Current Events > What is your honest opinion of the Scream movie franchise?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Discuss.

Who?

1 was good, 2 was dumb. Haven't seen the others so I won't vote

I like all of them except 3

Pretty sure most of the population falls in between those two extremes

BloodMoon7 posted...

Who?

Shut up

I'll let the poll gets some more votes before I go in with my opinion..

The first one came out when I was a teenager but I never actually watched them til last year. Finally went through the whole series. I think the modern ones are better.

Maybe I would have liked the old ones back in the day but I like the modern cast better. Sydney isn't as good as the new sisters from 5 and 6

I liked the first one and the 5th one, the rest are meh.

No eh or never got into it options?

First time I watched it, back in high school, before I really got into horror movies, I wasn't a fan. I gave the series another chance a few years later, and appreciated it a lot more. After a few more rewatches, it's now probably my second favorite horror franchise (behind the Halloween movies).

MTRodaba2468 posted...

First time I watched it, back in high school, before I really got into horror movies, I wasn't a fan. I gave the series another chance a few years later, and appreciated it a lot more. After a few more rewatches, it's now probably my second favorite horror franchise (behind the Halloween movies).

Same for me. I actually don't think any of them are bad. 3 is the weakest of them, but even that's brilliant in its own way.

The most recent one was great.

It's alright. A solid franchise but I haven't seen the newer ones. If they pop up on streaming I'll watch but I'm not going out of my way.

1 is the best followed by the last two

1 was a good deconstruction of the slasher.

First movie was great, but I aggressively do not care about any of the others. Watched the second movie and wasn't a fan.

i really enjoyed them except 3 was horrible. 4 is probably the most underrated.

i just rewatched them all earlier this year before finally watching 5 and 6 for the first time. i enjoyed both of the new ones.

Love 1 and 2, dont care much about 3.

Though four was a great return for the series and enjoyed it, didnt hate 5 but was almost about to call it cause I wasnt a big fan, but then 6 turned it around in a big way and Im excited to see where it goes next now.

dummy420 posted...

It's alright. A solid franchise but I haven't seen the newer ones. If they pop up on streaming I'll watch but I'm not going out of my way.

5 and 6 are on Paramount Plus

Zikten posted...

5 and 6 are on Paramount Plus

Thanks. I don't think I have that one so that must be why I haven't seen them pop up.

Doing tropes isn't clever or funny just because the characters say "hey this is a trope!".

FurryPhilosifer posted...

Doing tropes isn't clever or funny just because the characters say "hey this is a trope!".

It was kind of novel in 1996. The popularization of the term "tropes" to refer to storytelling elements, as opposed to the more negative term "cliches", and people trying to portray them as neutral building blocks of media, began with a rash of highly referential movies like Scream, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and wouldn't really take off until the 2000's.

I initially began making a huge semantic argument about the existence and popularization of the term "trope", specifically how TV Tropes began as a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fansite and a nerdy interest in documenting cliches, idioms and common storytelling techniques as "tropes" - but instead, I will say that there was an ongoing trend that arguably came to prominence with Quentin Tarantino's early films, and that Scream is arguably a more polished, studio-driven take on the Tarantino-inspired self-referential sort of movies that were trying to make it big at the time. So I guess a little of what you're saying is true.

I still maintain that Scream was still a significant work from that initial craze, and it was one of those first few super popular self-referential movies that balanced the line between being a homage to the thing it was cribbing from, and being a solid example of that sort of movie that can stand on its own just as well.

Saying "movies doing tropes isn't clever because they call out that they're doing a trope" kind of diminishes Scream imo? Like it was referential, but the movie's premise is that of a copycat killer who's obsessed with horror movie cliches. They're obstensibly trying to frame a known horror movie geek to get away with their killing spree, and Billy Loomis goes so far as to sleep with Sidney to enforce one of those "horror movie rules" that women who have sex in horror movies always end up dying. It's a part of the villain's entire conceit. It's less "wow they referenced a trope they did, what a hack, they must feel so clever" and more "there's an in-universe reason as to why the killer is trying to replicate horror movie cliches, and it's pivotal to the plot of the movie and the motivation of the killer". The fact that the movie goes above and beyond what it's commenting on is what makes it great.

I would say that Scary Movie, and later Seltzer and Friedberg movies, fit what you're saying to a T. And yeah, even though I like broad comedies like Scary Movie 2, pointing out a trope and how the movie's just doing it wholesale isn't particularly clever or inherently funny. It can be, but it's a crutch that hacks rely on like Seltzer and Friedberg, Seth McFarlane or the Brickleberry guys.

Scream was aping a trend, sure, but it aped it well and created something that stands on its own. I probably just fell for the most obvious bait in the book, but boiling it down to just "doing tropes isn't funny or clever just because the characters say "hey this is a trope!" diminishes what is one of the better self-referential genre pictures of its day. It was genuinely innovative for its day, and I think it stands above later works that do the sort of shit you're saying for cheap humor or to seem more intelligent than it really is.

I kinda hate that I don't hate Scream 6. I disliked 5, which felt like a retread of 4's themes but lamer plus being the first non Craven flick. I thought surely 6 would be worse but it's not. I don't know maybe I was just in the right headspace to enjoy the silliness.

1 > 2 > 4 > 6 > 5 > 3 is the canon order I believe.

FurryPhilosifer posted...

Doing tropes isn't clever or funny just because the characters say "hey this is a trope!".

That in itself is a trope. One which they do well.

I'll put it to you this way scream was a better deconstruction than scary movie was

Not a big fan of slasher movies, but I don't mind this series.

I do get annoyed at the Scooby Doo formula, though.
"aw shit, it was the carnival ride operator that Sydney made fun of when she was 12...should have seen it coming"