Editorials
Special Feature: ‘SCREAM’… AND SCREAM AGAIN!
The wait is over. The teaser trailers are a thing of the past. The constant stream of leaked production photos and set news has come to a screeching halt. Tomorrow is the big day- the highly anticipated fourth installment of the SCREAM series hits theaters. Fans of the ghost-faced killer and leading lady Sydney Prescott will flock to theaters if not for the nostalgia, but for the newest generation of victims that are set to be claimed by the film’s yet to be identified masked murderer.
Let’s face it- SCREAM did for phones what Jaws did for the ocean, and even if you’re not a fan of the series, you have to admit that every once in awhile, when the phone rings, there’s always that curiosity- the one that says, what’s your favorite scary movie?
Inside you can read Andrea Albin’s special feature: SCREAM… AND SCREAM AGAIN!
“If you’re the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath, would you be standing in the horror section?” Randy- SCREAM
SCREAM slashed its way into theaters in December of 1996, only days before the Christmas holiday. While most were flocking to family friendly cinema, others were taking on a new wave of horror. After a gloomy kick off at the box office, word spread and by the end of its run, including a second release just a few months later, the movie had become one of the highest grossing horror flicks of all time. Not bad for a movie that faced more than its share of criticism and blunder. But it didn’t stop there, the cast returned for a highly anticipated sequel the following year and in 2000 director Wes Craven turned it into a full blown trilogy. It was like the horror engine that could.
But it’s not the statistics that horror fans cared about. It wasn’t about screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s highly noted bidding war over the original SCARY MOVIE script, or Craven’s battle with the MPAA- it was about changing horror. It was about putting a new face on a dying breed, and Williamson’s script pushed limits that hadn’t been pushed in years. Sure- the characters were cliché, doing the same things and making the same mistakes as thousands before- but that was the beauty of it. That was the direction it was meant to go. Add in some pretty gruesome deaths, a highly traumatized, cute female lead, and a couple of psychopaths and it was a hell of a way to kick off the franchise.
Many will argue that the sequel surpassed the original, initializing another cameo death sequence starring Jada Pinkett-Smith and Omar Epps, leading us into the same twists and turns that we had become accustomed to in the previous film. Finally, it rounded out with SCREAM 3 about three years later, disappointing many with its sudden turn from gory, rules-infused horror, to a comic bout with a mindless serial killer. However, with SCREAM 4’s release, fans are returning to theaters hoping that Ghostface is prepped to make a stellar comeback.
“Now Sid, don’t you blame the movies! Movies don’t create psychos, movies make psychos more creative!” Billy- SCREAM
Ask anyone who has seen the first movie, even those who aren’t fans of the horror genre, and the first thing they’ll remember are the rules. Every single one of the SCREAM films has, in one way or another, focused on those age-old annoyances that are seen in almost every slasher. A girl runs up the stairs instead of out the front door. Talking to strangers. Losing their virginity. Since SCREAM is one of the few films where the characters actually acknowledge the existence of cinematic horror, it was interesting to see them play it out just like a movie- a point that has given the franchise its trademark.
Randy, the nerdy video store clerk that bit the dust in SCREAM 2, walked us through the rules in all three films. That’s right, even after he was dead he managed to help Sydney and the gang defeat Ghostface. Pretty impressive. But let’s be fair, I couldn’t walk us down memory lane without talking about the rules, and, as obnoxious as Randy was, you can’t help but love him for it.
SCREAM
Number One… You Can Never Have Sex!
Quite the conundrum for Sydney since she loses her virginity to Billy right smack in the middle of a blood bath.
Number Two… You Can Never Drink or Do Drugs!
If this were true, the entire cast would have been screwed. That was one hell of a house party.
Number Three… Never, Ever, Ever Under Any Circumstances Say… I’LL BE RIGHT BACK!
More than likely, even the most careful of characters is bound to bite the big one. Look at Tatum, though her death had more to do with her assets than her strive to survive.
SCREAM 2
By the time the second film rolled around, Randy had a new list of rules to run with.
Number One… The Body Count is Always Bigger.
Just ask Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Will Smith’s wife.
Number Two… The Death Scenes Are Always Much More Elaborate… More Blood, More Gore.
The killers go so far as to commit murder in the middle of a theatrical rendition of Cassandra. Now that takes some stage presence.
Number Three… Never, Ever, Under Any Circumstances Assume The Killer is Dead.
It’s amazing how serial killers seem to have an immunity to guns and insanely heavy falling objects.
SCREAM 3
In the last film, Randy still managed to get his point across via video, despite his bloody demise in the second film. His sister miraculously surfaces with a tape that her brother had made smack dab in the middle of the massacre. Lame, sure, but we got the point.
Number One… You’ve Got a Killer Who’s Going to Be Super Human.
Or just smart enough to wear a bullet proof vest.
Number Two… Anyone, Including the Main Character, Can Die.
Come on now, we all know that Sydney is never really in danger. I don’t think the girl has even had a drop of her own blood spilt.
Number Three… The Past Will Come Back to Bite You in the Ass.
Or murder a bunch of movie stars and blame you for his shitty upbringing.
Going into SCREAM 4, I’m curious to see what’s thrown at us. Whether it’s a new set of rules or the theory that all rules go out the window, I’m sure Craven has something up his sleeve for how to survive another visit from the neighborhood masked killer.
“Have you ever felt a knife cut through human flesh and scrape the bone beneath?” Ghostface- SCREAM 2
Slasher fans love some good bloodshed. I know I do. I get tingles every time a director does something new and exciting to bring pain to a character on film. It’s that look of horror, the blatantly obvious fear that a character has that sets off the adrenaline it takes to fall in love with a scary movie- or detest the idea. Either way, the director got his point across.
Looking back over the first three SCREAM films, I’m sure everyone has their favorite death. I think most everyone can agree that the original opening sets it off. It was a huge surprise that one of the film’s main marketing perks, Drew Barrymore, gets gutted and hung from a tree in the first ten minutes of the film. No one saw it coming- the helpless boyfriend, the burning popcorn, the crazed voice on the other end of the phone. It all rolled into one hell of a memorable scare.
Another murder scene from the first film that had a lot of people talking was when Tatum met her demise via garage door. Girls remembered it because we had fallen in love with Sydney’s tough but tiny best friend. Most of the male population remembered it because of, well, you’ll see.
In the second film, I nearly cried when Randy was swiped off of the college campus, thrown into a van with Ghostface himself, and slaughtered via beatbox. Gale’s shrill scream said it all.
I’ll be the first one to tell you, I didn’t care for SCREAM 3. I felt as if there was something missing- as if it wasn’t meant to be a part of the trilogy. There wasn’t enough there in terms of fear, blood, anything that had become a crucial part to the existence of these films. However, I think the opening scene where Cotton Weary faces his demons and gets, well, stabbed, is the only scene worth mentioning.
The bottom line- SCREAM is a mainstay. Sure, there was laughter, there were plot holes, there were a few mind boggling mistakes, but overall, it was a vision. It was just what was needed to put horror back on the map and some of the more inventive kills are what makes the series. Think about it- would you have thought to kill the Fonz?
“It’s a perfect example of life imitating art imitating life.” Mickey- SCREAM 2
The original SCREAM film was truly thrilling. Here you have a director who was known for causing fright (hello, the guy did NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET!) at the helm of a successfully scary movie. Of course, it infused laughter, the occasional lame line, and a beautiful cast- but there was more to it. It was truly a groundbreaking film that the industry needed at the time. Unfortunately, it was followed by some movies that many of us horror purists would rather forget.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
A bunch of teenagers accidentally kill a man and bury the body. A year later, their lives are in the toilet and he’s after them for revenge. It could have been good, but it just wasn’t. I also hate the fact that it led to a lame sequel (I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER) and an even worse follow up (I’LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER). I wish I was kidding.
Urban Legend
The premise was kind of cool- a serial killer is murdering college students using age old urban legends. I could work with it- if the kills were actually inventive. I don’t consider putting a dog in a microwave a good use of my time.
There were others. Valentine. Disturbing Behavior. One followed right after the other and the trend really hasn’t stopped. Nearly all teen slashers try to follow what SCREAM did back in 1996- unfortunately, most of them fail. It’s hard to beat an iconic film.
“No, please don’t kill me Mr. Ghostface, I want to be in the sequel!” Tatum- SCREAM
It’s been fifteen years since the first SCREAM film hit theaters. Many had little hope for the film, which was released during a time of year when Santa Claus overrides gore. But it overcame many obstacles, raking in millions of dollars and pushing for not one, but two closely greenlit follow-ups.
Now, SCREAM 4 is only hours from surprising fans. Critics are saying that this film is going to bring Craven and his crew of misfits, including fan favorite Deputy Dewey, back into the spotlight. The director and his crew are also in talks for a fifth and possible sixth installment. It’s certainly a challenge to do something new and different with each new addition, so here’s hoping the later films capture the same essence that we’ve seen time and time again from Ghostface and his undying legacy. I, personally, am glad that Wes Craven took his love of horror movies just a little too far and asked the impeccably spine tingling question- what’s your favorite scary movie?
Here’s what we know about Longlegs so far. It’s coming in July of 2024, it’s directed by Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter), and it features Maika Monroe (It Follows) as an FBI agent who discovers a personal connection between her and a serial killer who has ties to the occult. We know that the serial killer is going to be played by none other than Nicolas Cage and that the marketing has been nothing short of cryptic excellence up to this point.
At the very least, we can assume NEON’s upcoming film is going to be a dark, horror-fueled hunt for a serial killer. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five disturbing serial killers-versus-law-enforcement stories to get us even more jacked up for Longlegs.
MEMORIES OF MURDER (2003)
This South Korean film directed by Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) is a wild ride. The film features a handful of cops who seem like total goofs investigating a serial killer who brutally murders women who are out and wearing red on rainy evenings. The cops are tired, unorganized, and border on stoner comedy levels of idiocy. The movie at first seems to have a strange level of forgiveness for these characters as they try to pin the murders on a mentally handicapped person at one point, beating him and trying to coerce him into a confession for crimes he didn’t commit. A serious cop from the big city comes down to help with the case and is able to instill order.
But still, the killer evades and provokes not only the police but an entire country as everyone becomes more unstable and paranoid with each grizzly murder and sex crime.
I’ve never seen a film with a stranger tone than Memories of Murder. A movie that deals with such serious issues but has such fallible, seemingly nonserious people at its core. As the film rolls on and more women are murdered, you realize that a lot of these faults come from men who are hopeless and desperate to catch a killer in a country that – much like in another great serial killer story, Citizen X – is doing more harm to their plight than good.
Major spoiler warning: What makes Memories of Murder somehow more haunting is that it’s loosely based on a true story. It is a story where the real-life killer hadn’t been caught at the time of the film’s release. It ends with our main character Detective Park (Song Kang-ho), now a salesman, looking hopelessly at the audience (or judgingly) as the credits roll. Over sixteen years later the killer, Lee Choon Jae, was found using DNA evidence. He was already serving a life sentence for another murder. Choon Jae even admitted to watching the film during his court case saying, “I just watched it as a movie, I had no feeling or emotion towards the movie.”
In the end, Memories of Murder is a must-see for fans of the subgenre. The film juggles an almost slapstick tone with that of a dark murder mystery and yet, in the end, works like a charm.
CURE (1997)
If you watched 2023’s Hypnotic and thought to yourself, “A killer who hypnotizes his victims to get them to do his bidding is a pretty cool idea. I only wish it were a better movie!” Boy, do I have great news for you.
In Cure (spoilers ahead), a detective (Koji Yakusho) and forensic psychologist (Tsuyoshi Ujiki) team up to find a serial killer who’s brutally marking their victims by cutting a large “X” into their throats and chests. Not just a little “X” mind you but a big, gross, flappy one.
At each crime scene, the murderer is there and is coherent and willing to cooperate. They can remember committing the crimes but can’t remember why. Each of these murders is creepy on a cellular level because we watch the killers act out these crimes with zero emotion. They feel different than your average movie murder. Colder….meaner.
What’s going on here is that a man named Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) is walking around and somehow manipulating people’s minds using the flame of a lighter and a strange conversational cadence to hypnotize them and convince them to murder. The detectives eventually catch him but are unable to understand the scope of what’s happening before it’s too late.
If you thought dealing with a psychopathic murderer was hard, imagine dealing with one who could convince you to go home and murder your wife. Not only is Cure amazingly filmed and edited but it has more horror elements than your average serial killer film.
MANHUNTER (1986)
In the first-ever Hannibal Lecter story brought in front of the cameras, Detective Will Graham (William Petersen) finds his serial killers by stepping into their headspace. This is how he caught Hannibal Lecter (played here by Brian Cox), but not without paying a price. Graham became so obsessed with his cases that he ended up having a mental breakdown.
In Manhunter, Graham not only has to deal with Lecter playing psychological games with him from behind bars but a new serial killer in Francis Dolarhyde (in a legendary performance by Tom Noonan). One who likes to wear pantyhose on his head and murder entire families so that he can feel “seen” and “accepted” in their dead eyes. At one point Lecter even finds a way to gift Graham’s home address to the new killer via personal ads in a newspaper.
Michael Mann (Heat, Thief) directed a film that was far too stylish for its time but that fans and critics both would have loved today in the same way we appreciate movies like Nightcrawler or Drive. From the soundtrack to the visuals to the in-depth psychoanalysis of an insanely disturbed protagonist and the man trying to catch him. We watch Graham completely lose his shit and unravel as he takes us through the psyche of our killer. Which is as fascinating as it is fucked.
Manhunter is a classic case of a serial killer-versus-detective story where each side of the coin is tarnished in their own way when it’s all said and done. As Detective Park put it in Memories of Murder, “What kind of detective sleeps at night?”
INSOMNIA (2002)
Maybe it’s because of the foggy atmosphere. Maybe it’s because it’s the only film in Christopher Nolan’s filmography he didn’t write as well as direct. But for some reason, Insomnia always feels forgotten about whenever we give Nolan his flowers for whatever his latest cinematic achievement is.
Whatever the case, I know it’s no fault of the quality of the film, because Insomnia is a certified serial killer classic that adds several unique layers to the detective/killer dynamic. One way to create an extreme sense of unease with a movie villain is to cast someone you’d never expect in the role, which is exactly what Nolan did by casting the hilarious and sweet Robin Williams as a manipulative child murderer. He capped that off by casting Al Pacino as the embattled detective hunting him down.
This dynamic was fascinating as Williams was creepy and clever in the role. He was subdued in a way that was never boring but believable. On the other side of it, Al Pacino felt as if he’d walked straight off the set of 1995’s Heat and onto this one. A broken and imperfect man trying to stop a far worse one.
Aside from the stellar acting, Insomnia stands out because of its unique setting and plot. Both working against the detective. The investigation is taking place in a part of Alaska where the sun never goes down. This creates a beautiful, nightmare atmosphere where by the end of it, Pacino’s character is like a Freddy Krueger victim in the leadup to their eventual, exhausted death as he runs around town trying to catch a serial killer while dealing with the debilitating effects of insomnia. Meanwhile, he’s under an internal affairs investigation for planting evidence to catch another child killer and accidentally shoots his partner who he just found out is about to testify against him. The kicker here is that the killer knows what happened that fateful day and is using it to blackmail Pacino’s character into letting him get away with his own crimes.
If this is the kind of “what would you do?” intrigue we get with the story from Longlegs? We’ll be in for a treat. Hoo-ah.
FALLEN (1998)
Fallen may not be nearly as obscure as Memories of Murder or Cure. Hell, it boasts an all-star cast of Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, and Elias Koteas. But when you bring it up around anyone who has seen it, their ears perk up, and the word “underrated” usually follows. And when it comes to the occult tie-ins that Longlegs will allegedly have? Fallen may be the most appropriate film on this entire list.
In the movie, Detective Hobbs (Washington) catches vicious serial killer Edgar Reese (Koteas) who seems to place some sort of curse on him during Hobbs’ victory lap. After Reese is put to death via electric chair, dead bodies start popping up all over town with his M.O., eventually pointing towards Hobbs as the culprit. After all, Reese is dead. As Hobbs investigates he realizes that a fallen angel named Azazel is possessing human body after human body and using them to commit occult murders. It has its eyes fixated on him, his co-workers, and family members; wrecking their lives or flat-out murdering them one by one until the whole world is damned.
Mixing a demonic entity into a detective/serial killer story is fascinating because it puts our detective in the unsettling position of being the one who is hunted. How the hell do you stop a demon who can inhabit anyone they want with a mere touch?!
Fallen is a great mix of detective story and supernatural horror tale. Not only are we treated to Denzel Washington as the lead in a grim noir (complete with narration) as he uncovers this occult storyline, but we’re left with a pretty great “what would you do?” situation in a movie that isn’t afraid to take the story to some dark places. Especially when it comes to the way the film ends. It’s a great horror thriller in the same vein as Frailty but with a little more detective work mixed in.
Look for Longlegs in theaters on July 12, 2024.
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