“Scream”: The TV Series isn’t great but at least it was better than I expected especially as a fan of the movies series (sans #3). At times it attempts its own identity which was welcoming and I was digging the season… until the finale where the killer’s reveal was hardly surprising.
“Scream: The TV Series”
— The Complete First Season —
(2015)
Genre(s): Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Anchor Bay | NR – 402 min. – $34.98 | May 10, 2016
Date Published: 05/08/2016 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 3.0/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: The plot is pretty basic, there’s a killer on the loose in the small town of Lakewood. He/she is offing teenagers, starting with rich brat played by Bella Thorne, and there’s a connection with a boy, Brandon Mason, who drowned back decades earlier and a connection with our protagonist, Emma Duvall (WILLA FITZGERALD). Others fit to be possible victims, or killers, in Lakewood include: Audrey Jensen (BEX TAYLOR-KLAUS), a bi-sexual teenager whose girlfriend was a victim; tech-whiz Noah Foster (JOHN KARNA) who is best friends with Audrey; new kid in town Kieran Wilcox (AMADEUS SERAFINI); Emma’s ex-boyfriend Will Belmont (CONNOR WEIL); Brooke Maddox (CARLSON YOUNG), another rich girl who is having an illicit affair with her teacher; news blogger Piper Shaw (AMELIA ROSE BLAIR) in town to investigate the events; the shady town mayor, and Brooke’s father, Quinn Maddox (BRYAN BRATT); and English teacher Seth Branson (BOBBY CAMPO) who is carrying on an affair with Brooke, his student.
Quick Hit Review: After Scream 4 failed to ignite at the box office (making $97M WW; by comparison the third one made $162M) so before his death, Wes Craven decided to take the slasher to the TV screens and while I was initially skeptical, especially considering it is an MTV series, I found “Scream: The TV Series” to be a well done, and often intriguing, show that is in keeping with the spirit of the movies but give itself its own identity; heck, even the mask, which doesn’t hold a candle to Ghostface, is intimidating. That being said, it’s not without its problems: for one, the acting is (generally speaking) bad and in combination with hackneyed writing, like soap opera-esque scripts, there are times the season was a chore to sit through, however I’ll say Willa Fitzgerald works as a “Final Girl”. And then there was the finale and the reveal which was way too predictable that anyone paying attention could’ve figured it out within the first 2 or 3 episodes.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5 |
| This 3-disc set comes housed in a standard Keep Case which comes with an embossed glossy slip cover. Features are on the light side, though. We get a set of Deleted Scenes (5:33), a Gag Reel (2:52) with the usual line flubs and on-set fun and a Promotional Gallery. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 | AUDIO – 3.5/5
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| “Scream: The TV Series” is presented with an anamorphic widescreen 1.78 aspect ratio and although it is standard definition, it does look pretty good with bright colors during daylight scenes while darker shots are fairly stark.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 track isn’t special but has good dialogue levels and the horrific screams (no pun intended) come through well enough. There are option English and Spanish subtitles available. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
| Overall, “Scream”: The TV Series isn’t great but at least it was better than I expected especially as a fan of the movies series (sans #3). At times it attempts its own identity which was welcoming and I was digging the season… until the finale where the killer’s reveal was hardly surprising but worse yet, poorly scripted (and acted), that it took the season down a big notch. |