If there’s one modern franchise I revisit several times a year, it’s Wes Craven’s Scream series (yes, even Scream 4). Ever since Drew Barrymore first took that ill-fated phone call, I was hooked and through three sequels, I’ve been there every step of the way, rooting on Sidney Prescott and hoping to see Ghostface dispose of his victims in the goriest of fashions.
Now that Scream is heading to the small screen with MTV’s new television series iteration, which begins on June 30th, those in attendance last night at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival had the opportunity to watch the first episode during a special red carpet event at the Regal Theaters at LA Live. I will admit to being rather intrigued- and nervous- going into this first episode because I wasn’t sure how the approach was truly going to work but, much to my surprise, Scream: The TV Series starts off pretty strong overall and I’m pretty much on board for the rest of the season based on what I experienced last night.
While I wouldn’t dream of spoiling certain aspects of Scream: The TV Series for those of you wanting to check it out later this month, here are a few of my initial impressions on the premiere episode, entitled “Red Roses,” to give fans out there a better idea of just what to expect.
First of all, if you’re looking to return to Woodsboro and the original Ghostface mythology, you need to look elsewhere. This Scream is all about new beginnings and grisly endings akin to Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead. It follows a group of teens at George Washington High School in Lakewood, where 20 years prior, a deformed serial killer was sent to his watery grave by the local police, and his tale has evolved into something of an urban legend that kids tell each other to scare the crap out of their friends. There may be more to the story than what happened two decades earlier, however, after two teens are found brutally murdered after releasing a shocking video featuring one of their classmates in a precarious and highly embarrassing situation.
From there, we begin to settle in with the main cast members, including Emma (Willa Fitzgerald), her boyfriend Will (Connor Weil) and their group, which includes Brooke (Carlson Young), Jake (Tom Maden), and Riley (Brianne Tju). Also thrown into the murderous mix are the social outcast Aubrey (Bex Taylor-Klaus), her best friend Noah (John Karna) and Emma’s mom Maggie (Tracy Middendorf). The first episode has some awkwardness to it (an affliction that affects almost every series as they start off, so it’s forgivable) just because there is so many different story elements to establish in Scream, but the cast have great chemistry together and I geeked the hell out over Middendorf’s involvement. She had also been a part of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare and her character seems just as fleshed out as her younger co-star’s. Most times, the adults end up not being a factor in series like these (hello, Teen Wolf) so I appreciate the writers making Maggie just as integral to the overall story as her daughter Emma.
The tone and a clever sense of self-awareness of Scream: The TV Series is also similar to the ones utilized throughout the original film series and, despite the fact that this is running on MTV, the kills in the first episode were pretty gnarly- a decapitation and a brutally intimate stabbing- so I’m hoping that continues into the future. The unknown killer in the series also goes a bit more high-tech than Ghostface was in the original trilogy, as he likes to mock his victims via text and other technology-based devices. We do finally get a creepy phone call towards the end of “Red Roses” that features a Ghostface-esque voice, a nice tip of the hat to Craven’s original villain, which definitely sets up things to come. While we don’t get too many glimpses of the mask (a controversial issue amongst fans), what is shown is effectively creepy and a bit unsettling.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the initial episode of Scream: The TV Series, even though it really has no relation to the film franchise I’ve loved for almost 20 years now. It does a great job of establishing its own mystery and mythology as well giving us a taste of the kind of bloodshed you’d hope for with something featuring the title Scream. I wasn’t initially on board with the idea of bringing this franchise to television, but I must admit that “Red Roses” managed to slash its way into my heart, despite all my previous misgivings.
Here’s to hoping Scream: The TV Series finishes as strongly as it starts.
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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