When people talk about their favourite Halloween flicks there’s always the obligatory mention of Friday the 13th or Halloween (one of my personal favourites), but when I think of this genre there’s only one movie which jumps to mind, Scream. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s 1996 horror masterclass is probably one of my favourite horror movies. Although it’s not usually people’s first thought, Scream holds a special place in my heart. Back in the early 2000’s when I would spend my days surfing through the Sky cinema channels and trying to guess the password to my parents’ parental locks (luckily for me I realised pretty quickly it was just their wedding anniversary) the Sky Horror selection was dismal to say the least. Instead of the classics I mentioned earlier we had Friday the 13 Part 7 and Halloween: Resurrection, which for reference includes Busta Rhymes fly-kicking Michael Myers into electrical wires while saying the line “Trick or Treat motherfucker!”. Now I’m not saying there isn’t a market for this type of film (even writing this is making me really want to watch that scene from Halloween: Resurrection on repeat), but as a young film buff trying to explore the world of horror these were hardly enough to satisfy me. But there was a silver lining to these ‘dark times’, it helped me discover the Scream franchise. Scream 2 and 3 to be exact, they played over and over again, almost every weekend. Although in hindsight these are no way near as good as the first, they were fine art compared to the other drivel which was on Sky horror at that time. I can’t exactly remember what first drew me to them, I think it was Wes Craven’s name. I knew he had directed the original Nightmare on Elm Street, although I don’t think I had even seen it by this point, and I had became fascinated with his first film The Last House on The Left, mostly because I saw a poster for it claiming it was one of the most messed up films ever made (and that’s 70s messed up, so we’re talking real bad). I remember watching Scream 2 and realising that I was experiencing something different from the rest. These characters knew about horror movies, they knew about Freddy and Jason and knew about all the clichés that annoyed me so much about all the other films. I loved Scream 2 at the time, with its meta-narrative and it’s Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy represent!), but there was always the nagging feeling that I was missing something, I had to see the original.
I remember writing it down on a shopping list (Scream DVD - 1996) and just hoping nobody would notice. My parents, always willing to indulge my film obsession, actually allowed this. I remember walking into HMV and finding my now coveted I Know What You Did Last Summer/ Scream double disk, to me it was a one in a million chance. This random movie that I was looking for just showing up at my next trip into town, could it be destiny? (Well no, I wasn’t aware at the time how popular Scream was, I thought it was this hidden little gem I had uncovered). I remember watching it on my tiny little DVD player and being absolutely floored. It was like Scream 2 (and 3) but so much better, unlike the sequels this film was an actually good horror film as well as a great satire. When I first saw the film the meta-stuff was what stuck out to me the most. Jaime Kennedy’s character was basically the most well-written thing I had seen at this point, the way he referenced other films and applied it to real life was scarily akin to what I was thinking while watching the film. Having them explain ‘the most important rules to remember in order to successfully survive a horror movie’ made me almost giddy, here was this genre I loved essentially getting deconstructed right in front of my eyes. This was my first notable experience with satire, obviously I knew about parody in the form of Scary Movie (a film that parodied Scream itself) and the ever-worsening Jason Friedberg/ Aaron Seltzer films, but here it was in a film that wasn’t necessarily a comedy. In this film, the satire amplifies the movie rather than retracting from its impact, acknowledging and downright making fun of the clichés present in most horror movies allowed the film to avoid these and even provide interesting twists on the classic formula. The final reveal of the killer is something that still blows my mind to this day (up there with that first time you finished Pulp Fiction and started piecing all the different parts together), I remember getting to that final house party, I had gone through every character in my head and out of the surviving characters almost everyone had been on-screen with the killer at one point or another, unless they pulled some weird supernatural rubbish at the end or introduced a character out of no-where the identity of the killer would have made no sense. But as many of you know, it wasn’t a single killer, but two. When I discovered that Billy and Stu (Matthew Lilard, who I really liked from his role as Shaggy in the live-action Scobby Doo, nowadays he’s still crying in Twin Peaks presumably) were actually both the killers, one on the phone, while the other committed the murders in the traditional Ghostface mask I was amazed that this prospect had never crossed my mind. It kept me and the rest of the audience constantly guessing as to who the killer actually was, it’s one of the biggest ‘twists’ in the horror genre and I have not seen it replicated at that standard to this day. So as I’ve covered, the reason Scream holds a special place in my heart is due to its successful use of satire to uplift the relatively standard material and to subvert the audience’s expectations but upon rewatches another great quality stuck out to me. The film actually has a genuinely engrossing, emotionally affecting story. The story of Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell, one of my main childhood crushes, mostly thanks to Wild Things) a daughter whose mother was raped and murdered about a year before the events of the movie was something that really affected me. Seeing her emotion as these painful memories are brought back in light of the recent murder spree always affected me. I also found it surprising how good a plot it had compared to most other horror movies at the time. The idea of a man, Cotton Weary, who had been wrongly convicted for the rape/murder of Sydney’s mother, and now the real killers had come back to torment Sydney for her mother’s sins. It really made the film stand out in my mind, the movie wasn’t simply an excuse to show a killer running around chopping up teens but it had a real message behind it and a plot which was genuinely intriguing. So why is Scream so great, the satire lifts the film above its source material becoming more than just a horror movie but a full deconstruction of the genre and what makes it so great. The film had a tense, thrilling story which really made me care about the characters, who usually aren’t very important in horror films and are more so there for maximum kills. In my mind it’s still the greatest example of satire outside of the comedic genre, and is the definitive example within the horror genre. It takes a lot to completely change someone’s perception of a genre and what it aims to achieve, but that’s what Scream was to me. It was a game-changer, and to this day is my favourite horror film because of the profound effect it had on me.
0 Comments
I guess I’ll start this new venture with something that’s fresh in my mind, Thor: Ragnarok. The Marvel films are kind of an event for me whenever I go to the cinema, a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the difference between Marvel and DC, but years on the internet and being fully immersed in the culture which comes with it amplified my love for these characters and their source material to a level I would never have thought of. After the widespread acclaim for The Avengers on its arrival, I spent the years following trying to stay as up-to-date as possible on the MCU as I could. I’m a viewer of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D for pete’s sake (censoring myself for future me), and ‘Yes’ it does get much better in the second season. Anyway I became completely immersed in the MCU, watching each new instalment as it came out. I was on a high for a few years following The Avengers, with the high quality of both Captain America: The Winter Solider and Guardians of Galaxy in 2014. I thought Marvel and Kevin Feige could do no wrong.
But then 2015 came, and with it came two pretty mediocre films. First came Age of Ultron, which even as a Joss Whedon fan (I’m a Buffy and Angel fan from my younger, more impressionable years) was unfocused and obviously rushed in order to set up the rest of the universe. Then came Ant-Man, a film which was a shell of its former self in the aftermath of Edgar Wright’s departure, there were some interesting, zany titbits which managed to shine through the mediocrity, but these weren’t enough to save it in my eyes. Neither of these films are bad, both well-written and shot on a filmmaking level, but neither of them were particularly memorable and it appeared that Marvel maybe had gotten a bit too full of itself. I think Marvel noticed this error in their ways and made a swift course-correction by the time 2016 rolled around. Captain America: Civil War, directed by the Russo Brothers of the Winter Soldier and Community fame (another show that has a special place in my heart), was a great addition to the MCU. It was essentially an Avengers-movie with a cast that was balanced and all used to great effect (they made Hawkeye an interesting character with only 10-15 minutes in the spotlight!). This success continued with Doctor Strange later that year being a relatively common superhero origin story that was lifted up by some truly trippy visuals and some cool changes to the typical final showdown which made it stick out in a way the previous film of the same ilk, Ant-Man, had not. This successful 2016, really put my faith back into Marvel, showing that they could change when needed. Going into 2017 I was really looking forward to the now 3 Marvel films coming out that year. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was an enjoyable romp, which although didn’t meet the same high standards of the original was still a great film in its own right. This winning streak continued with Spider-Man: Homecoming later on that year, I was originally trepadatious about this due to Sony (who haven’t made a good Spider-Man since the early Sam Raimi days) being so involved in the project and the trailers which seemed to reveal way to much of the plot. But it really exceeded my expectations delivering a relatable, actually teenage Peter Parker and pulling off the feeling of an 80s era John Hughes film. One of its biggest advantages was the portrayal of Michael Keaton as the Vulture, who really overcame Marvel’s traditional villain problem to become a truly compelling, genuinely threatening character. If all my gushing hadn’t conveyed this point already, I was very excited going into Thor: Ragnarok, the third and final MCU film of 2017. And I’m happy to say I was not disappointed (to cut to the chase, 3 paragraphs in). One of the biggest advantages of this film is it’s director Taika Waititi. One of his previous films What We Do In The Shadows is one of the funniest I’ve seen in recent years. He just has a real understanding of comic timing and improvisation which make his work a joy to behold. His influence can be seen in almost every frame of the film, whether it’s the new colour palette, rock and roll soundtrack or the hilarious jokes and visual gags which litter the film. After the drab, self-importance of Thor: The Dark World, which bored the life out of me and based on its reviews everyone else as well, it’s refreshing to have a movie which isn’t afraid to have a laugh and make fun of how silly the whole premise actually is. Now it’s not all laughs, even I can get sick of the usual Marvel one-liners and jokes at inappropriate times, but this film does have some genuine moments which are emotionally affecting and that will have lasting consequences on the rest of the MCU going forward. I was surprised by how consequential this film actually was, by the end the entire formula for this character has completely shifted leaving him to go in new and exciting directions as the universe enters it next stage. For the shortest film in the MCU, you really can’t feel it. The film has a quick, zippy pace which jumps from place to place and really gets the narrative going without having to rely on too much set-up. It was also interesting to see more characters in what would appear to be a solo movie. Having Hulk in the mix really gives Thor someone to play off of, and as this universe moves forward I feel these team-up films and ensemble pieces (like Civil War) are the right choice, as they help to develop more of the characters and shorten the long wait between each new instalment. This is probably my favourite portrayal of the Hulk so far in the MCU, although he was interesting in The Avengers and less so in Age of Ultron, we get a new side to this character here. We get Hulk, without Banner for a pretty large portion of the film, it is an interesting exploration of the character who’s not entirely just a huge, green rage monster but a creature which has actually developed its own personality and is battling with Banner simply to survive before he is bottled up back inside again. Another interesting character is Tessa Thompson as one of the Valkyrie, she has great chemistry with Hemsworth and Ruffalo, her character is also a lot more interesting than her hard-drinking, badass persona would let on. There’s a traumatic event in her past which gives her a real motivation to defeat the film’s main villain Hela. Speaking of Hela, Cate Blanchett is hella good in the role (Sorry I’ve been playing too much Life is Strange), maybe not that great but she certainly is an improvement over more forgettable villains like Malekith and Whiplash. She has an interesting connection to Thor which gives her character a lot more depth, she also isn’t out to just destroy the world as many of the other one-note MCU villains but actually wants to take control of Asgard through her own manoeuvrings. Blanchett is chewing as much scenery as possible, but she’s a good enough actress that she’s able to make it work and appear genuinely threatening even though she is hamming it up. She’s no Vulture, but she’s compelling enough to sustain the plot and keep momentum going forward. Although these more dramatic actors are very good in the movie, such as Anthony Hopkins, the stand outs are the more comedic focused. Chris Hemsworth is given lots of room to flex his comedic muscles (and his literal ones), after his very funny performance in Ghostbusters last year (which was one of the main redeeming qualities of that film, along with Kate McKinnon) I feel it’s about to time to allow him to use this wide range. It really helps you care for Thor as a character, especially since he has been out of the spotlight for so long, I forgot how much I liked him after the mediocrity of The Dark World and his pretty meaningless role in Age of Ultron. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the funniest lines were improvised due to Hemsworth’s previous experience and the presence of Taika Waititi behind the camera. On to the meat of the comedic bone, one of the funniest characters in the whole film is Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster. The character doesn’t exactly have tons of laugh-out loud moments but it’s Jeff Goldblum, literally anything he does made me chuckle at the very least, and almost break down in tears at his best. The way he delivers his lines with the occasional classic ‘Ah’ in between just cracks me up, although I may be a little biased considering I literally watched Independence Day: Resurgence just for him. The funniest character overall is probably a simple rock monster called Korg, voiced by Taika Waititi himself, this character steals literally every scene he is in. Even during dramatic moments, he still manages to pull off jokes without it feeling jarring tonally. It’s hard not to spoil many of the film’s funniest of lines, but he always has a little comment or drones on just a bit too long that it becomes hilarious. Also that New Zealand accent gives me flashbacks to What We Do In The Shadows and Flight of the Concords, which made it interesting to see how far Waititi has come from those humble beginnings to directing and starring in this huge blockbuster. In conclusion, Thor: Ragnarok surpassed my expectations when it came to how funny the movie was, as I was expecting the traditional Marvel one-liner fair but got something so much more funny and exciting. The film also surprised me with the lasting consequences it has left on some of its characters and the way it has permanently altered their lives moving forward. The MCU is officially on a winning streak again, with Guardians 2, Spider-Man, and now Ragnarok. It leaves me with high hopes for the future with Black Panther (directed by Ryan Coggler, known for Creed, which has me excited as it is) and finally Infinity War, essentially the culmination of everything the MCU has been building up to, even if its prequel levels bad the complete awe of seeing all these characters I love so much will probably keep me blinded for months following, and out of all of them Thor will now have a special place in my heart thanks to this movie. |
authorSo this is weird. I’ve made a website, I’m not expecting anyone to read it (actually I’d rather they didn’t.) Basically I’ve been struggling to write creative things recently, every idea I come up with, no matter how much I think I believe in it, leads me nowhere. I guess you could call it writer’s block, but it’s more so that I tend to overthink and second-guess myself down to the smallest details, this means it takes me forever to make anything and once I have I’m incredibly demotivated to continue it. So, after being inspired by an Australian writer, Gabriel Bergmoser, who’s blog and podcasts I’ve been reading and listening to for the past few years I decided this would be an interesting experiment to try out. Basically I have no idea what I’m going to write, it’s unlikely to be creative or short stories, more-so this kind of string-of-consciousness opinion piece based on the things I’m thinking about at the moment. From films to television or maybe books and music. Anyway I hope you find some of this stuff interesting. Let’s hope I don’t say anything too incriminating considering my name is plastered all over this. Granted, this is something I will probably only update about four times in my life, unless I really enjoy it. It’s more so to help me be more creative and actually produce something for once.
Archives
January 2021
CategoriesNot really sure? Opinions on the blog, mainly about entertainment. I'll also be posting some fiction or short stories eventually for your feedback and enjoyment.
|