It's time for another one of Nathaniel Rogers' Hit Me With Your Best Shot features at The Film Experience. I generally enjoy this feature, although this week I had trouble. I don't own GW Pabst's 1927 classic ("classic" because it's good, not "classic" because it's old) Pandora's Box on DVD and didn't receive it in the mail soon enough to go through it and truly find my favourite shot. So, I cheated, and used DVD Beaver and grabbed my favourite.
Granted, I think this shot is just glorious anyway, but I'm sure I might have found something different if I actually had the DVD here with me. Oh well. This shot is very amazing though and, as Nathaniel points out himself, so very erotic without actually being anything overtly erotic. If that makes sense.
Another one of the film's Mr Rogers chose to use for "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" a few weeks back was Powell & Pressburger's nuns-in-the-mountains (the good one, not that shit one from 1965) masterpiece Black Narcissus. It was another DVD that didn't arrive in time, but when it finally did I bathed in that movie's gorgeousness like Countess Bálthory (er...) So I can now finally look at that film.
Technically, this is probably the best shot in Black Narcissus as the camera swings over the edge of the cliff that Deborah Kerr's Indian convent sits atop. Alas, it's not my favourite so let's move on.
Anything with such heavy reliance on shadow is going to pique my interest - hello! - and as amazingly composed as this shot is I'm not choosing it.
I came very close to choosing one of the many beguiling shots of Kathleen Byron towards the end of the film in which cinematographer Jack Cardiff lenses her with such striking menace and power. Whether it be the vivid colour of the dress and lipstick as we first see her out of the nun's habit or the very modern way her revenge reveal is framed. If you showed me those middle to shots up there and asked to pinpoint the decade they were from I'd be tempted to think they were from an upcoming Quentin Tarantino film!
I very, very nearly went with this procession of shots that occurs about half way through the film. They are stunning in their own right, but they bring about a renewed sense of verve and colour within the film. If Black Narcissus was a beautiful film before this moment it was even more so afterwards.
However, for my favourite shot I went with this moment from within the opening minutes as the mother superior tells Kerr's young nun that she has been chosen to lead the new convent in the mountains.
From a technical standpoint it's not the best, but from a character point of view it is the ace in the hole of Powell and Pressburger's motivations. Look as she tries so very hard to not smile at the thought of being entrusted with an entire convent. That pride that she is trying to quell within her because she knows is a sin and yet it ever so slightly emerges within the corners of her mouth. Loved this tiny little moment, don't you?
In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!
SCENE 22 Length: 3mins 39secs Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley, Deputy Dewey, Gale Weathers, Kenny the Cameraman, Randy Meeks and Stu Macher Pop Culture References:
The Evil Dead and Hellraiser (Randy takes a vote on which to watch)
The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train (All referenced as movies starring "The Scream Queen")
Jamie Lee Curtis (the aforementioned "Scream Queen")
Can you feel that? The end is in sight! We're at the final night of Billy and Stu's rampage of terror. But don't we're slowing down. Oh no! Plenty to discuss yet. This scene features two very excellent songs on the soundtrack. The one right now is Birdbrain's "Youth of America" and later on is Republica's "Drop Dead Gorgeous". I never did figure out why the latter isn't on the soundtrack. Remember Republica? I'm not sure many people do. Watch the video for "Youth of America" below. It's set inside Gale Weathers' van and features clips from the movie. There's even a cameo by Ghostface! This really does look so much like 1996!
Okay, let's carry on.
I love this bit. It takes the cliche of the stalking killer and, as this franchise is wont to do, makes it comical. In most movies this shot would be followed by one a hand holding a knife or something to that effect, but in Scream?
A pack of chips! (or "crisps" for you Americans, right?) That Kenny the Cameraman is such a litterbug!
Remember when high schoolers wore shirts and chinos to a house party? No?
There's a few moments throughout this party sequence that I like because they show these characters as just a bunch of friends. They usually go unnoticed, like this moment here of Sidney actually smiling as she leaves Dewey's car to go to the party. Despite all the shit that she's been/going through she still just wants to hang around with her mates.
Do we think this set is a reference to Psycho? I err on the side of yes, but there's also the fact that they just needed a house in the middle of nowhere so people could run around screaming bloody murder and nobody would notice. Is it an homage if it's also a necessary plot point?
Should I be focusing on the beer funnel action, Stu's delightful red dressing gown or that atrocious denim vest/high-waisted pants ensemble on the chick to the left? Yikes!
Meanwhile, Gale and Kenny sneak up to the party under the cover of darkness. Thick as thieves, these two! Also? We're exactly one hour into the movie! That feels like an accomplishment and a half.
There's a hilarious sitcom spin-off between these two waiting to happen.
It's proof to Wes Craven's abilities that even these sort of boo machine scares (character's entry into frame matched to a big loud sound effect) still actually kinda work. But, there in lies the comedy, because you laugh as soon as you jump when you realise "oh, it's only Dewey!" and the makers know this. Still, I think at this stage of watching Scream I was still terrified that they were going to kill off Courteney Cox and, as I've previously stated, I was a huge Courteney Cox fan at the time. Don't believe me? I once watched Commandments.
It's these sly moments of character that make rewatching these films so enjoyable. I love that in spite of the abuse that Gale sometimes lumps onto poor Kenny the Cameraman, they still clearly have a great working relationship and know each other so well. This look of "we've made it" that Gale gives to Kenny, who is all "yeah, we rule" in his nonchalance, is just one of many examples.
"All right." "Yeah, I'm fine. Oh!"
Hah. Oh, Dewey! So adorable.
Did you see on Twitter just today that David Arquette has "just wrapped on Scream 4." It's getting closer, y'all!
"The Fog, Terror Train, Prom Night... how come Jamie Lee Curtis is in all of these movies?" "She's the scream queen"
I am sure there was a devoted following of Jamie Lee Curtis' early career as a horror actress, but was she always known as the "Scream Queen" or was it a more modern title given to her once she matured into an actress and could look back on the days of making cheap Canadian horror movies.
I know almost any moment where Sidney smiles can be counted as positively endearing compared to the rest of the time when her character can be hard to like (at least in the first one, anyway), but this is another one of those very brief little moments that can go by unnoticed that just enhance the film because it does add to the atmosphere of this group of high school friends. This moment as Sidney sits and can't hold in her laugh and "oh yeah?" as Randy talks about how Jamie Lee Curtis was nominated for an award for Terror Train (what Randy doesn't say is that she was nominated for a Saturn Award) that feels so organic and real. I'm sure most people reading this have had moments similar of yammering on and on about what awards this more or that movie were nominated for to friends who don't really care, but indulge us anyway.
BEER WENCH!!
In the comments of scene 21, "JJ" said "You can totally tell Tatum beat the shit out of anyone who picked on Sidney growing up", and you totally know that's true. Just look at the expressions on her face when Stu says Gale Weathers has shown up at his party.
Meanwhile, let's focus our attention on the girl in the background in the baby pink overalls who kinda looks like those people in the audience of Oprah when she gives away a toaster oven that burns pictures of Hello Kitty onto the bread. Am I crazy or does that actually look like Veronica Mars herself, Kristen Bell?
There she is again. Let's go in for a close up!
Seriously. Am I crazy?
Everybody knows by now that Kristen Bell has been cast in Scream 4. Her casting announcement came alongside the casting announcement of Anna Paquin, which leads one to think of 3 possibilities.
They're joint opening victims,
They appear as actors in the film-within-the-film Stab 7, or
They play two old friends (or "friends") of Sidney's from Woodsboro High who show up, say "Hi Sid! Remember us?" and then leave.
I tend to think it will be option number three, something akin to the Jay and Silent Bob cameos in Scream 3. If it does turn out to be option number three (although I am hoping it is option #1 because, let's face it, how amazing would that be?) then I like to think of it as wildly coincidental that there is a girl right here in Scream the first that actually kinda looks like Ms Bell. Anna Paquin on the other hand... well, I haven't spotted her lookalike yet!
Next to the word "Adorable" in the dictionary should be this image of David Arquette. For reals, just look at him!
If planting this camera was Gale's plan all along, I'm not sure why she and Kenny needed to be so quiet when arriving to the party. How else was she going to do?
I mean, sure, he was addicted to hard drugs at the time, but look at him! Adorable.
Aw, look at Tatum go. Walking away towards the garage to get more beers, little does she know that she is about to meet an untimely end. Poor gal. It's actually quite sad to think that there's only one more scene of this project in which I will be able to gaze upon Rose McGowan as Tatum Riley. Such a shame.
In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!
SCENE 21 Length: 2mins 59secs Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Tatum Riley, Deputy Dewey and Sheriff Burke Pop Culture References:
The Town That Dreaded Sundown (Sidney mentions it)
Meg Ryan and Tori Spelling (Casting ideas for a movie based on the events of Scream)
Vertigo (okay, so not REALLY a reference, but Tatum's skirt reminds me of Hitchcock's film)
More of the Scream trilogy's unofficial (or is official?) anthem, Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand". I just tweeted Wes Craven asking him if the song will be in Scream 4. I certainly hope it is! It would be like a Never Ending Story movie without Limahl on the soundtrack!
I seriously must visit this town. It looks so gorgeous!
"Wow, look at this place. It's like the town that dreaded sundown." "Yeah I saw that movie. It's about a killer in Texas, huh?"
Aren't they all about a killer in Texas?
But seriously, look at Tatum's skirt. Loving how retro it is
And now for another hilarious moment of dialogue. It's one of the talky bits that everyone seems to remember with fondness because of the payoff in Scream 2. Just imagine in Meg Ryan showed up in one of the new sequels. Now that would be something.
"Hey Sid just think, if they make a movie about you who's gonna play you?"
"I shudder to think."
"I see you as a young Meg Ryan, myself."
"Thanks Dewey, but knowing my luck they'd cast Tori Spelling."
How adorable are the looks of Rose and David's faces in that third shot. I've already said it, but they make such a cute brother and sister team.
I wanna go grocery shopping with Tatum!
Now, Sidney Prescott was never the most vibrant movie character - the "final girl" rarely is - but she almost always comes off as the kind of perfectly normal person I imagine I'd like to have as a friend simply because she's not insane. This bit, however, is one of the few times she comes off as truly non-friend material. Of all the things to be self-loathing about she chooses the whole 17-year-old-with-a-brutally-murdered-mother-who-has-no-desire-to-have-sex-with-her-boyfriend thing and calls herself "sexually anorexic". As Tatum says, "so you have a few intimacy issues as a result of your mothers untimely death"... and, ya know, going to trial and putting a man on death row for it and then dealing with a new batch of killings.
"Billy and his penis don't deserve you."
Preach it sista!
Okay, now he's just flaunting his ability to go by seemingly unnoticed despite wearing a really obvious costume. No wonder these guys were so successful at killing people when the townspeople are that stupid.
Does this not look like a perfect odd couple sitcom pairing? Even the way Joseph Whipp's Sheriff barks "Dewey, where the hell you been?" and especially Dewey's ice-cream.
I like how every time the Sheriff takes a drag of his cigarette Dewey takes a lick of his ice-cream. He may have been "24 for a whole year", as he told Gale earlier, but he's still a child at heart.
The Sheriff and his deputy are discussing how the phone calls made to Casey Becker came from Sidney's father. Dewey asks "there's no way the cellular could have been cloned?" and I am fairly certain Scream is the only place I've ever heard the terminology of phones being "cloned". Also, wow, how 1996!
This shot makes me giggle.
While I don't think anyone truly suspected Sheriff Burke as the killer it's nice that they kept up the idea of having everyone wear chunky black boots so as to make everyone remain a suspect.
Just for reference, there is 48 minutes of the movie left but only 41 once you remove the credits so we're nearly there folks!
