Editorials
Special Feature: ‘Scream 4,’ Slicing Into New Rules & Conventions
In the decade-plus period of time that has passed since the release of Scream 3, there’s no doubt that the horror landscape has changed significantly. In the intervening years we’ve witnessed the rise of the torture porn craze, seen a resurgence in “found footage”/shaky-cam horror, and watched helplessly as a seemingly unyielding series of remakes cluttered up our local multiplexes.
Given all of these developments, the makers of Scream 4 (releasing April 15th!) have been handed a wealth of new rules and conventions to work with, and in the following feature B-D’s Chris Eggertsen takes a look at some of the most significant ones – along with examples of the films that utilized them – that may or may not make an appearance in the upcoming sequel.
See inside for the full list, and study it carefully. Remember, knowledge is power.
Amazingly, it’s been more than eleven years since Scream 3 was released (where does the time go??), meaning there’s over a decade’s worth of new horror material that has yet to be plumbed by the self-aware franchise, now being revived with Scream 4 (coming out on April 15th). So how have they updated the once-fresh series to make it feel relevant for today’s audiences? There’s no doubt that much has changed.
Since the turn of the millennium (remember Y2K?) we’ve seen the ascension of torture porn and J-Horror, been assaulted by an insane amount of mostly crappy remakes, seen a huge resurgence in the “found footage” sub-genre (remember The Blair Witch Project?), and witnessed the coining of the term “Web 2.0” (remember dial-up?). Hell, in the year 2000 only about half the citizens in this country even owned a cell phone! (remember antennas?)
Of course, as much as the world has changed since the bygone era of Jennifer Love Hewitt worship and shitty nu-metal bands, the basic Scream template remains the same: skewer the rules and conventions of the horror genre in a clever and entertaining way. What matters this time around is just how the creative minds behind the latest entry will incorporate the new horror rules and conventions that have cropped up over the last decade or so, not to mention which ones they decide to take on (hint: given what the Scream films are, we probably won’t be seeing any long-haired “Samara”-style wraiths making an appearance).
Now, in anticipation of the release of the hugely-anticipated slasher sequel (mark your calendars!), B-D reporter Chris Eggertsen takes a fun look at ten of the key clichés and conventions from the last decade in horror that may or may not be tackled in the upcoming third installment of the legendary slasher franchise. But study them carefully – for if your own life goes all Meta and you find yourself caught in the midst of an honest-to-god slasher-movie killing spree, paying close attention just might save your skin.
“The person holding the video camera is far more likely to survive up to at least the final reel.”
Movie Examples: The Last Exorcism; Cloverfield; REC/Quarantine; Diary of the Dead
This rule is predicated on basic narrative necessity more than anything; indeed, there wouldn’t be much of a movie if the person filming the bloodbath were to bite the dust in the first or second act. As such, it would probably behoove a potential horror movie victim to volunteer for camera duty.
“Those with a serious criminal or amoral past – and/or those who have engaged in severely self-destructive behavior – are far more likely to kick the bucket than those with a relatively clean slate.”
Movie Examples: Saw I-VII
This rule really only has a basis in the Saw movies, but when you consider that the “torture porn” franchise is the most profitable and influential of the last decade, its potential for influencing a budding psychopath is pretty great. And look, it ain’t the `80s anymore. Just smoking a doobie or engaging in a little coital fun isn’t enough to guarantee certain death in a 21st century horror film. As Jigsaw showed us in all seven installments of the uber-gory series, you’re especially likely to be targeted if you’ve either engaged in some particularly naughty past behavior – think fleeing the scene of a crime, engaging in predatory lending practices, or, you know, raping and killing people – or demonstrated a lack of appreciation for life by, say, abusing drugs or attempting suicide. So while it may not keep them from ultimately waking up strapped to some sort of bizarre medieval torture device, potential victims can at least better calculate their odds of survival by tallying up their past transgressions. Also, if you didn’t take time out to appreciate your crummy life before, you’d damn well better start now.
(SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD!) “The Final Girl isn’t necessarily the final girl.”
Movie Examples: Wolf Creek; High Tension; Death Proof; Cabin Fever; Friday the 13th (remake)
While in the past we could almost always rely on the old “Final Girl” trope – i.e. the kindest and most virginal young woman of the bunch being the most likely to survive – unfortunately for the mousier contingent among us that rule isn’t quite as relevant as it used to be. For as we’ve been shown in quite a few horror flicks over the last decade -remember poor “head on a stick” Liz in Wolf Creek? – the ultimate survival of the supposed Final Girl is no longer a given.
“The kills are more brutal, drawn-out and extreme.”
Movie Examples: Saw I-VII; Hostel I & II; any film that could be classified as “torture porn”
It’s sad to say, but simple stabbings are basically old hat at this point, and not even unconventional weaponry really makes the cut anymore – indeed, by the late `80s Jason had already sorta driven that whole “let’s see what kinda damage we can do with [insert name of unlikely weapon here]!” thing into the ground (not that we don’t welcome it, necessarily; it just isn’t novel anymore). No, in the 21st century the quick kill has been replaced in many instances by drawn-out scenes of excruciating torture, a la movies like Saw, Hostel, and the wave of increasingly-brutal “French extremity” films. Note to potential victims: if there’s absolutely no hope of escape and you suspect you may be next in line for a long and painful evening at the local torture chamber, you might wanna consider engaging in a little hari-kari action before the killer has a chance to drag you off.
“If a strangely charming individual with either a German or Eastern European accent: a) proposes drinks at his/her place; b) suggests a night of kinky sex (this particularly applies if you write for the internet and/or have a basic hygiene problem); c) offers you shelter from a rain, sleet, or snowstorm, or d) otherwise seems interested in spending a little alone time with you in a remote location, you’d do best to high-tail your ass in the other direction.”
Movie Examples: Hostel I & II, The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
While the majority of `70s and `80s slasher and splatter flicks that inspired the first few Scream movies featured distinctly American-grown killers, with the introduction of the first Hostel movie we were introduced to the concept of creepy foreign people. See, not only are German and Eastern European accents scary, but the region is also apparently home to some truly perverted weirdos. In other words, don’t trust any dude with a name like Wolfgang or Dragos – it’s a recipe for certain death. Oh, and that hot chick Tatyana from the Czech Republic? Chances are she’s aiming to sell your ass to some fucked-up underground torture society in Belarus. Remember, the happy fun-time days of Shannon Elizabeth in American Pie are long over.
“Tortured back stories and vaguely sympathetic character motivations are so last century.”
Movie Examples: Hostel I & II; The Strangers; Wolf Creek; Them; Orphan; The Human Centipede (First Sequence); House of 1,000 Corpses; The Devil’s Rejects; Funny Games (remake); The Collector
Sure, the slasher revolution started with Michael Myers in Halloween – a man of “pure evil” who had “the blackest eyes” (according to Sir Donald Pleasance) – but most of the copycats that followed usually featured killers with at least some apparent reason for picking up that machete and hacking up a bunch of horny co-eds. Even the first three Scream films – despite Randy’s contention that in “the millennium, motives are incidental” – tied at least one of their killers’ motivations to some traumatic past event. Not so anymore, as over the last few years the pendulum seems to be swinging back in the “crazy-for-crazy’s-sake” Bates/Myers direction, holding true to Stu’s observation in the first Scream that “it’s a lot scarier when there’s no motive”. Need I bring up Rob Zombie’s lackluster “nurture over nature”-heavy Halloween reboot as evidence? Ah well, too late.
(SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD!) “It’s never safe to bet on `happy’ endings anymore.”
Movie Examples: Saw I-VII; Wolf Creek; The Grudge; The Ring; The Last Exorcism; Pulse; Final Destination I-IV; Paranormal Activity; The Strangers; Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning; House of 1,000 Corpses; The Skeleton Key; Them, The Collector; Funny Games (remake)
It’s no surprise that in our increasingly cynical age, the bad guy in horror films has racked up a more impressive win/loss ratio than perhaps at any other time in the history of the genre. Just look at some of the most popular and influential movies from the last decade: J-horror fare like The Grudge, The Ring and Pulse are good examples of this rule, not to mention virtually every found footage/camcorder flick ever (Paranormal Activity and The Last Exorcism being two that immediately spring to mind). Hell, just look at the final outcome of the entire Saw series – it doesn’t get much grimmer than that. In short, betting against the killer(s) isn’t near as fail-safe a wager as it used to be.
“Social subtext is big again – the key to unlocking the nature or identity of the killer(s) could lie in the ills of society itself.”
Movie Examples: Saw I-VII; Hostel I & II; Land/Diary/Survival of the Dead; Cabin Fever; Shaun of the Dead; The Hills Have Eyes (remake)
While the `80s spate of mostly mindless slasher films provided the majority of self-reflexive ammunition for the first three Scream entries, the “aughts” returned to the subtext-laden thematics of horror flicks from the late ’60s and early `70s. As such, it might give potential victims a good amount of insight (and perhaps even increase their chances of survival) if they go into “ivory tower mode” by searching out possible explanations for the mayhem in the context of society’s larger problems. Perhaps this time around Ghostface is some crazed, geriatric Tea Party adherent, aiming to cut down on the number of young Obama supporters prior to the 2012 elections? I wouldn’t necessarily rule it out.
“To increase your chances of survival, take some time to study the remakes.”
Movie Examples: Halloween; Friday the 13th; A Nightmare on Elm Street; Texas Chainsaw Massacre; Prom Night; When a Stranger Calls; My Bloody Valentine 3D; The Hitcher; The Amityville Horror; The Hills Have Eyes; Dawn of the Dead; House of Wax; I Spit on Your Grave; The Omen; Last House on the Left; The Fog; The Crazies; The Stepfather; Black Christmas; Sorority Row; probably more I’m not thinking of
The most ubiquitous horror trend over the last decade is undoubtedly the remake phenomenon, meaning potential victims can’t merely look to the originals any longer to uncover the keys to their survival. While certainly a few of the films are forehead-slappingly derivative of their original source material, others have changed the conventions up a bit and, painful as it may be, it would behoove those who find themselves in the midst of a bloody killing spree to add a shitload of these bad boys to the top of their Netflix queue. Just pray you can get through them all before the killer catches you passed out from boredom on the living room couch.
“When in doubt, do the opposite of everything you learned in the first three Scream movies.”
Movie Examples: Scream I-III
As one character in the Scream 4 trailer smartly points out, “the unexpected is the new cliché”. In other words, potential victims will significantly increase their chances of survival if they do the opposite of whatever rules of slasher-dom they were urged to follow in the first three entries. Feeling a little horny? Go have sex with someone, quickly! Acting the part of the shameless, dirty slut just might save your neck. “Magical cigarette” being passed around at the party after prom? If you value your life, you’d do well to take a puff. Also, work the phrase “I’ll be right back” into every conversation you can, even when it isn’t 100% warranted. It may end up annoying the shit out of your friends and loved ones, but if you enjoy breathing you’d do best to ignore their bitching. Also, dudes – get off your sorry asses and try out for the football team. And while you’re at it, start acting on all those buried Alpha male instincts of yours and push a science geek or two up against a locker (further “survival points” will be awarded for wedgies and toilet dunking). As for all the ladies out there – for the love of god, get a freakin’ boob job and join the cheerleading squad. In this day and age, those puritanical attitudes you’ve been harboring could equal death.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Evil Dead Burn.
Fans of The Evil Dead franchise have become accustomed to an excess of gore. From the low-fi horror of Sam Raimi’s 1981 original and the slapstick comedy of Army of Darkness to Fede Álvarez’s 2013 remake, which literally ends in a rain of blood, grotesque dismemberment and comedic violence are as important to an Evil Dead film as the outline of Bruce Campbell’s iconic jaw.
Sébastien Vaniček‘s franchise installment, Evil Dead Burn, follows suit with wall-to-wall violence and set pieces built around extreme carnage. As the Deadites rise once again, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) must fight to the death against her possessed in-laws hell-bent on punishing her for their family’s sins.
Co-written by Vaniček and Florent Bernard, Evil Dead Burn follows the ill-fated Price family, descendants of Dr. Benjamin Price who discovered an ancient dagger capable of sending Kandarian demons back to hell. Newly uncovered from its protective spell, this dagger has called to the evil dead and led them to the family’s ramshackle home. Keeping plot to a bare minimum, Vaniček fills nearly every scene with powerful Deadites and their dastardly acts as they torture the Prices to find the weapon. Horrific moments like a woman drinking hot wax from a lit candle and a shocking post-credits child murder don’t even crack the top ten of disgusting, painful, and disturbing carnage that floods the film.
In any other franchise, we would be listing the film’s most gruesome kills. But fans of Evil Dead know that when we’re talking about the Necronomicon, mere death is only the beginning.
10 ) Deadites Burn
Though Burn checks off all the Evil Dead boxes, its story is a franchise anomaly. Rather than possessing anyone who crosses their path, Vaniček’s Deadites have set their sights specifically on an unwitting clan, intent on recovering the powerful dagger. Resurrected from a nearby lake, Deadite Jessica (Greta van den Brink) informs us of this plan while murdering the eldest Price son. Will (George Pullar) is speeding down a deserted road when he slams into the malevolent demon standing in the middle of the road. After his car rolls off the deserted road, he awakens to find himself upside down, a strange woman lodged in his cracked windshield.
As he desperately tries to reach his phone, Jessica slowly twists her head, tearing the skin of her distended neck. Completely detached from her shattered body, the demon’s head rolls out the window and begins chanting a Kandarian curse. Will’s car bursts into flames as Jessica vows to seek out the rest of his family. While burning alive, Will learns that he is merely the first on a deadly hitlist filled with the people he loves most.
9) Dinner from Hell
Despite a remarkably streamlined plot, Vaniček hints at the Price family’s extensive dysfunction. An uncomfortable dinner erupts in aggression as they gather for lunch after Will’s funeral. Mother Susan (Tandi Wright) berates her recently widowed daughter-in-law while father Edgar (Erroll Shand) — already under Kandarian influence — blames younger son Joseph (Hunter Doohan) for his eldest son’s death. No one is safe as long-held tensions break through to the surface and family secrets ricochet through the air.
With Edgar behaving erratically, Alice and Thya (Luciane Buchanan), Joseph’s girlfriend, try to move sharp objects out of his reach. But Edgar manages to get a hold of a fork and turns his rage on the family dog. As he stabs Max repeatedly in the face, Joseph tries to pull his father away. Both are injured in the struggle and rush to the hospital, leaving Susan and Alice to deal with the corpse. A horrific moment of animal cruelty, this scene sets up a no-holds-barred film in which anyone can be brutalized. But perhaps most disturbing is the viciousness already lurking in this troubled family, barely concealed resentments that existed long before the Kandarian threat.
8 ) Bathroom Brawl
As Deadites possess the Price family, Alice barricades herself in an upstairs bathroom. She reluctantly shields her mother-in-law, despite Susan’s atrocious behavior. Almost immediately, Alice regrets this decision when the woman reveals the depths of her hatred. She rejects clear evidence of Will’s domestic abuse, continuing to blame Alice for their troubled marriage. Leaning her cheek against a scalding hot radiator, Susan submits to Kandarian possession and becomes a Deadite before our eyes. Though disturbing on its face, she seems to choose possession over an honest reckoning of her family’s dark secrets.
Now a Deadite, Susan attacks Alice with broken shards of the toilet bowl and wraps the shower curtain around her head. Scampering across the ceiling, she hangs her daughter-in-law by the neck with the plastic sheet as Alice desperately gasps for air. With only her hand free, Alice gouges Susan’s face with a safety razor, finally managing to break herself free. As Deadite Susan taunts her from the corner, Alice revs up a brush trimmer and plunges the circular blade into her shoulder and chest. We cheer for Alice as she finally pushes back against Susan’s passive-aggressive disdain.
7) The Pen is Mightier
In a sea of blood-splattered dismemberment, one scene is so tense that it makes us squirm despite its lack of visual gore. With the family’s ailing matriarch possessed, Deadite Polly (Maude Davey) attacks Alice in the upstairs hallway, pressing her face against the bush trimmer’s still blade. Insisting that Alice has caused Will’s death, Polly invites the grieving woman to avenge her child by turning on the power tool. An instant before her mother-in-law can send the blade tearing into her cheek, Alice manages to escape by jamming a shard of glass into Polly’s eye. But not before the elderly demon can deliver a cringe-worthy injury.
Though Alice struggles with all her might, Polly slowly drives a fountain pen into the younger woman’s ear canal. Ringing blots out all other sounds as Alice’s face twists in pain. We imagine a tiny object bursting through our own eardrums, puncturing the soft tissue lying beneath. Though Alice tries to extract the pen, she only succeeds in breaking it off, leaving half of the quill buried in her ear. She will eventually use tweezers to remove the tip, sparking another moment of deafening agony.
6) Chekhov’s Dishwasher
As Susan prepares for the aforementioned family meal, Vaniček drops a delicious bit of foreshadowing. While the grieving mother thaws frozen food, she absently fills an old dishwasher whose door has long since busted its latch. Reminiscent of a scene from Final Destination, the faulty appliance falls open, leaving a shelf full of gleaming forks and knives suspended a foot above the floor, just waiting for their moment to strike. After returning from a fatal incident we’ll discuss in a moment, Deadite Thya returns to the Price home, hell-bent on retrieving the powerful knife.
As she advances on Joseph, the frightened son retreats to the kitchen and brandishes a carving knife, subtly nodding to an ultra-violent kitchen scene in Álvarez’s Evil Dead. But Thya will not be deterred. Advancing on her boyfriend, the Deadite startles him into tripping on the outstretched door and impaling himself on the upturned utensils. She presses Joseph further onto the blades while he plunges a corkscrew into her throat. But even this will not stop the maniacal demon, who rips her throat open with the wine tool, dripping her blood over Joseph’s upturned face. Adding insult to injury, she marvels at his willingness to kill the woman he professed to love, casting a pall over their entire relationship. Not only gruesome and excruciatingly tense, but this moment plays into Joseph’s insecurities as the failed son of this disturbed family.
5 ) On the Lake
Evil Dead Burn begins on a seemingly peaceful lake overrun with lurking Kandarian demons. Jared (Keanu Karim) is trying to enjoy a quiet day of fishing but can’t stop his friend Leo (Victory Ndukwe) from answering the phone. Along the dock, Jared notices a bite on Leo’s reel and eventually pulls up a severed head savvy viewers may recognize from Lee Cronin’s 2023 sequel Evil Dead Rise. Moments later, Jared finds himself ensnared by reels, hooks digging into the corner of his mouth and eyelid. As the fishing line wraps around his neck, he’s dragged, screaming, into the lake.
Leo returns in the pouring rain and sees Jared desperately calling for help. He quickly boats out to save his friend, but a mysterious force pulls him down into the depths. Leo finally drags Jared back into the boat, only to see that his body has been cut in half, intestines spilling out of his bisected waist. As he struggles to make sense of this carnage, Deadite Jessica emerges from the lake and capsizes the boat, her clenched demon hands causing the water to boil. Though Leo manages to swim to shore, his skin is a blistered and bubbly mess. Deadite Jessica absently steps on his hand, easily peeling away flesh like overcooked meat. This jaw-dropping opener not only sets the stage for a brutal film, but situates the story in franchise lore while simply explaining the Deadites’ return.
4) Car Trouble
The shocking trailer to Evil Dead Burns shows the aftermath of a vicious attack. As Deadite Thya crosses the family threshold, the camera reveals a car’s headrest still impaling her face. But this devastating sight merely hints at the cruel circumstances of her actual death. Incapacitated in the disastrous family dinner, Edgar slumps in the backseat while Joseph tends to his wounds. Though seemingly incapacitated, the possessed father snaps to attention and wraps his seatbelt around Thya’s neck, pushing against the back of her seat. Joseph holds a gun to his father’s head, but can’t bring himself to pull the trigger.
As Thya tries to escape the car, Edgar viciously slams the door, severing four of her fingers. She manages to trigger a fire extinguisher, filling the car with cloudy white chemicals and giving Joseph a chance to escape. But Thya is not so lucky. Trapped in the car, she screams as Edgar pummels her with a detached headrest, stabbing the poles through her neck and face. Joseph watches from a safe distance as his father beats his girlfriend to death, knowing he was unable to save her life.
3) Head Shots
When Deadite Thya comes stumbling back home, Joseph believes he’s seen the worst. Unfortunately, his misery is only beginning. After fighting off his newly-sadistic undead girlfriend, he tries to flee with his surviving family, only to find Deadite Edgar blocking his path. Flanked by Deadite Max, Edgar taunts his son by insisting that he should be dead in Will’s place and confirming the young man’s greatest fears. Edgar then does what Joseph could not and shoots himself in the head.
The family screams in horror at this devastating sight, then freezes in stunned silence as Edgar does not fall. Grinning, the maniacal father shoots himself twice more, blowing gaping holes in the sides of his head. For the rest of the film, Deadite Edgar will terrorize his family with these unthinkable wounds, even tempting his wife with a bloody kiss. Vaniček mixes emotional devastation with gore as Joseph must watch his father’s suicide while confronting the truth of his own ineptitude.
2) Down Through the Chimney
Along with references to the beloved Ash (Campbell), it’s become tradition for an Evil Dead film to reference the franchise’s signature weapon. But Vaniček subverts our expectations when Edgar’s chainsaw is out of gas. Instead, Alice employs a rusty bush trimmer to fight off her Deadite mother-in-law. Unfortunately, the extended weapon only shreds her flesh, leaving the monstrous woman still able to fight. Trapped in the attic, Alice must clamber out of an upper window with Deadite Susan hot on her heels.
Having dropped the ceremonial knife off the third-story roof, Alice has no choice but to improvise. Toting the bush trimmer, she inches her way down the chimney, pausing to turn halfway down. As Susan follows her daughter-in-law down the chute, Alice turns on the bush trimmer and waits for impact. Vaniček brings us into the living room as buckets of blood and dismembered body parts begin to rain down over the hearth. It’s the kind of moment Evil Dead fans love, gleefully gory carnage via an unexpected power tool.
1 ) Goodbye Stranger
Despite this plethora of grisly gore, Vaniček’s final act tops the list while delivering a poignant beat of empowerment. With the house on fire and the Deadites subdued, we believe that Alice is finally safe. But as she watches the Price home burn to the ground, the corpse of her husband walks out of the flames. He taunts her memories of their abusive marriage, insisting that she stayed because she likes the pain. Demanding the sacred weapon, Deadite Will chases Alice to a construction site and into an open hydraulic press. In the fall, Alice impales her ankle on a massive spike, leaving her trapped as the pit fills with boiling hot tar.
But Alice finds the strength to save herself and pulls her ankle off the bloody spike. She distracts Will with a decoy knife, then pummels his chest with a jackhammer. Exacerbating her emotional pain, Deadite Will reminds her of his love. But it seems that Alice has had enough. She stabs him with the ceremonial blade, then crushes his head as it turns to ash. It’s a well-earned moment of empowerment as our final girl vanquishes her most powerful demon.
Vaniček’s crowd-pleaser continues the Evil Dead trend of gleefully crude massacres. Two extra scenes hint at a continuation of this gruesome massacre, promising more brutality in films to come.
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