Reviews
[TV Review] “Scream: Resurrection” Should Have Stayed Dead
The decision to reboot Scream: The Series was an odd, if not entirely unexpected, one. The first two seasons, which aired on MTV in 2015 and 2016, were not well-received (I was one of the few critics to give the pilot a generous review) and saw ratings decline by about 50% between them. Now, almost three years since the last episode aired (an episode that ended on an unresolved cliffhanger, no less), the series has switched networks from MTV to VH1 for its third season and has been renamed Scream: Resurrection. It features a new story, cast of characters and creative team (Queen Latifah has been brought on as an executive producer). Announced back in April 2017, Resurrection is being dumped by its new network over the next three nights. This would typically indicate that VH1 knows they have a turd on their hands and are eager to get rid of it. While the show’s first two episodes (airing tonight at 9pm EST) aren’t as bad as you’d expect, they certainly leave a lot to be desired.
Eight years after his brother is killed by a hook-handed man (Tony Todd, Candyman), Deion (RJ Cyler, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Power Rangers) is now a teenager and struggling to get over his past trauma. While at school one day, he and his crush Liv (Jessica Sula, Split) get sent to detention after Deion has an altercation with the school bully. The series then turns into a horror version of The Breakfast Club (the group is quick to name themselves “The Deadfast Club”) as Deion and Liv meet Goth-girl horror movie expert Beth (Giorgia Whigham, The Punisher), drug dealer Shane (Tyler Posey, Teen Wolf), perfect student Amir (Christopher Jordan Wallace), activist Kym (Keke Palmer, Scream Queens) and her gay best friend Manny (Giullian Yao Gioiello, Iron Fist). When Deion is attacked by someone in a Ghostface costume, the group realizes that they are being stalked by a mysterious killer who deems it necessary to expose all of them for the frauds that he/she/they believes them to be. In addition to the serial killer drama, Deion must deal with his mother (Mary J. Blige) and stepbrother Jamal (Tyga), both of whom are worried about Deion as the anniversary of his brother’s death fast approaches.
If “The Deadfast Club” made you cringe, then consider yourself warned. Scream: Resurrection’s dialogue is possibly the worst that the franchise has offered thus far (yes, even worse than the two previous seasons). Showrunner Brett Matthews wrote the premiere for Resurrection, and his dialogue is stilted at best and mind-bogglingly inane at worst. This is surprising, considering that Matthews has written a few episodes of Kevin Williamson‘s series The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off Legacies. Was he not available to offer some friendly advice? There are references to Get Out and Rob Zombie‘s Halloween, but the show grinds to a halt to point out these references rather than organically fit them into the text. Williamson seems to be the only person able to write Scream‘s metatextual dialogue successfully, because every time the reins have been handed over to someone else (be it Scream 3‘s Ehren Kruger or any of the first two seasons’ screenwriters), it has fallen flat.
Add to that the fact that the characters don’t behave like real people at all. When one of them dies, it’s brushed off with a shrug. When one character actually holds Ghostface at gunpoint, he/she hesitates and lets him/her go for no discernible reason, staring blankly at Ghostface as he/she runs down the hall. Scream‘s characters have always thought they were smarter than they were, but they were never actually stupid. The decisions that Scream: Resurrection’s characters make are downright flabbergasting.
Technically, the series is competent but not impressive. The premiere is directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes, Pet Sematary), but you wouldn’t know based off of what’s on display. It could be the budgetary constraints, but there just isn’t much style here. Anyone could have directed this. The second episode, written by Leigh Dana Jackson and Kristi Korzec and directed by Tanya Hamilton, fares a bit better, but not by much. After the table-setting of the premiere, the second episode gives us a fairly fun set piece in which the kids are stalked by Ghostface after hours in the school. Unfortunately, poor writing rears its ugly head again (“We’re in a horror movie!” “No we’re not! Let’s split up!”) and you’re left rolling your eyes instead of, you know, giving a shit about the fates of these characters.
From Left: RJ Cyler as Deion and Tyga as Jamal
The acting ranges from decent to atrocious, but Resurrection benefits from its cast being generally more likable and engaging than those of previous seasons (though Carlson Young’s Brooke is sorely missed). Palmer, whose character seems to be inspired by Logan Browning’s character in Dear White People, is unsurprisingly the highlight, and Wigham does what she can with some truly awful dialogue. She doesn’t come out unscathed, but she does what she can with her “this is just like a horror movie” lines. Unfortunately, Deion makes for a dull protagonist, and even an accomplished actor like Cyler can’t infuse him with any sort of charm. The rest of the cast is fine (save for one or two abysmal performances), but there aren’t any standouts.
What’s even more depressing is the opportunity Scream: Resurrection misses with its primarily black cast. There is the occasional attempt to address the black community’s historical role in the horror genre, but they are few and far between (though Palmer trying to alert the authorities by screaming “White officer down!” did elicit a chuckle from this writer). Still, most of the racial commentary works, although there is a supremely awkward moment where Beth tells Kym and Deion that they are likely to be killed before the rest of them because of their skin color. Resurrection wants to be funny but it just isn’t. For a more educational (and entertaining) lesson in black horror cinema, give Horror Noire (our review) a watch.
Still, there are things to enjoy about Scream: Resurrection. As the show’s marketing has made abundantly clear: the original Ghostface mask is back and Roger Jackson returns as the voice the killer (hearing all of the characters refer to the killer as Ghostface as opposed to just “the killer” is silly, though). It’s genuinely satisfying to hear his voice again. The series has no shortage of deaths either, with the first two episodes sharing five deaths between them. Resurrection also changes Ghostface’s modus operandi by having him/her/them dispatch characters in a wide variety of ways. There won’t be any simple stabbings here! From impalements to eye trauma, this iteration of Ghostface is not messing around.
Based on the first two episodes, Scream: Resurrection isn’t a complete waste of your time, but it’s still difficult to recommend. All of the flaws from the previous two seasons are still there. The writing is pedestrian. The direction is flat. These flaws are even more glaring since we’ve gotten two exceptional seasons of Slasher since the last episode of Scream aired (seriously, that show has almost perfected the serialized slasher formula). That being said, it does feel good to see Ghostface (the real Ghostface) on screen again. Scream: Resurrection benefits from not being boring. It’s bad, but at least it’s entertaining. Its main problem is that it invites viewers to laugh at it as opposed to with it. That was something the best Scream films successfully avoided.
VH1 has embargoed the next two episodes until tomorrow, and the final two episodes until after the finale airs, so check back here on Wednesday night at 11pm EST for our final thoughts on Scream: Resurrection and its killer.
Reviews
‘The Incident at Galley House’ Review: Supernatural Whodunit Builds Upon Its Solid Original Version
If there’s one thing I love, it’s when a game has me keeping a notebook at the ready. Jotting down new discoveries that have me flipping through the pages to see if that unlocks a puzzle I’ve had since day one is a thrilling, one-of-a-kind experience that makes you feel like a genius.
Games like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Return of the Obra Dinn, or The Outer Wilds all have this same great feeling of progression through knowledge rather than experience points or items, making the process of synthesizing information an integral part of the equation. Last year, Evil Trout Inc added a new game to that pantheon with their remake of The Roottrees are Dead, a deduction game about filling out the family tree of a candy magnate. To follow up on that great game, they remade last year’s Type Help as The Incident at Galley House, an intriguing new mystery game with clever mechanics and an engaging story.
Something strange happened at Galley House in 1936. The mystery remains unsolved, and now, decades later, you arrive at the abandoned manor with a peculiar machine that lets you see echoes of the past. Unfortunately, the machine does not necessarily give you an unbroken chronological view of what went down, forcing you to become deeply immersed in the events in order to follow the activities in the house and solve the mystery once and for all.
The premise is fairly simple. It’s the night of a family gathering at Galley House, and an unfamiliar guest shows up, insisting he was invited by someone that no one at the residence has ever heard of. There’s a bit of commotion as everyone tries to figure out what to do with the man, and that’s when the first body shows up. Over the course of the next 24 hours, the corpses continue to pile up as things only get more confusing, leading you to conclude that something otherworldly may be going on at Galley House. While the spooky old manor vibes are off the charts, the true nature of the ‘haunting’ is unconventional in execution, leaving you with a surprising mystery to untangle.
A Murder Mystery Told Out of Order
Using your machine, you see scenes from the past play out as static images that are lightly animated, but the hook of the game involves how you access those scenes. Much like games like Her Story or Immortality, you’ll be slowly uncovering these scenes in a non-linear fashion, based on the unique setup of your contraption. In order to view a scene, you need to have the moment in the timeline, the location, and who is in the scene. At the beginning, everyone is identified with numbers, and only a handful of locations are given to you, forcing you to listen carefully to the contents of the dialogue to make connections.
For example, you may know that in scene two, person one is in the entrance with person three and four. Listening carefully to this scene may give you a hint as to where any of these people are going next, or maybe a new location to add to your list. Slowly, you’ll fill out the rooms of the house and begin to associate numbers to names or physical descriptions, giving you valuable information to continue your search. It may seem like merely watching scenes isn’t an exciting gameplay mechanic, but the level at which you need to pay attention to these details makes every sequence engaging, forcing you to lean in and fully understand what’s going on.
As I mentioned, I had a notebook with me the whole time, and front and center on that first page was the list of numbers and any information I could get about their identity and relationships. Each scene I was scribbling down new possibilities to enter into the machine based on what was playing out in front of me, giving me tantalizing threads to pull on as I pieced together what was going on. It might not be for everyone, but it’s a riveting feeling to finally figure out the relationship between two characters or finally figure out how a person ended up with a specific item.
An Interface That Makes Every Discovery Feel Earned
To make the fantasy feel complete, you’re not just simply typing in codes; you’re actually interacting with the machine in an extremely tactile fashion to input the correct information. There’s a little slide for the location, knobs to switch on for each character, and a dial to tune in the correct spot in the timeline. When you have it all set up for what you believe is the correct information, there’s a big switch to throw that brings the machine to life. A wonderful little moment of tension follows as the machine powers up, either leading you to a new scene if your inputs are correct or a disappointing shutdown if you get it wrong. I’m a huge fan of this kind of crunchy UI that mimics in-fiction machinery, and it really goes a long way in enhancing the overall experience of The Incident at Galley House.
There can be tons of information to parse at once, and even with a well-organized notebook, it’s going to feel overwhelming at times, but the game has built-in systems to help you track everything. First of all, you’re able to sort any scenes you’ve discovered by timeline, person, or location, allowing you to follow the information in whatever way you need to at the time. Need to figure out something specific about an event in the Living Room? Just tab on over to the Living Room location and it’s all laid out for you.
The timeline section in particular contains incredibly useful information, as it will show you which people you have not located yet during that moment. For example, you may be watching a scene where someone mentions hearing a conversation in a different room, and you can go to the timeline and see that there are only two people unaccounted for at that time, giving you the information you need. There’s even a handy search function that will highlight scenes that mention specific words, something that saved me on several occasions.
Helpful Tools Without Giving Away the Answers
Even with all these tools, you may still find yourself stuck, so there are a few more ways that The Incident at Galley House will help point you in the right direction. Just like in Roottrees are Dead, each scene will show a number on it if there’s more information in it that you haven’t found a way to use. The higher the number, the more information contained within, so it’s always a good idea to look at those first when you’re at a dead end and are trying to figure out where to even start.
Also like Roottrees, there’s a robust and forgiving hint system built into the game that will gradually give you increasingly specific hints when you request it. These start as simple as “where did person X say they were going after this scene” to more pointed hints, before finally just giving you the correct code if you continue to ask. The first tier of hints is so light that I would frequently use it when launching the game for the first time, just as a reminder of what threads there are to pull on if I didn’t have something extremely obvious circled in my notes.
Detective stories like this can really feel bad when you hit a brick wall and can’t figure out a way forward, and The Incident at Galley House gives you so many ways to help move you forward to the finale without taking away all the satisfaction of figuring it out.
A Memorable Cast Hidden Behind Silhouettes
There’s an excellent web of characters that you’re introduced to throughout the course of the 10 to 12 hour narrative, and they are all brought to life vividly through expressive voice acting. While each character is represented by silhouettes with numbers on them, at least until you start being able to associate images with each of them later on, you are still drawn into the scenes thanks to these performances. I felt like I got a sense of who each of these characters was and how they related to each other, making both the detective work and the narrative quality equally satisfying. The nonlinearity of the storytelling adds a layer of investment that draws you in, making the mechanics of the game an integral part of the narrative experience.
As much as I loved most of the tale I uncovered, I think the final act suffers a bit both narratively and mechanically. Without getting into spoilers, there’s a twist in the final stretch that changes things up a bit, and while the switch was initially exciting, it felt like it got the story a bit off track. Mechanically, the scenes become longer, making it a little harder to parse what exactly you’re supposed to glean from the sequence without scrolling through its long transcript. Narratively, it became a bit exposition-heavy, trying to explain the events at the expense of the characters I had grown invested in. It’s not a bad ending by any means; I just felt slightly let down by the change-up, and found the answers in the end slightly less satisfying and a little more frustrating to navigate.
I had heard a lot of great things about Type Help when it was getting buzz last year, but I decided to wait for The Incident at Galley House remake version, and I’m glad I did. The combination of the new audio and visual layer gives the game so much life, adding a solid presentation to a razor-sharp detective game. Its haunting mystery gives us a myriad of compelling characters and relationships, and the supernatural element of what’s going on is something unexpected and unique. The rush you get when things finally start clicking into place is a feeling that other genres just can’t capture, and there were some really excellent moments of revelation that were subtly revealed in a satisfying manner that made me feel like I actively figured it out.
Even with the late game stumbles, this game nails both the mechanical and narrative aspects of a great mystery, creating a compelling detective game that’s challenging while also giving you the tools to meet the challenge.
Review code provided by publisher. The Incident at Galley House launches July 14th on Steam.
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