trailer (below) that had to censor the word "horror". That sounds crazy right. They're advertising a horror movie, but they can't use the word horror? Instead the line because "in order to successfully survive a scary movie." Furthermore, the trailer calls Wes Craven "the first name in suspense" when, again, I'd call him the first name in horror. Maybe that's just me.


Back to the rules, I love the shat screencap up there with Randy standing besides the TV with Halloween paused on a moment of Michael Myers - the last generation of horror villain if you will - swinging a knife through the air. It almost looks like one of two things: a) Randy about to get stabbed, or b) Randy being pointed to as the killer by a big shiny arrow. "It's him!"


Truth be told, I've never been able to figure out what Stu is saying here! Blasted DVD not having any subtitles! Can anyone help me out?


SINNERS! Already breaking the rules.

I'd also like to point out that Stu's parents have hideous taste. What's all that crazy crap on the wall? And we haven't even gotten to the cluttered attic sequence yet!


"I'll be right back!"
I like how of all the people who say "I'll be right back" during Scream (he and Gale being the only other - more on that in a very short moment) it is indeed Stu that doesn't come back (technically he does "come back", but in a completely different way to how this "rule" was imagined.


One of my absolute favourite moments (the individual bits that usually get lumped together into one big brush stroke) is this bit as Gale and Kenny sit in their van watching the live camera feed from inside Stu's house. Kenny with his twisty (or cheese doodle or whatever they're called over there) and Gale making his hilarious bored/repulsed expression that reminds me of Lisa Kudrow's Phoebe on Friends. I like how it sorta represents the stereotypical view that many adults have of horror movies, that they're just a bunch of teenagers talking boring nonsense and yet they are the ones that perpetuate it by actually making this boring nonsense. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Meanwhile I am including this, as well the the next bit with Sidney and Billy, as one scene because they're all about the same thing: Knowing the rules and characters breaking them. All of Randy's rules get broken within the span of just a couple of minutes when they'd been left well neglected for the whole movie to this point.


Case in point this moment right here of Gale saying "Be right back", but as we all know, she does come back.

Now, of course, I think Gale's "be right back" was an after thought. You can tell this because the line has been dubbed in over something else. Quite poorly, in fact, since it's very obvious she wasn't saying "be right back" when they shot this take. Makes me think that Craven realised they actually had nobody saying something to the effect of "I'll be right back" (as Randy quotes it) to negate the rule so they threw it in here with Gale. Tatum would've been the perfect choice for the line in a traditional way, but then it wouldn't be twisting the rules, would it?


"You're not scared, are ya?"
To be honest, I'd be less scared if I was walking down a deserted road in the middle of nowhere while a killer was on the lose if I was with Gale rather than with Dewey. She looks like she could kick serious arse! I guess, Dewey has a gun, but we all know how that pans out, don't we?


"Do you know what that constellation is?"
"No, what is it?"
"I dunno, that's why I was asking you."
I like to imagine that David and Courteney's personal courtship involved such words.


Sidney's about to break the cardinal sin! What a hussy.

Meanwhile, I love this progression of shots about the "obligatory tit shot" from Halloween.





Although I can't see many teenage boys having the same reaction to shots like these:



They'd have better luck just imagining Rose McGowan with no top on. It's not that hard considering the top she had on earlier was hardly concealing.


Love this shot. That nondescript telephone looking so threatening and you know nothing good can come out of framing it like this.


I love how the filmmakers had slowly started to weave the Halloween soundtrack into their own film, so much so that this and other scenes are actually scored by Halloween. And to great effect to. That movie is so unnerving and so, well, good! But I also love how these two moments parallel each other. On screen Jamie Lee is just starting to realise that something may not be as it seems and so too are the characters in Scream. They're about to realise that this is no ordinary high school house party and the shit is going to hit the fan.


And Kenny the Cameraman bids you a fond farewell until next time (which will hopefully be sooner than it took me to get around to this one... my past week has been strange, hence the delay. Hopefully back to more frequent Screaming!)

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